The magnetic gradient tensor: Its properties and uses in source characterization

Airborne magnetic surveys have improved dramatically over the past three decades with advances in both data acquisition and image processing techniques. Magnetic surveys form an integral part of exploration programs and are now routinely undertaken before geological mapping programs. These advances have been made despite treating the magnetic field as a scalar, wherein various processing procedures that assume a potential field are compromised. If the vector information could be retrieved, either by direct measurement or by mathematical manipulation, magnetic surveys could be improved even further. For instance, the total magnetic intensity (TMI) could be corrected so it represents a true potential field.