Determining the Moho interface using a modified algorithm based on the combination of the spatial and frequency domain techniques: a case study from the Arabian Shield

Abstract

This article presents a modified algorithm and a MATLAB-based program for computing the Moho topography, which uses the combination of the spatial domain technique and the FFT-based algorithm. The advantages of the algorithm are that it performs rapid computations with high precision, and the computation procedure does not need to use a low pass filter during iteration. The applicability of the proposed technique is demonstrated on three 3D synthetic and real gravity data from the Arabian Shield, Saudi Arabia. For the synthetic data cases, the obtained results are compatible with the assumed structures. Application on real data indicates that the result estimated by the proposed technique compares well with seismic data.

Keywords:

• Density interface
• gravity inversion
• FFT-based
• spatial domain technique
• Arabian Shield

Computer code availability

Name of code: INV3D.m

Software required: MATLAB (version R2017a or higher)

How to access the source code: https://github.com/PhamLT/INV3D (containing code, synthetic example and manual).

Acknowledgement

This research has been done under the research project QG21.24 of Vietnam National University, Hanoi. Deep thanks and gratitude to the Researchers Supporting Project number (RSP-2022/351), King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for funding this research article. Luan Thanh Pham was funded by Vingroup JSC and supported by the Postdoctoral Scholarship Programme of Vingroup Innovation Foundation (VINIF), Vingroup Big Data Institute (VinBigdata), code VINIF.2021.STS.06. The authors would like to thank three anonymous reviewers for providing valuable comments and suggestions that improved the initial versions of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

Data available on request from the authors