JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 104, NO.

B3, PAGES 5003-5013, MARCH 10, 1999

Identification of sources of potential fields with the

continuous wavelet transform' Basic theory
FrdSrique Moreau and Dominique Gibert
G6osciences
Rennes- CNRS/INSU, Universit6de Rennes1, Rennes,France

Matthias Holschneider
Centre de Physique Th6orique, CNRS Luminy, Maxseille,France

Ginette Saracco
G6osciences
Rennes- CNRS/INSU, Universit6de Rennes1, Rennes,France

Abstract. The continuouswavelettransformis usedto analyze potential fields

and to locate their causativesources.A particular classof waveletsis introduced
which remainsinvariant under the action of the upwardcontinuationoperatorin
potentialfield theory. Thesewaveletsmake the corresponding wavelettransforms
easyto analyzeand the sources'parameters(horizontallocation,depth, multipolar
nature,and strength)simpleto estimate.Practicalissues(effectsof noise,choice
of the analyzingwavelet,etc.) are addressed.
A fielddata examplecorresponding
to a near-surfacemagneticsurveyis discussed.Applicationsto the high-resolution
aeromagneticsurveyof FrenchGuyana will be discussed in the next paper of the
series.

1. Introduction formedfields(upwardcontinuation;horizontal,vertical,
The recovery of the causative sourcesof potential or obliquederivatives;andreductionto the pole) where
fields (e.g., magneticand gravitational)measuredat the desiredinformationis hopefullyenhanced[Gibert
the surfaceof the Earth is a long-standingtopic, and and Galddano,1985;Sowerbutts,1987].
a number of techniqueshave been proposedto address The method we proposein this paper followsthe pro-
the problemof sourcedetermination(seeBlakely[1995] cessing approach and transfersthe original information
for a review). Thesetechniques roughlyfall within two carried by the data into the wavelet transform space.
categories:processing or inversion.The latter category The wavelet transformpresentsseveraladvantageswith
concernsthe methodsfor which the main goal is to re- respect to other methods. For instance, it allows a lo-
cover the source distribution responsiblefor the mea- cal analysisof the measuredfield contrary to the global
suredpotentialfield. It is wellknownthat the resulting Fourier transform. Also, the wavelettransform provides
inverseproblemsare dramatically ill posedboth math- a mean to correctly handle the noisepresentin the data,
ematically and numerically and that practical solutions which is not possibleso easily with the local Euler de-
can be obtained only when reliable a priori constraints convolution[Thompson,1982].Theseadvantages make
canbe addedto the problemat hand(seeParker[1994] the wavelet transform attractive for processing poten-
and references
thereinfor a generaldiscussion).The tial fielddata [Moreauet al., 1997;Hornbyet al., 1999].
methods belonging to the processingfamily do not More precisely, we shall show that only a subset of the
transfer the information contained in the data set into wavelet transform is sufficient to get the information
the sourcedistribution space,but insteadtransfer infor- necessaryto identify and characterize the sourcespro-
mation into auxiliary spacessuch as, for instance,the ducing the observed potential field. This information
Fourier domain where the informationconcerningthe is obtained from the local homogeneity properties of
depth to top of the causativesourcesis eventually eas- the measured field by means of the continuouswavelet
ier to obtain[Spector
andGrant,1970;Green,1972].In transform, whose mathematical properties are recalled
the samespirit, transformationmethodsproducetrans- in section 2.1. Then, a particular classof waveletsis in-
troduced which allows for a remarkable property of the
wavelet transform with respect to the harmonic contin-
uation of potential fields. Next, the properties of these
Copyright 1999 by the American GeophysicalUnion.
wavelets are discussedand illustrated with several syn-
Paper number 1998JB900106. thetic examples. Finally, a simple field example of a
0148-0227/ 99/ 1998JB900106509.00 magnetic survey is presented.
5003
 $004 MOREAU ET AL.' WAVELET ANALYSIS OF POTENTIAL FIELDS

