Three-dimensional ground-penetrating radar imaging of sedimentary structures, fractures, and archaeological features at submeter resolution

Contemporary geoscientific shallow-subsurface assessment chiefly relies on outcrops, drilling, excavations, and sometimes geophysics. Often the information gathered is insufficient to accurately characterize the archaeological and/or geologic record and ongoing shallow-subsurface processes that affe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geology (Boulder) 2004-11, Vol.32 (11), p.933-936
Main Authors: Grasmueck, Mark, Weger, Ralf, Horstmeyer, Heinrich
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alicante Spain
applied (geophysical surveys & methods)
archaeological sites
Archaeology
Atlantic Coastal Plain
bars
carbonate rocks
case studies
Cenozoic
electromagnetic methods
Europe
Florida
fractured materials
fractures
Geology
geophysical methods
geophysical surveys
Geophysics
ground-penetrating radar
Iberian Peninsula
image analysis
joints
limestone
longshore bars
Mesozoic
Miami Formation
oolite
Pleistocene
Quaternary
Radar
radar methods
sedimentary rocks
sedimentary structures
Sediments
shallow depth
Southern Atlantic Coastal Plain
Southern Europe
Spain
style
surveys
three-dimensional models
Triassic
United States
Valencia region
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Description
Summary:Contemporary geoscientific shallow-subsurface assessment chiefly relies on outcrops, drilling, excavations, and sometimes geophysics. Often the information gathered is insufficient to accurately characterize the archaeological and/or geologic record and ongoing shallow-subsurface processes that affect a variety of economic and environmental aspects of our society. The extra effort of acquiring very dense ground-penetrating radar (GPR) survey grids and three-dimensional (3D) data processing transforms uncorrelatable and uninterpretable GPR signals into clear images of complex shallow-subsurface anatomy with an unprecedented resolution. Here we present two examples of noninvasive 3D shallow-subsurface imaging. Example 1 images decimeter- to meter-scale sedimentary structures in a Pleistocene oolite shoal-barrier bar setting. Example 2 images the fracture network in a Triassic limestone quarry. Denser-than-quarter-wavelength grid acquisition in combination with 3D migration processing focuses scattered energy and removes out-of-plane reflections. In addition to conventional vertical cross sections, horizontal depth slices and data volume animations reveal previously unseen diagnostic patterns of past human activities, laterally changing depositional processes, and fracture networks including near-vertical joints with millimeter apertures.
ISSN:0091-7613
1943-2682
DOI:10.1130/G20776.1