Techniques, analysis, and noise in a Salt Lake Valley 4D gravity experiment

Repeated high-precision gravity measurements using an automated gravimeter and analysis of time series of 1-Hz samples allowed gravity measurements to be made with an accuracy of 5μGal or better. Nonlinear instrument drift was removed using a new empirical staircase function built from multiple station loops. The new technique was developed between March 1999 and September 2000 in a pilot study conducted in the southern Salt Lake Valley along an east-west profile of eight stations from the Wasatch Mountains to the Jordan River. Gravity changes at eight profile stations were referenced to a set of five stations in the northern Salt Lake Valley, which showed residual signals of <10μGal in amplitude, assuming a reference station near the Great Salt Lake to be stable. Referenced changes showed maximum amplitudes of −40 through +40μGal at profile stations, with minima in summer 1999, maxima in winter 1999–2000, and some decrease through summer 2000. Gravity signals were likely a composite of production-induced changes monitored by well-water levels, elevation changes, precipitation-induced vadose-zone changes, and local irrigation effects for which magnitudes were estimated quantitatively.