Project Details
Projekt
Central Geophysical Project for prospecting of archaeological sites in the onshore-offshore transition zone ("amphibic geophysics")
Applicant
Professor Dr. Wolfgang Rabbel
Subject Area
Geophysics
Term
from 2012 to 2021
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 219410787
The aim of the submitted research proposal is geophysical prospection of archaeological sites located in the amphibic zone. The investigation of this zone is clearly one of the central questions regarding the theme of the priority program - the archaeological investigation of harbor structures. Connected with this theme are many archaeological and geoarchaeological applications aiming at surveying remains of buildings as well as geological boundary conditions of possible harbor sites. It is planned to investigate 25 different locations proposed by 8 partner projects submitted in parallel to the present proposal. Cooperation and geophysical investigation plans have been agreed upon beforehand between the involved working groups. The concrete requirements of prospecting the amphibic zone imply further methodical objectives of the planned project: Further development and optimization of existing survey methods based on relevant field examples as well as complementing existing methods through new instrumentation and interpretation meth-ods based on the experience gained in Phase 1 of SPP 1630. The work performed in the first funding peri-od led to identifying the following problems regarding the investigation of harbor sites. Georadar and geoe-lectrics show little or no depth penetration in areas of high electric conductivity occurring frequently in case of partly silted partly flooded areas (such as salt marsh or lagunes). Onshore measurements aiming at geo-archaeological targets often suffer from a prospection gap between, on the one hand, the shallow depths accessible by georadar and geoelectrics in high resolution and, on the other hand, deeply penetrating seis-mic refraction or reflection surveys. Water depth variation near the shoreline may lead to strong attenuation and distortion of ground signals in magnetic measurements and to prominent complicated reverberations in the water column in seismic prospecting that may cover the desired reflections from subsurface structures. The aim of solving these problems defines the requirements in research and development of the Central Geophysical Project in the second project phase. The suggested solution approaches include the applica-tion of surface waves at the sea floor, seismic waveform tomography, multi-source-and-sensor hydroacous-tics (array technique) and seafloor-adapted offshore magnetics. Waveform tomography represents the most promising modern approach of seismic interpretation that would be methodically adapted and applied to archaeological prospecting for the first time.
DFG Programme
Priority Programmes
Co-Investigator
Dr. Dennis Wilken