2. Mathematical Framework Goupillaudet al. [1984])14/[#,;b0](b,a = constant)of

the wavelet transform:
In this section, only the main mathematical aspects
needed to establish the method are presented.A de-
tailed discussioncan be found in the pper by Moteau Is,0](b, a')-- --a
]42 Da,/aW[g,(b0]
(b,a). (6)
et al. [1997]. This analytical property translatesinto a nice geometri-
2.1. The Continuous Wavelet ansform cal propertysincethe pointswhere(O/Ob) W [g,0]
(b,a) = 0 are unionsof straightlinesforminga cone-
We define the continuous wvelet transform of func-
like pattern whose apex is the center of homogeneity
tion &0(x " s convolutionproduct, of the analyzed function when a 0. Such lines cor-
responding
to (O/Ob)W, 0] (b,a) = 0 are shownin
W[g,
o]
(b,
a) n a Figure 2. These lines will hereinafterbe referredto as
the ridgesof the wavelet transform. Along suchridges
: (rag * 0)(b), (1)
the magnitudeof the wavelettransformvariesaccording
whereg (x 6 n) is the analyzingwavelet,a 6 + is to a power law of the form a, which providesa simple
the dilation, and the dilation operatora is definedby way to estimate the regularity a of the analyzedhomo-
the following action' geneousfunction(Figure 2)[Grossmannet al., 1987;
Holschaeider,1988].A moredetaileddiscussion
of this
technique and applications to geomagnetictime series
can be found in the work of Alexaadrescuet al. [1995,
The analyzingwavelet may be freely chosenin the class lSS6].
of the oscillatingfunctionshaving a vanishingintegral
and whose support may be restricted to a finite inter- 2.2. Harmonic Continuation of Potential Fields
val containingthe origin [Holschaeider,1995]. Several and Homogeneous Sources
wavelets are shown in Figure 1. The main mathemati- We now recall the mathematical properties of poten-
cal property we need in this paper is the covarianceof
tial fields that we need in this paper. Consider the fol-
the wavelet transform with respect to dilation, i.e.,
lowingboundaryvalueproblemof the harmoniccontin-
uation for a field :
W,x0]
(b,a)-
W[g,
0]
(,). (3) v (q): 0, Vq: (, z) e a a+ (7)
This property implies a remarkable behavior of the (,z: 0) = 0() (8)
wavelet transform of homogeneousfunctions 0 of de-
gree a 6 for which
d[(,zk0)1
<. (S)
0 (x) - 0 (x) V > 0. (4) Here 0 (x) is a boundedand square-integrable func-
Let us recall that the Dirac and Heaviside distributions tion, and condition(9)implies that the field (x, z)is
uniquelydeterminedby 0 (x) and its boundarybehav-
are homogeneouswith - -n and - 0, respectively.
ior at infinity. The field is the harmonic continuation
For a functionsatisfying(4), (3) simplifiesto
of 0 from the hyperplane into the upper half-space
w [, 0] (, a) - w , 0] (, a), () defined by z > 0. The harmonic continuation can be
done through a convolution,
which indicates that the whole wavelet transform of
a homogeneousfunction can be obtained by dilting (, z) = (Vp , o) () (10)
and scalingany singlevoice (as originallynamedby (x,z) = W,0](x,z), (11)

I '

a) ' ' C) 10.0 ' ,

3.0 5.0
0.5

0.0

-0.5

0.0 -5.0
-1.0

-10.0
-5.0 0.0 5.0 -5.0 0.0 5.0 -5.0 0.0 5.0
X X X

Figure 1. Examplesof wavelets # belongingto the classdefinedby equation(22), includingthe

cases(a) 7 - 1, (b) 7 - 2, and (c) 7- 3. The casescorrespond to an operator (seeequations
(24) and(25)) actingasO/Ox,OU/Ox u, andOa/Ox a respectively.
 MOREAU ET AL.- WAVELET ANALYSIS OF POTENTIAL FIELDS 5005

) 40.0 C) 1.0
30.0

0.5

.o
.e-, 20.0

0.0
lO.O

,,tlll, , 1,11,11

O 10.0 -0.5

03s.o
._
1 0.0 ,,,lltllltll[lll[,,
400.0 600.0 800.0
-1.0
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5
Horizontal distance

) 0.50
..-...::...-...:.
-......:::_..........."
................ .-':--'::-
::-; .........
''":::':>-'-"i..-i::
"'-'-"-""'"-'-
"'"'""
'"'"'
30.0

,[.........,,....,._.........ii
--:--
--,-
,-
-,,.
.
--..-,.,:::,::
.................
.
.......
":"
'-'
'--:-:-::-::;-:':':""
e::- ':'q:'---
-..,,..:.:.,,,
.....................
-..E::

''i::
";'""---
<'-'-"-:-'*ii

'"'"'"'ii
.......................
'"ii:
":'
..- 1:"

................................
',
'

.................................
:'---':...'...-.-..
;

-'.
-'";
0.40

0.30
.............................

