by LIVIU CONSTANTINESCU
The vertical gradient of gravity, whose normal values have long been used
for correcting gravity data in order to bring them into a state of comparability,
has provided to present wider interest with its anomalous values for both geodetical
and geophysical research and applications.
The anomalous vertical gradients of gravity, not yet accessible to direct measurements,
are available as local values by means of "vertical gravity measurements" and
as regional ones, as obtained by computation from plane horizontal distributions
of gravity. The main applications of the vertical gravity gradient are in the
fields of geodesy (geodetical gravimetry) and applied geophysics (geological
gravimetry), both for correcting (or reducing) observational gravity data and
for using its anomalies in studies concerning the Earth's figure, respectively
in getting information on the subterranean mass distribution, i.e. on the underground
structure.
Promising prospects are offered by contingent future developments in determining
as well as in using the values of the vertical gradient of gravity.