National Gravity Compilation 2019: First Vertical Derivative Grid of Australia

Nearly 1.4 million gravity stations from the Australian National Gravity Database, supplemented by marine data, were used to generate this grid. The image represents the first vertical derivative of de-trended global isostatic residual anomalies, processed from ground and offshore data collected from the 1940s to 2019. The grid has a cell size of approximately 435 meters and covers Australia and its continental margins.

Use Cases

• Map subsurface geological structures based on gravity anomaly patterns.
• Identify potential mineral or hydrocarbon resources based on density contrasts revealed in the grid.
• Support regional tectonic and crustal studies based on the isostatic residual anomalies.
• Integrate with other geophysical data (e.g., magnetic, seismic) for comprehensive geological interpretation.

Strengths

• Derived from nearly 1.4 million gravity stations, providing dense continental coverage.
• Data quality was checked by GA geophysicists to ensure it is fit-for-purpose.
• Incorporates decades of data from government, industry, and academia, collected from the 1940s to 2019.
• Station spacing in major parts of the continent is between 2.5 and 7 kilometers.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for specific analytical methods.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network, incorporating data from Commonwealth, State/Territory Governments, industry, universities, and Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Collection Method

Ground and marine gravity observations processed via standard methods and FFT to produce a first vertical derivative grid.

Time Range

Data collected from the 1940s to September 2019.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-10 17:10:47.908504; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Australia and its continental margins.