;.......
'-"'-4:....;;...'.-;..........
..................
"'"'"'"'"':'""':':''i;
':-
........
:-"-';
::":"--"--":i
"'"'"'"':''-''-''',
,,... .-
"'"'"""''""-'':''ii
...............
--"z---'i
....

0.20

10-01
s-
l
0.0 [i i i i i i i i , i i , , i , i [ i
200.0 4OO.O 600.0 8OO.O
0.10
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5
Horizontal distance Log(a)

Figure 2. Wavelettransformsof a (a) Dirac distributionwith regularityc -- -1 and a (b)

Heavisidedistributionwith c = 0. The grey maps (dark grey levelsfor negativevaluesand
light grey levelsfor positivevalues)representthe amplitude(in arbitrary units) of the wavelet
transformof the signalsshownjust below. The analyzingwaveletis shownin Figure lb. Observe
the typical cone-likestructureof the wavelettransformspointingtoward the homogeneitycenter
of the analyzedfunctions.This cone-likegeometrycan easilybe trackedwith the ridges(black
solidlines)of the wavelettransforms.(c,d) The modulusof the wavelettransformis takenalong
the ridge and plotted as a function of the dilation a. In this log-logdiagram, the modulus
of the wavelet transform varies linearly with a slope equal to the regularity c of the analyzed
homogeneousfunction.

where the Poissonkernel is given by with respectto the point (0, zo _<0) and whosesupport
is a subset of the lower half-space IR" x IR-. We have
p(x)-c,+z
(1+Ixl=) - zo],
Also, observe that the harmonic continuation may be
and the potential field correspondingto such a homo-
written under the form of a wavelet transform and that
geneoussource also is homogeneousof degree c + 2,
the Poissonkernel verifiesthe semigroupproperty, i.e.,
7)zp * 7)z,p- 7)z+z'p, (13)
5,z (16)
which will play a fundamental role in the remainder of
or, introducingthe measuredfield d0 (as),
this paper.
We shall now specializeour study to the particu- /).xo
(x) - A-"--2Ix,(1- A)Zo.], (17)
lar classof potentialfieldsproducedby homogeneous
where the dilation operator acts on the first n variables
sources.So, considernow the Poissonequation
(i.e., x) only. This last expression
showsthat for ho-
mogeneouspotential fields the dilation operator essen-
V5
(q)-- -er (q) q e I "+',
tially acts like a continuation operator. Indeed, compar-
ing (10) and (17), we obtain the followingequivalence:
wherethe sourceterm rr(q) is assumedto be a homo-
geneousdistributionof degreec(forexample,a dipole) /(z-x).P*-
 5006 MOREAU ET AL.' WAVELET ANALYSIS OF POTENTIAL FIELDS

2.3. Wavelet Analysis of Homogeneous #(x) - -(2/rr)x(lq-x)-2 (26)

Potential Fields
#(x) - -(2/r)(1-3x2)(lq-x)-a, (27)
We now usethe propertiesrecalledin sections2.1 and
2.2 to derive the main result of this paper. We begin
#(x) - (24/r)(1-x) (l+x2)-4, (28)
with the covarianceof the wavelettransform(equation respectively.For this classof wavelets,(23) can be re-
(3)) with respectto dilationandthe homogeneityof the duced to the following simple form'
fieldb(equation(17)) to obtainthe following'
w[a, o0](,, ):
w [, 0] (, ) - "w [, v0] (, )
= ,X-"-2W[#, (x, (1 - A)z)] (Ab,Aa)(19) -
a -- za
a
a q- za , 29)
Now the harmoniccontinuation(equation(10)) gives
It can be observedthat this expressionis very similar to
d [x,(1- A)z] - [V(_).p,d0](x), (20) (5) exceptthat the zo term is presentin both the scal-
which,insertedinto (19), reads ing and dilation factors on the right-hand side. This
results in a fundamental differencein the geometrical
w Is,0](,) - -- [(v(_)p, v) g, 0] (). translation of this equation since, contrary to the case
(21) of homogeneous functions for which the cone-likepat-
Here we have written the wavelet transform as a convo- tern convergeson the hyperplanea = 0 (Figure2), the
lution productas in (1). cone-likepattern implicit in (29) converges
belowthis
hyperplaneat the negativedilationa = zo (seeFigure
2.4. Wavelets Based on the Poisson Semigroup
3 and the discussionin section2.5). Indeed,up to the
We now introduce a new class of wavelets possessing following scaling and changeof coordinates,
remarkablepropertiesunderthe Poissonsemigroupand
which allowsa nice simplificationof (21) into a form w[g, 40](, ) ) w[g, 40](, ) (0)
verysimilarto (5) obtainedfor homogeneous
functions.
The waveletsbelongingto this classare suchthat the a ) a- z, (1)
harmoniccontinuationacts like a dilationas in (18),
(29) can be rewrittenundera form identicalto (6)'

