GPR Tomography as Support for an Archaeological Excavation in Aripuanã Indigenous Cemetery, Amazon Region, Brazil

Abstract

We present here a series of Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) survey carried out in different areas of the Dardanelos 1 archaeological site in order to generate information about subsurface anomalies associated with archaeological material that could be use in decision making within the environmental licensing process of the Dardanelos Hydroelectric Power Plant, located near of the Aripuanã city, Mato Grosso State, northwest region of Brazil. GPR surveys with 200 MHz antenna were carried out in two blocks aiming to locate archaeological resources and features. The analysis of GPR 2D and 3D results allowed detecting anomalous regions characterized by hyperbolic reflections, shallow elongated continuous targets with high amplitudes, as well as sub-horizontal reflectors. Microwave tomography allowed estimating the geometry of the GPR anomalies sources. Excavations were done by archaeologists at the locations where hyperbolic anomalies were found, revealing interesting structures related to urns in the middle of a rich in organic matter consisting of black and ceramic materials up to about 1 m deep. The first sub-horizontal reflector at approximately 1 m depth is related to the base of the black soil layer rich in organic matter and the second sub-horizontal reflector between 2 and 3 m deep suggests a lithological change or may be related to presence of the water table. The continuous elongated shallow targets observed in the depth slices are related to tree roots in the middle of the archaeological strata. The GPR results guided archaeological excavations, reduced the time and costs involved in research, and contributed to the preservation of Brazilian historical heritage.

GPR Survey on an Iron Mining Area after the Collapse of the Tailings Dam I at the Córrego do Feijão Mine in Brumadinho-MG, Brazil

“…The GPR technology is quite versatile and has been consolidated since the 1980s. Currently, geoscientists have applied the GPR method in a range of approaches, such as interference mapping [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23], natural resources exploration [24][25][26][27], environmental contamination studies [28][29][30][31], archaeological studies [32][33][34][35][36][37][38], forensic studies [39][40][41], sedimentological studies [42][43][44][45], studies of rivers and lakes [46][47][48], and so forth.…”

Stream Fish in the Aripuanã River Upstream and Downstream of the Dardanelos-Andorinhas Waterfall Complex, State of Mato Grosso, Brazil

“…It has a 3 km-long stretch that is nearly 120 m high and represents a natural barrier to the movement of many aquatic organisms (Flausino-Junior et al 2016). The Aripuanã river basin itself is in a transition region between the Amazonian forest and Cerrado domains that occur in the Central Plateau and the waterfall complex represents the contact between the Chapada de Dardanelos and the Amazonian Depression (Porsani et al 2017).…”

Utilização de métodos geofísicos para caracterização de depósito de areia em apoio à elaboração de plano de lavra na região de Leme, SP

“…Com o desenvolvimento tecnológico diversos equipamentos com modo de aquisição de registro digital foram construídos, minimizando o custo, otimizando sua portabilidade e tornando-se acessível e atingível a sua aquisição e, por conseguinte, sua utilização(BORGES, 2007). Atualmente, os cientistas têm utilizado o método em vários campos de aplicações, tais como: exploração mineral(DANIELS, 1988;DAVIS & ANNAN, 1988;SCAIFE & ANNAN, 1991;CARNEVALE et al 2005;FRANCKE, 2010;FRANCKE, 2012; CATALKI et al 2012;, RAO et al 2020De BARROS et al 2021), estudos geológicos, geotécnicos(SOLLA et al 2021;D'AMICO et al 2020) , ambientais, arqueológicos (ALMEIDA, 2016PORSANI et al 2017; ), hidrogeológicos (BERES & HAENI, 1991;MAHMOUDZADEDH et al 2012;SRINIVASAN et al 2021), sedimentológicos(BRISTOW & JOL, 2003;LEANDRO et al 2019;DELGADO et al 2022;ARADÓTTIR et al 2022), estudos de rios e lagos, mapeamento de interferências no subsolo urbano, entre outras aplicações(DAVIS & ANNAN 1989;SMITH & JOL, 1995;BENSON, 1995;VAN DAM, 2001;RODRIGUES & PORSANI, 2006;JOL, 2009, LEANDRO et al 2019 QIN et al 2021; JOSAGHANI & SHOKRABADI ,2021) são exemplos pesquisas.…”