Magnetic Surveying

Magnetic Surveying
Basic concepts
Magnetic field strength, flux density, and permeability
B=H
B = magnetic flux density (flux per unit area)
H = field strength
= absolute permeability of the medium (in a vacuum = 0 = 4
x 10-7)
Units: of flux density B is Tesla (T), we commonly use nanoTesla
in surveying due to size of anomalies (1nT = 10-9T)

Magnetic Surveying
Basic concepts
Relative permeability, susceptibility and magnetization
In a medium other than vacuum we write = r 0
B=H
= r 0 H
= 0 H + 0 (r 1) H
= 0 H + 0 H
r = relative permeability of the medium
= magnetic susceptibility

Magnetic Surveying
Basic concepts
Susceptibility and magnetization
M=H
= intensity of magnetization induced by H
= magnetic susceptibility

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Causes of Magnetic Susceptibility
At the atomic level, materials have a net magnetic moment due
to:
- rotation of electrons in various shells around the nucleus
- the spin of the electrons
- number of electrons in each shell
Each atomic nucleus can be thought of as a small magnetic
dipole with its own moment

Magnetic Surveying
Magnetic Susceptibility

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Classification of Magnetic Materials
Diamagnetic
- all electron shells are full, thus there is no net moment
- in presence of external field, the net moment opposes the
external field
Paramagnetic
material contain unpaired electrons in incomplete
electron shells
- however magnetic moment of each atom is uncoupled
from others so they all behave independently
- weakly magnetic

Magnetic Surveying
Classification of Magnetic Materials
Ferromagnetic
- material contain unpaired electrons in incomplete
electron shells
- magnetic moment of each atom is coupled to others in
surrounding domain such that they all become parallel
- gives rise to a spontaneous magnetization even in
absence of an external field
- magnets are ferromagnetic

Magnetic Surveying
Classification of Magnetic Materials
Anti-ferromagnetic
- almost identical to ferromagnetic except that the
moments of neighboring sub lattices are aligned opposite to each
other and cancel out
- thus no net magnetization is measured
- example: hematite
Ferrimagnetic
similar to above but the sub lattices have unequal
magnetic moments
- high magnetic susceptibility
- example: magnetite

Magnetic Surveying
Classification of Magnetic Materials
Magnetic levitation:
Researchers at the
University of Nijmegen in
the Netherlands
demonstrated levitating
a small frog in a powerful
magnetic field.

Magnetic Surveying
Classification of Magnetic Materials

Hysteresis

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Remanant Magnetization

TRM

CRM

DRM

Biological

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Geomagnetic Field
Origin:
99% from the Earth
94% dipole field
5% non-dipole field
1% current in ionosphere
diurnal variations
magnetic storms

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Geomagnetic Field

Geomagnetic field can be described by the declination D, the

inclination I, and total field vector F.

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Secular Variations

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Diurnal variations:

Daily changes in field due to changes in currents of charged

particles in the ionosphere.
Smooth variations, amplitude 20 - 80 nT.

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Magnetic Storms:

Short term disturbances in magnetic field associated with sun

spot activity and streams of charged particles from sun.
Can be up to 1000 nT in magnitude, and make magnetic
surveying impossible.

Magnetic Surveying
Instruments
Three types of magnetometers are
frequently used in magnetic
surveying:
Proton magnetometer
Cesium vapor magnetometer
(optically pumped)
Fluxgate magnetometer

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Fluxgate
Gradiometer

Cesium Vapor
Gradiometer

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Surveying
Establish a base station to incorporate drift
should be in flat terrain, away from electromagnetic field sources, and
easy to reoccupy, return to base at least every hour or continually
record data using separate magnetometer

Wherever possible, conduct surveys perpendicular to strike

You cannot be too obsessed with magnetic cleanliness
belt buckles, glasses, spiral bound notebooks, etc
power lines, wire fences, field vehicles, buildings with metal beams
keep sensor at least 1 m from ground else soil variations might
dominate signal

Magnetic Surveying
Data Reduction
Can be separated into corrections and data
enhancements
Diurnal Correction
Normal Field Correction
essentially a correction for variations in field with latitude and
longitude use IGRF to correct on large scale surveys

Elevation and Terrain Corrections

vertical gradient is a maximum at poles (0.03nT/m) minimum at
equator (-0.015nT/m)
elevation correction not required for ground surveys
terrain correction difficult since we need to know magnetic properties
in surrounding terrain

Magnetic Surveying

Magnetic Surveying
Data Reduction
Can be separated into corrections and data
enhancements
Diurnal Correction
Normal Field Correction
essentially a correction for variations in field with latitude and
longitude use IGRF to correct on large scale surveys

Elevation and Terrain Corrections

vertical gradient is a maximum at poles (0.03nT/m) minimum at
equator (-0.015nT/m)
elevation correction not required for ground surveys
terrain correction difficult since we need to know magnetic properties
in surrounding terrain

Magnetic Surveying
Derivatives
Emphasizing shorter wavelength features.
First vertical derivative emphasizes near surface features. It
can be measured with gradiometer, or derived from corrected
data
Second vertical derivative emphasizes boundaries of target
zones

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Gaffney et al 2000

Osten-Woldenburg 2005

Magnetic surveys over the Roman city of Wroxeter , UK (left) and the
Roman fort Rainau-Buch, Germany (right)

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