(vp, ) - ) w Is,O0](,, a') - va,/w Is,O0](,, a).

whereboththescaling factorc andthe dilationa"
dependon a, a', andg only. Provided
the analyzing ()
In a way very similar to that which can be done for ho-
waveletg satisfies(22), (21) simplifiesinto
mogeneousfunctions, the wavelet transform then allows
w[g, 40](, a) - -- [cV,,g,40]() for a straightforwarddeterminationof the regularity c
of the sourcecausingthe analyzed potential field.

2.5. Synthetic Example

which furnishes a relation between the voices of the
wavelet transform of the homogeneous field. This exampleillustratesthe applicationof (32) to po-
A remainingtask is to obtainexplicitexpressions
for c tential fields created by isolated homogeneoussources.
anda" in termsofa, A,andz. It canbeshown
[Moreau We work in a two-dimensional physical space corre-
et al., 1997]that a wholeclassof waveletsatisfying
(22) spondingto n - 1. The first exampleis shownin Figure
can be constructedby applying a linear operatori to 3a and correspondsto the potential of a vertical dipole
the Poisson kernel p, i.e., located at x = 300 and zo = -20. This dipolar source
can be written as a (x, z) = (O/Oz)5(x - 300,z + 20)
g - Cp. (4)
and has a homogeneityc = -3. The exampleshownin
We haveshownthat a sucient conditionto satisfy(22) Figure 3b correspondsto a quadrupolar sourcewith a
is that i be a Fourier multiplier homogeneous
of degree regularity c = -4. The wavelettransformsof the fields
produced by these sourceshave been computed with
7, i.e., such that
A A A
the waveletshownin Figurei (7 = 1) andhavea cone-
c -(), ) ()() () - (), () like structure very similar to the one obtained when
analyzinghomogeneous functions.However,as already
wherefi(u) standsfor the Fouriertransformof p(x). said, the ridgesnow convergetoward the homogeneity
Several waveletsobtained with the operator acting center of the source, i.e., below the line a = 0. We
as O/Ox, 02/Ox, and Oa/Ox
a are shownin Figure1. then observe that the wavelet transform of potential
Their expressionsare fields caused by homogeneoussourcespossessesa re-
 MOREAU ET AL.: WAVELET ANALYSIS OF POTENTIAL FIELDS 5007

-[----"'"'"'"'"'"'"'">..,"...:'i:!'
-::'&-i--';i',
..?:
25 o-[-"-"'<'"'"'""'
'"''''>':"',<:-'"::::::::
i.::...- ::'
'

0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0

Dilation

L
._.1
-3.3
0.
', , , I , , , , I , , , , I , , , I I , , I
-3.8
100.0 200.0 3.0 400.0 5.0 600.0
1.2 1.4 1.8 1.8

Horizontal distance Log(dilation + z)

) _.0001
.........

:: .o0002

0.0' _.0003

0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0

-25.0'

f) -3.8 Dilation

, [ i , i , , , , i , , , , , , , i , -1 , i i i , ] , i
-5.8 .......

100.0 200.0 300.0 400.0 500.0 600.0

1.2 1.4 1.8 1.8

Horizontal distance Log(dilation + z)

Figure 3. Wavelettransformsof potentialfieldscausedby a (a) verticaldipoleand by a (b)

quadrupole. The analyzing wavelet is the one shown in Figure la. As for pure singularities
(see Figure 2), thesewavelettransformsalso displaya cone-likepattern, but it points toward
the location of the homogeneitycenter at a negative dilation correspondingto the depth of the
causativesource.(c,e) When plottedin a log-logdiagram,the amplitudeof the wavelettransform
alongthe ridgesdoesnot vary linearly. (d,f) Instead,both a changeof coordinatesand a scaling
are necessaryto recover the linear variation with a slope equal to the homogeneity of the source
term.

