Assume that the intrusion has a positive magnetic susceptibility contrast, that induced magnetization dominates its remanent magnetization, and that the local present-day geomagnetic field points roughly northward and downward, as in this northern mid-latitude setting. Write
where is the anomalous magnetic field and the last expression assumes . A total-field magnetic anomaly measures a field projection, so it need not have the same sign everywhere above a high-susceptibility body.[ref]
The 100 km east–west extent makes an approximately two-dimensional, east–west-striking body a useful model away from its ends. On a profile drawn north on the left, south on the right, the expected normally induced response has a subsidiary negative lobe on the northern side and a stronger positive lobe over the body, displaced towards the south. The northward horizontal field component makes the anomaly asymmetric; its downward component produces the dominant positive response. The field falls back towards the regional value away from the intrusion. Broad bodies can have edge shoulders or a broad central high, so the sketch represents a qualitative shape rather than one uniquely specified curve.
Figure 1.
North–south total-field anomaly of a normally induced long east–west magnetic body
. An original infinite-strike line-dipole calculation illustrates the northern low and southward-displaced main high. The 65-degree downward inclination is illustrative; the geometry underneath is schematic and is not a quantitative model of the source intrusion. Details.
An exactly vertical inducing field would remove this north–south skew for a symmetric induced body. Real magnetic inclination and magnetic declination should be taken from a suitable geomagnetic field model for the survey date and location; no exact local value is supplied here. Strong oblique or reversed remanent magnetization can shift or reverse the lobes, and heterogeneous magnetic susceptibility, body dip and three-dimensional end effects can alter the profile. Higher magnetic susceptibility alone does not determine a unique amplitude or polarity pattern without these qualifications.
The sketches assume the car can be approximated by a compact magnetic dipole whose induced magnetic moment is parallel to the local geomagnetic field. The host contributes negligible local contrast. Real steel also has remanent magnetization and shape-dependent magnetization, so the car's actual profile need not follow this idealization. A proton-precession magnetometer observes
when . This scalar total-field magnetic anomaly must not be confused with a fixed vertical field component. For induced , the magnetic dipole field gives
Reversing both the inducing field and induced moment leaves this total-field magnetic anomaly unchanged, exactly for the magnitude definition as well as in the weak-anomaly approximation.[ref]
Figure 1.
Induced magnetic dipole profiles at the magnetic poles and equator
. Original ideal profiles in arbitrary units for a dipole at unit burial depth. The polar curves coincide. At the equator, a north–south traverse has a central low and positive shoulders, whereas an east–west traverse has a central low without positive shoulders. Car shape and remanence are excluded. Details.