Tutorial: The gravity-stripping process as applied to gravity interpretation in the eastern Mediterranean

Observed gravity data after latitude, elevation (free air), Bouguer and terrain corrections determine "the sum of all effects from the grass roots down" (Nettleton, 1971). In order to eliminate gravity effects corresponding to unwanted disturbances in the subsurface, various approaches can be used. One such approach that has proven the test of time is gravity interpretation by stripping (e.g., Woollard, 1938; Bible, 1961; Hammer, 1963). The removal of an effect of a known density contrast (i.e., constrained by independent geophysical and geological data) allows determination of gravity corresponding to other targets of interest. It is well known that the advantage of the gravity-stripping procedure is that it is more accurate than any mathematical (convolution) method for separation of the gravity field (including filtering procedures), as the latter contain not only information on the amplification of available gravity components, but also false anomalies. Moreover, all transformed (filtered) gravity signals have smaller amplitudes compared to unfiltered ones.