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
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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
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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.
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Classification of Magnetic Materials

Hysteresis
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Remanant Magnetization

DRM
TRM

CRM
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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Magnetic Surveying

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.
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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 Cesium Vapor

Gradiometer 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
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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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 Magnetic Surveying

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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