Application of Equivalent Source Magnetic Dipole (ESMD) Method to Calculate Curie Depth Using MF5 Satellite Magnetic Model

One of the most important parameters required for tectonic interpretation of the earth’s crust activities is knowledge of temperature within the earth. However, this parameter is rarely well studied. Having estimated curie depth (forming the base of magnetic crust), a boundary condition of temperature is obtained for continental crust. This paper applies equivalent source magnetic dipole method to calculate curie depth based on satellite magnetic models. In fact, a new and different method of applying geomagnetism to estimate curie depth is discussed. In this paper, the new magnetic field model MF5 is used to calculate curie depth of an area located within 28-36◦ N and 56-64◦ E. First, crustal induced field is calculated using magnetic field model MF5. Then, an initial VIS model is prepared and its calculated field at the satellite altitude is compared with the observed model. The results show that the curie depth in the study area is shallower than the moho and lies within the earth’s crust. All the programming of this research was done in MATLAB R2008a.