Fast 3D gravity and magnetic modelling using midpoint quadrature and 2D FFT

Area of Science:

• Geophysics
• Computational Science

Background:

• Traditional 3D gravity and magnetic modeling methods require substantial computational resources.
• Calculating kernel matrices and 2D discrete convolutions are computationally intensive steps.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel, computationally efficient approach for 3D gravity and magnetic modeling.
• To reduce the computational burden associated with traditional geophysical modeling techniques.

Main Methods:

• Combines the midpoint quadrature method with a 2D fast Fourier transform (FFT).
• Applies midpoint quadrature to calculate volume elements of integrals.
• Utilizes 2D FFT for efficient computation of convolutions between weight matrices and density/magnetization.

Main Results:

• The proposed algorithm significantly decreases computation time and memory requirements.
• Efficiency gains are approximately two orders of magnitude compared to space-wavenumber domain methods.
• Validation using artificial and real topography models confirms accuracy and efficiency.

Conclusions:

• The novel method offers a substantial improvement in computational efficiency for 3D gravity and magnetic modeling.
• This approach overcomes the limitations of traditional methods regarding resource consumption.
• The validated algorithm provides a more accessible tool for geophysical exploration and analysis.