Gravity field of Sarmatia according to satellite data (model EIGEN-6S2) and its interpretation

Abstract

The paper presents a brief overview of satellite observations of the CHAMP, GRACE and GOCE missions to study the Earth’s global gravity field, and the used mathematical apparatus in the form of an expansion of the geopotential in spherical harmonics. The application of satellite data in various fields of Earth Sciences is considered. As a basic global model of the Earth’s gravity field based on satellite data we used the EIGEN-6S2 model [Rudenko et al, 2014] that combines satellite mission data GRACE and GOCE, and also uses satellite data of LAGEOUS laser ranging.  On its basis, the gravity field of Sarmatia was analyzed using the Free Air anomalies, Bouguer anomalies, the second radial derivative of the geopotential and the geoid heights. The geological units of Sarmatia and its surroundings are most clearly manifested in the Free Air anomalies and in the distribution of the second derivative of the geopotential, showing differences in the gravity field pattern of the Ukrainian Shield, the Voronezh Massif, and the Pripyat-Dnieper-Donets basin (PDDB) with characteristic anomalies of the general northwest strike. The continuation of the PDDB in a southeastern direction through the Karpinsky Swell to the northern part of the Caspian Sea confirms the existence of an extended ancient tectonic zone of the Sarmato-Turanian lineament. The geoid within Sarmatia shows in general a regional west-east gradient change from +40 m in the west to -10 m in the east. Such large-scale geoid changes are determined by the Sarmatia position between two global geoid anomalies — the maximum of the North Atlantic and the minimum of the Indian Ocean.