markablegeometricalproperty which allowsfor an easy which shows that the wavelet transform of the data
location, both horizontal and vertical, of the causative is the sum of a deterministicpart 142[g,b0](b,a) with
sources.The amplitude of the wavelettransformstaken a stochasticprocess142[g,y] (b,a) whoseinfluencede-
alongthe ridge doesnot vary linearly asobservedfor the pends on the statistical nature of the noise. For in-
ridgesof the wavelet transformsof homogeneous func-
stance,if (x) is Gaussianwhite noisewith zero mean
tions; instead,a scaling(equation(30)) and a change and variance r,2 the linearityof the wavelettransform
of coordinates(equation(31)) are necessaryto recover ensuresthat 142[g,] (b,a) is alsoGaussiannoisewith a
a linear law with a slopefi: -7 + + 2. variance

3. Practical Issues rrv[a,v

] (a)
3.1. Analyzing Noisy Daa
We now address the influence of noise in the detection
procedureexplainedabove.Suppose
that the data d (x) (35)
are such that

(x) - (x) +. (x), (aa) where

Eg- f_+g2(()d( istheenergy
oftheanalyz-
wherey (x) represents
the noisepresentin the data to ing wavelet. Equation (35) showsthat the varianceof
be analyzed. Of course, ]4;[/7,u] (b,a), whichis alsothe varianceof the wavelet
transformof the data, varieslike a-1 Thus the fluc-
142[g,d](b,a) - 142[g,b0](b,a) + 142[g,,] (b,a), (34) tuationsof W [g,u](b,a) decrease
like a-1/2, and the
 $008 MOREAU ET AL.' WAVELET ANALYSIS OF POTENTIAL FIELDS

wavelet transform at small dilations will be more cor- 3.2. Fields Produced by Extended Sources
rupted by the noisethan it is at large dilations. Asymp-
The analyzed potential fields are always caused by
totically, we expect that
distributed sourceswhich cannot be represented by a
w is, 4 a >> W iS, a), singlehomogeneoussource.In sucha situation the mea-
sured field 0 can be written as a convolution product,
and

14'[g,d] (b,a << ac) - W[g, u](b,a) , (37) 0(x) - dz [s(., z), (7 (., z)] (x), (38)
where ac is a corner dilation correspondingto a signal-
to-noise ratio of the order of 1. This asymptotic be- wheres (x, z) is the sourceterm and (7 (x, z) is a suit-
havior can be checked in Figure 4, which represents able Green function. The wavelet transform of the field
the wavelet transforms of the same potential fields as 0 reads
those in Figure 3 but corrupted by a Gaussian white
noise. We observe that for small dilations the ampli-
W[g, d0](b,a) - rag * s (., z), G (., z) dz (b)
tude of the wavelet transform taken along the ridges
strongly departs from the linear variation related to the
deterministicpart of the wavelettransform(afterapply- = 7)ap, s (-, z), G (-, z)dz (b)
ing the scalingand the translation). This linear vari-
ation is preserved at sufficiently large dilations where
= VL, Vp, s (-, z), G (., z)dz (b)(39)
the stochastic part of the wavelet transform becomes
negligible. As can be checkedin Figure 4, the corner
dilation a is well defined, and the slope of the ridge is where the last line h been obtained by writing the
stable for a > a. The cone-like pattern is distorted by action of the Fourier multiplier as the convolution
the stochastic part of the wavelet transform, but as can product L.. Rearranging the terms and introducing
the transformed source distribution
be observed, this distortion is minimized for the lines
of extrerna where the signal-to-noiseratio is maximum. (x, (., (x), (40)
This is why these lines remain accurately straight and
intersect near the right depth zo as long as only the we obtain
dilations a > a are considered. This example shows
that the wavelet analysis can be locally adapted with W [g,do](a,a) =
respect to the signal-to-noiseratio depending on the
relative amplitude of the analyzed anomalies compared
vp, a(-,4d
with the noise amplitude. This constitutes an advan-
tage not shared by the Euler deconvolutionmethod.
as
(.,z),G(-,z)dz]
(b).
(41)
1 2 -2.0

.,,,,,,.,,,..................:.......,.:.,..,...,....`......,.:,,.,.`:
........
............ ';" line
1
-2.22
, , , , .
-4.0
1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8

