Forward modelling: Magnetic anomalies of arbitrarily magnetized 2D fault sources with analytically defined fault planes

Abstract

Abstract: Based on Poisson’s relation, a generalized equation to realize forward modelling of magnetic anomalies due to arbitrarily magnetized 2D listric fault sources in any component is derived in the space domain. The non-planar fault plane of a listric fault structure is described with a generalized polynomial equation. The estimated coefficients of a prescribed polynomial are used to construct the fault plane analytically. The validity of the presented formula is established against the theoretical anomalies that are realized by an analytic equation over a vertical fault structure. It is demonstrated with a synthetic example that the magnetic anomalies in any component produced by a typical listric fault source always have lesser magnitude when compared to the corresponding anomalous field produced by the same structure with a planar fault plane assumption. Highlights: A generalized equation is presented to calculate the magnetic anomalies in any component due to arbitrarily magnetized 2D listric fault sources. An interactive and platform independent software coded in Java is developed based on the methodology.Code availability: Requests for code after publication of this article will be considered by the corresponding author