Seismic profiling and gravity inversion are the main geophysical methods for studying the Moho depth. Previous studies calculated the residual gravity anomalies caused by Moho undulations and then used seismic Moho depth data to constrain the parameters for frequency-domain gravity inversion, thereby generating a high-resolution Moho depth distribution map of the South China Sea. However, gravity inversion involves two key parameters—the density contrast across the Moho and the regional reference Moho depth—so the Moho depth derived from conventional analytical formulas inevitably contains certain errors. This paper adopts a machine learning approach to directly establish a correlation model between residual gravity anomalies and seismic Moho depths. Using the residual gravity anomalies from previous studies, seismic Moho depth points, and the machine learning model, we predict the Moho depth. The results show that the machine learning model outperforms traditional methods in Moho depth inversion, with a higher R2 and lower NRMSE, MAE, and RMSE values. Furthermore, this paper recalculates the residual gravity anomalies of the South China Sea Basin and its peripheral regions with updated data, and compiles and collects recent seismic Moho depth data in this region. The machine learning model is then used to re-predict the Moho depth, and statistical metrics indicate that the new predictions are more accurate.
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