-25.0 Log(dilation+z)

0.1

- 0.0
100.0 200.0 300.0 400.0 500.0 600.0 -4.0 ' , ' ,
1.2 1.4 11.6 1.8
Horizontal Distance Log(dilation+z)

Figure 4. (left) Wavelettransformof the examplesignalshownin Figure3a but pollutedby

Gaussian white noise. Many lines of extrema have appearedowing to this noise, but the two
lines(labeledI and 2) observed
in Figure3 and corresponding
to the deterministic
part of the
wavelet transform remain unaltered exceptfor small dilations,and they convergetoward the right
locationof the source.(right) Whenproperlyscaled,the ridgesare accuratelystraightbeyonda
well-defined corner dilation.
 MOREAU ET AL.' WAVELET ANALYSIS OF POTENTIAL FIELDS 5009

The sourcesL (x, z) producesthe transformedpotential

field

0,L (x) - dz [sr (-, z), G (., z)] (x), (42)

and we finally obtain the following expressionfor the

wavelet transform of the measured field b0:

142[#,q0](b,a) = a [ap * 0,r] (b). (43) 12

Comparingthis equationwith (10), we observethat the

wavelet transform of 0 is the harmonic continuation
r (x, a) of the field 0,r (x) causedby the transformed
-45

3.3. Choosing the Analyzing Wavelet

I i i ,

We now address the question of the choice of the an-

7=3, d3/dx3 1 2 3 4S6
alyzing wavelet g. In the case of a distributed source
s (x, z), the analyzingwaveletplays an importantrole
sinceit controlsthe properties of the transformed source
,000 ..

distributionsr (x, z). In practice,we want the analyz-

ing wavelet to produce a transformed sourcecomposed -33
-2

of scattered homogeneoussourcesin order to locally

apply the theory developed in section 2. However, re-
call that the operator which defines the analyzing
wavelet acts through a convolutionover the x variable
only (seeequation(40)) and that the verticaldimen-
sion z is not directly accessible. From the point of i [ i , I i i i i I [ [ i i I i i i i I , ] i , I

view of inverse problem theory, this translates into the 1000.0 2000.0 3000.0 4000.0 5000.0

Horizontal Distance
fact that all sourcess (z) independentof the horizon-
tal variable x belong to the null space of the wavelet Figure 5. Wavelettransformsof the potentialfield
transform in the sensethat such sourcesproduce con- producedby a prismaticbody with a verticalleft edge
stant potential fields with a vanishing wavelet trans- and an inclined(45) right one. The depthto top of
form. This implies that the wavelet transform only en- the prismequals20 units lengthand the depthto bot-
ables the detection of horizontal variations in the source tom equals80 units length. The prism has a constant
verticalmagnetization.Thesewavelettransformshave
s (x, z). Forthefrequently
encountered situation
where been obtained with the three wavelets shown in Figure
the sourceis smooth almost everywhereand possesses i and corresponding to differentoperators/2 (seetext
sharp variations occupyinga sparsesubsetof x - for a detaileddiscussion).
(e.g.,juxtapositionof homogeneousblocks),the trans-
formedsources (x, z) takeslarge valuesonly in the
neighborhoodof the horizontal sharp variations.
Figure 5 showsthe exampleof a prismatic sourcewith the scalingdefinedby (30) and (31). Since7 is known,
a constant vertical magnetization inside the prism and the only variable parameter is zo, which, in practice, is
no magnetization elsewhere.The left edgeof the prism determined by spanningan a priori depth interval and
is vertical,and the right oneis inclinedrightward(45). by quantifying the linear characterof the transformed
The depth to top equals 20, and the depth to bottom experimentalridgeby fitting (in the leastsquaressense
equals 80 units of length. The wavelet transform com- in the presentstudy) a polynomialof degree1. This is
putedwith g (x)= (d/dx)p(x) (7 = 1) (Figure5, top) shownin Figure 6 (middle)wherethe L2 misfit curves
takes large valuesabove the lateral edgesof the prism possessa single minimum. The slope fi of the fitted
and small onesabove the horizontal edges. The trans- linesis alsogivenin Figure 6 (top). We observethat
formedsources (x, z) = (d/dx) s (x, z) is physically fi _ -1 so that c _ -2, which is compatible with the
made of two lines of dipolaf sourceslocated on the lat- fact that the transformed sourceis a line of dipoles, i.e.,
eral edgesof the prism. Since there is only one line of a finite integral of dipolesalongthe edgesof the prism.
maxima above each edge, the depth of the sourcecan- The best-fitting depthsare 37 and 47 units of length for
not be determined by looking for the intersectionof the the left and right edge,respectively.The ridgesrescaled
lines of maxima as in the precedingexamples.Instead, accordingto thesevaluesare shownin Figure 6 (bot-
the depth can only be determined by looking for the tom) and appearaccuratelylinear. The depthobtained
values of z at which the ridges become linear under for the vertical edge falls near the upper third of the
 5010 MOREAU ET AL.' WAVELET ANALYSIS OF POTENTIAL FIELDS

