Vertical gravity and magnetic soundings: forward problem formulation and data inversion

A new method of interpreting gravity and magnetic anomalies is described. Unlike in the usual approaches, the data set consists of gravity values at different altitudes and the estimated model is a vertical density profile. Thus a new sounding method is defined, called vertical gravity, or magnetic sounding. In order to estimate the density model three methods are applied, all giving notable results. In particular, the "minimum length with inequality constraints" method seems particularly useful and, using a limited amount of "a priori" information, gives density models very close to several synthetically generated density distributions. A major feature of the proposed method is that significant results are obtained without resorting to other geophysic or drilling data.