Geomagnetic and Geoelectric Prospection on a Roman Iron Production Facility in Hüttenberg, Austria ( Ferrum Noricum )

Abstract

Geophysical prospection has been applied in the Hüttenberg area (Carinthia, Austria), where important parts of the Roman iron production in the province of Noricum between the first century bc and the fourth century ad are located. A combination of geomagnetic, geoelectric and electromagnetic measurements at different scales yielded information about the extent of the industrial complex and the location of yet undiscovered subsurface monuments in the surrounding area of the Semlach-Eisner archaeological site. The vertical and lateral extension of a slag deposit from the smelting activities could be determined by means of geomagnetic mapping and multi-electrode geoelectric profiles. For the prediction of the continuation of walls in the subsurface outside the excavated area, the total horizontal derivative of the magnetic anomaly as well as geoelectric measurements were most suitable, whereas electromagnetic measurements were not successful owing to the high conductivity of widely spread pieces of slag. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Methanogens and Their Syntrophic Partners Dominate Zones of Enhanced Magnetic Susceptibility at a Petroleum Contaminated Site

“…Because of the abundance of iron in terrestrial environments, MS is commonly used to investigate different geological processes. Example applications of MS include: (1) determining the magnetic stratigraphy in loess deposits, lake sediments and marine sediments to reconstruct the paleoenvironmental evolution and erosional history (e.g., Zhang et al, 2012), (2) examining variations in the detrital input of magnetic minerals related to climate change (e.g., Da Silva et al, 2013), (3) aiding archeological investigations (Walach et al, 2011), (4) serving as a proxy for extreme hydrologic events and rainfall (Li et al, 2019), ( 5) monitoring soil pollution (Hoffmann et al, 1999;D'Emilio et al, 2007;Zhang et al, 2012), and (6) investigating the movement of tectonic plates. Further, the MS technique has also been used for oil exploration (e.g., Guzmán et al, 2011), for evaluation of oil bearing units (Perez-Perez et al, 2011;Emmerton et al, 2013) and reservoir properties (Potter, 2007;Potter and Ivakhnenko, 2008).…”

Geophysical prospection and archaeological excavation of ancient iron smelting sites in the Barun‐Khal valley on the western shore of Lake Baikal (Olkhon region, Siberia)

“…Magnetometer surveying is known as one of the main tools of archaeological prospection (Aspinall, Gaffney, & Schmidt, ; Linford, ; Schmidt, ), including the search for and study of ancient iron production sites (Abrahamsen et al, ; Crew, ; Kulessa, Chiarulli, & Haney, ; Powell, McDonnell, Batt, & Vernon, ; Smekalova, Voss, & Abrahamsen, ; Vernon, McDonnel, & Schmidt, ; Vernon, McDonnel, & Schmidt, ). However, in archaeometallurgy‐related studies one uses also resistivity surveys (Apostolopoulos, ; Humphris & Carey, ; Vernon, ; Walach, Scholger, & Cech, ). In the literature on archaeological prospection there are also examples of using SP (Drahor, ; Wynn & Sherwood, ) and induced polarization (Florsch, Llubes, Téreygeol, Ghorbani, & Roblet, ) techniques.…”

Geomagnetic and FDEM Methods in the Roman Archaeological Site of Bocca Delle Menate (Comacchio, Italy)

“…On the contrary, even if the EM and geoelectrical (DC) methods are applied to detect buried structures, they are most useful to define the geological and geomorphological surrounding context [6,7,[10][11][12]. Geomagnetometry and GPR offer a fast and cheaper way to survey the archaeological sites, thanks to the possibility to investigate large areas [13][14][15]. Each geophysical method highlights well the anomalies due to buried archaeological structures, but only an integration of different methods is useful to define the detailed geometry and the depth of them.…”