Near-surface investigation of ground chemistry using radiometric measurements and spectral gamma-ray data

Abstract

Potassium (K), uranium (U) and thorium (Th) are the three most abundant radioactive elements found in rocks or sediments and are thus considered to be the likely sources of gamma‐ray variation detected both at outcrop and in the subsurface from radiometric analyses. With the advent of the spectral gamma‐ray (SGR) tool, the variation shown by these three elements in rocks has been considered to reflect different host minerals. This review aims to make an assessment of the usefulness of SGR data in archaeological investigations by reviewing the sorts of buried materials the method can detect. Compared with many investigative methods currently used (e.g. ground‐penetrating radar), SGR data gives only indirect information concerning the depth of burial. Conversely, SGR data has the advantage of providing direct information concerning the mineralogical differences in near‐surface materials. When used to analyse known geophysical anomalies, the SGR method can give non‐destructive information on the location of sand‐filled pockets in clay; clay‐filled pockets in sand, limestone or basalt and the location of buried stone walls. The location of trenches, moats, walls, industrial waste and burial grounds are all detectable with the method. The SGR data are usually derived passively, or by the natural radioactive emission of minerals. Induced radioactivity may be used in remote sensing by controlling the spectral qualities of ingoing gamma‐rays and thus allow a far greater sensitivity in the non‐destructive analysis of interlayered, hidden or enclosed materials such as sarcophagi. Copyright © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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)

“…The radiometric method that measures naturally occurring radioactivity in the form of gamma rays is widely used in geological mapping (Telford, Geldart, & Sheriff, ). However, radiometric techniques have found few uses in archaeology (Ruffell & Wilson, ; Wynn, ). In 1999, in order to clarify the potential of gamma survey in studying geoarchaeological context of the valley, we measured the total gamma ray intensity over survey area 2 (for location, see Figure ).…”

Complex geophysical investigation of the Kapušany landslide (Eastern Slovakia)

“…It is supposed that the mineralogical and chemical composition of weathering and soil cover is rather monotonous and uniform as the studied landslide area is not large. Therefore, the changes of total gamma activity eUt values are assigned to the variability of clay content in cover (Ruffell and Wilson, 1998). This way, the profile parts of higher eUt values determine some quasi-homogeneous blocks of more consolidated rock material (slide bodies and stable areas) with higher clay content while the parts with lower eUt values rather indicate the edges of uniform blocks where the rock material is less consolidated, reworked by movement, with lower clay content as the result of washing by precipitation and de-arrangement of particles (Mojzeš, 2000b).…”

Advances in Flipped Classrooms for Teaching and Learning Forensic Geology

“…References to forensic geology over the last 20 years are equal to a mean value of 23,000/y (Figure 2A); it is possible to observe that the number of publications (Figure 2B) and academic meetings/events in geosciences with special sessions devoted to forensic geology is strongly increasing [12], enforcing its position among other forensic sciences disciplines. A strong tradition of scientific research associated with the topic of forensic geology has developed among the academic communities and experts, mainly in the USA [1,2,4,5,[30][31][32], UK [6][7][8][9][10]12,[17][18][19][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41], and Australia [20,27]. geology has developed among the academic communities and experts, mainly in the USA [1,2,4,5,[30][31][32], UK [6][7][8][9][10]12,[17][18][19]<...…”

“…A strong tradition of scientific research associated with the topic of forensic geology has developed among the academic communities and experts, mainly in the USA [1,2,4,5,[30][31][32], UK [6][7][8][9][10]12,[17][18][19][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41], and Australia [20,27]. geology has developed among the academic communities and experts, mainly in the USA [1,2,4,5,[30][31][32], UK [6][7][8][9][10]12,[17][18][19][33][34][35][36][37][38][39]...…”