Gravity and magnetic field features and the prospects of iron deposits in the eastern Hebei province, China

Abstract To study the features of the gravity and magnetic anomalies and the prospects of iron deposits in the eastern Hebei province, we have collected and arranged gravity data at scales of 1:50,000 and 1:200,000 and aeromagnetic data at scales of 1:25,000 and 1:200,000. Then, we have separated the Bouguer gravity anomaly and the aeromagnetic anomaly by reduction to the pole (RTP) by the moving average method and processed these two anomalies using the total horizontal gradient method and the vertical second derivative method. Combined with existing geologic and geophysical research, we have studied the features of the gravity and magnetic anomalies and investigated the corresponding relationship between the distribution of iron deposits and these anomalies, and then we predicted the favorable areas for iron deposits in the eastern Hebei province. The results find that there is a good corresponding relationship between the distribution of iron deposits and the gravity and magnetic anomalies in the eastern Hebei province. Identification marks of the gravity and magnetic anomalies are determined to find the iron deposits in the eastern Hebei province, including the magnetic highs of the local magnetic anomaly and the vertical second derivative anomaly, the gravity highs of the local gravity anomaly and the vertical second derivative anomaly, the gradient belts of the Bouguer gravity anomaly, the high-value zones of the RTP aeromagnetic anomaly, and the extreme-value zones of the total horizontal gradient of the Bouguer gravity anomaly and the RTP aeromagnetic anomaly. There are 17 favorable areas for iron deposits in the eastern Hebei province, and these favorable areas display complex trends, including east–west-trending, north-northwest-trending, and northeast-east-trending features.