20 40 60 80 100 20 40 60 80 100
_

7 .... (1)
' 7 _

slop
best _

20 40 60 80 100 20 40 60 80 100

de[h deoth

0.8

0.3
() (2)
0.4

" O0

-0 2 -0 2 , I , I ,
14 16 1.8 20 2.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2.0 2.2
log(a+37) log(a+4?)

Figure 6. Results of the inversionof the ridgesextracted from the wavelet transform displayed
in the top of Figure 5 and obtainedwith the L - d/dx operatorproducingthe 7 = i wavelet
shownin Figure la. (top) Corresponding slope/ of the leastsquaresline is adjustedfor each
valueof z,. (middle) Misfit betweenthe leastsquaresline and the rescaledridgeis shownas a
functionof the parameterz,. (bottom) Ridgeswererescaledwith the best z, obtainedby the
least squares analysis.

edge, while the depth derived for the inclinededgefalls The wavelettransformshownin Figure 5 (bottom)
near the barycenter of the edge. corresponds
to theanalyzing
wavelet
# (x) - da/dxap(x)
The wavelettransformshownin Figure 5 (middle) (7- 3). The transformedsourcecorresponds to two
corresponds
to theanalyzing
wavelet
g(x)= (d2/dx') lines of octupolar sourceslocated on the lateral edges
p (x) (7 = 2), and the transformedsourcecorresponds of the prism, and now three lines of extrema converge
to two lines of quadrupolar sourceslocated on the lat- aboveeachlateral edgeof the prism (Figure 5). Lines
eral edges of the prism. Two lines of extrema exist 1, 2, and 3 form a symmetrical pattern above the left
above each edge, and as for the preceding example, edgeof the prism and convergetoward a commonpoint
the misfit curvespossessa singleminimum. The depths located at a depth of 33 units of length. The three lines
found for the left vertical edge are very similar, as and associatedwith the right edgeare not symmetricaland
30 for lines 1 and 2, respectively, while those for the do not convergetoward a commonpoint. Instead, lines
right inclined edge are quite different: 32 for line 3 lo- 4 and 5 convergeat a depth of 24 units while the right-
cated near the shallowend of the edge and 64 for line most line cuts the two companionlines at greater depths
4 located toward the deep end of the edge.The depth (50 and 75). The depthsobtainedfor eachof the three
obtainedfrom the intersection of the ridges(seeFigure ridgeslocated on the left edge are quite similar: 21.5,
5) equals31 for the left edgeand is consistentwith the 23.9, and 21.5 for lines 1, 2, and 3, respectively. The
resultsobtainedfrom the leastsquaresanalysisjust dis- best fi are also very similar: -2.29,-2.50, and -2.29
cussed.The depth obtainedfor the right edgeroughly for lines 1, 2, and 3. As in the former two examples,
fallsjust betweenthe two depthsobtainedby analyzing the rescaledridges are linear. The depths obtained by
the two ridgesindependently.The ridgesrescaledac- analyzing the three ridges located above the right edge
cordingto the optimal depthsare foundto be accurately are consistent with the one derived from the intersec-
linear as in the preceedingexample. The slopesfor lines tion of the linesof extrema(seeFigure5). Lines4 and
1, 2, and 3 fall near -1.75, and the slopefor line 4 is 5 have correspondingdepths equal to 17.9 and 21.5,
larger (-2.14). These valuesfall near the theoretical respectively, and they fall near the shallow end of the
value -2 correspondingto a pure dipolaf source,and right edge, while the depth for line 6 equals75.2 and
they are compatible with the fact that the transformed falls near the deep end of the edge.
sourcesare finite integrals of quadrupolar sources. Although the theory derivedfor homogeneous sources
 MOREAU ET AL.- WAVELET
is not directly applicable to extended sources,the three
examplespresented above show that the wavelet trans-
form yet enablesus to locate, both horizontally and ver-
tically, the sharp edgesof extendedsources.The depths
obtained with the ridges fall within the depth range
of the detected edges, and for the vertical edge these
depths correspondto the upper part of the source. Fur-
thermore,
thelarger7, theshallower This associated
