A new MATLAB code for locating lineaments in the earth’s crust from gravity data—a case of the transition zone between Benue basin and Lake Chad basin: Cameroon

This paper presents a new MATLAB code facilitating the localization of lineaments in the earth’s crust. The proposed approach is based on a combination of several gravity data processing methods (polynomial separation, upward continuation, horizontal gradient calculation, localization of gradient maxima). To write this code, an algorithm based on a mathematical analysis which takes into account these methods was established. This code separates Bouguer anomalies into regional and residual anomalies, upward-continues residual anomalies at several depths, calculates their horizontal gradients for each depth, and determines the maxima of these gradients. To demonstrate its reliability and efficiency, the code was first applied to synthetic data produced by a prism before being applied to gravity data from the transition zone between the Benue basin and Lake Chad basin. Analysis of the results obtained shows that several lineaments already detected by previous geological and geophysical studies have been identified and localized and new lineaments have been highlighted. The MATLAB code presented in this study allows to simultaneously performing several filters such as polynomial separation, upward continuation, horizontal gradient, and also the localization of the maxima used in geosciences to localize the lineaments. This code is simple, runs quickly, and can be easily modified and adapted to the needs of the researcher.