thedepths. with thesetwo lines(Figure8) givesa depth
can be explained by the fact that the transformedsource
is made of multipoles of larger order when 7 is larger
and that the resultingpotentialfield is lesscontrolled campus map. The best slopesfi equal -2.65 and -2.85
by the deep parts of the source. For the inclined edge,
the depth obtained with the 7 - i wavelet falls near
the barycenter of the edge, but for larger 7 the situa-
tion becomesmore complicatedsince the higher order
of derivation eventually allowsthe separation of the ex-
tremities of the edgeasis particularly clear for the 7 = 3
example. However, it must be recalled that the 7 = 3
analyzingwavelet amplifiesthe noisepresentin the data
and that the small dilations are more corrupted than
those for the 7 - i case.
4. Field Example
We now briefly discussan application of the wavelet
transform to a near-surfacemagnetic survey where the
two-dimensional approximation is valid. This enables
a much easier representation of the results than that
in a full three-dimensionalgeometry. In this example
the data were acquired in a small area over a steel pipe
carrying hot water acrossour university campus. Since
the location of the pipe is well known, this example
provides a tight control of the method. The measure-
ments were made with a magnetometer operating at
a sampling interval of 0.25 m. The total duration of
wavelet transform
5xlO 4
4.8x10 4
Figure 7. (top) Wavelettransformand (bottom)magneticprofiledisplayedfor the analyzing
waveletshownin Figure la. The analyzingwaveletwasobtainedwith the L - d/dx operator.
ANALYSIS OF POTENTIAL FIELDS 5011
the survey was less than a quarter of an hour so that
no diurnal correction was needed. The intensity of the
magnetic field recorded along tracks perpendicular to
the pipesis shownin Figure7 (bottom).
The wavelet transform of the data is also shown in
Figure 7 (top) and was computedwith the analyzing
wavelet shown in Figure la. The analysisof the ridges
of 5.8 and 5.3 unit lengths, i.e., 1.5 and 1.3 m. These
valuesfully agreewith the value (1.6 m) givenon the
and give sourcehomogeneitiesa of the same value be-
cause one must add one more derivative to 7 since we
analyze a magnetic field instead of a potential. The
a values obtained fall very near the theoretical value
(-3.0) corresponding
to a pure dipolar source. The
ridges rescaled according to the best depths found are
shownin Figure8 (bottom). One can observethat the
rescaledridges are accurately linear on the whole dila-
tion interval and that no noise effect is apparent in the
small dilation part (for comparison,refer to Figure 4
and to section3.1 concerningthe effectsof noise).
5. Conclusion
The method presented in this study belongs to the
classof the processingmethods which transfer the in-
formation content of the data into an auxiliary space.
Here the target spaceis the continuouswavelet trans-
form domain where the local homogeneity of the ana-
lyzed field can be easily obtained. We have shown that
the lines of extrema of the wavelet transform provide
a sufficientsubset containing the relevant information
necessaryto recover the main parameter of the homo-
geneouscausativesources(depth, horizontallocation,
Time
 5012 MOREAU ET AL.' WAVELET ANALYSIS OF POTENTIAL FIELDS

5 10 15 10 15

? ' ' (z)

I , , I , , , , I , , , ,
? slop
best
, , , I , , ,
_

be

5 10 15 10 15

deoth deuth

3.0
.0[ i ' i ' ! i
(2)

(!) :2.5

2.0

1.5 , , , ,
1.5 I , I , I ,
0.8 0'.9 1.0 1.1 1.2 0.8 0,9 1.0 1.1 1.2

log(a+5.8) log(a+5,3)

Figure 8. (top andmiddle)Results(seecaptionof Figure6 for details)of the inversion

of
the ridgesextractedfrom the wavelettransformdisplayedin Figure 7 and obtainedwith the
L - d/dx operator(analyzingwaveletin Figurela). (bottom)Observethat the rescaled
ridges
are linear on the whole dilation interval and that no noise effect is visible at small dilations.

strength,and degreeof homogeneity).The comprehen- References

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