Buried Material Research Articles

Analysis and interpretation of GPR datasets for integrated archaeological mapping

An integrated approach to ground‐penetrating radar interpretation should include not only the standard amplitude slice maps and isosurface renderings but also an analysis of individual reflection traces and adjusted and processed reflection profiles. Only when all those basic datasets are interpreted can the plethora of reflection features at various depths and locations within a grid be understood, especially in complex geological and archaeological settings. Topographically adjusted profiles can provide important clues to changes in reflectivity along a transect, indicating why certain amplitude features are visible (or not) in slice maps. An integration of excavation and outcrop data with reflection profiles can often indicate what features are producing high‐amplitude reflections and which are yielding no reflection at all. Even individual reflection traces can be studied for polarity changes, which can help in identifying the types of buried materials that are producing reflections. All these datasets, some of which are often overlooked, must be integrated during interpretation, especially in complicated ground conditions.

Holocene landscape evolution and geoarcheology of low-order streams in the Rio Grande basin, San Juan Mountains, Colorado, USA

This geoarcheological study investigates soil stratigraphy and geochronology of alluvial deposits to determine Holocene landscape evolution within the Hot Creek, La Jara Creek, and Alamosa River drainage basins in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado. Geomorphic mapping and radiocarbon dating indicate synchronicity in patterns of erosion, deposition, and stability between drainage basins. In all three basins, the maximum age of mapped alluvial terraces and fans is ~3300calyrBP. A depositional period seen at both Hot Creek and the Alamosa River begins ~3300 to 3200calyrBP. Based on soil development, short periods of stability followed by alluvial fan aggradation occur in the Alamosa River basin ~2200calyrBP. A period of landscape stability at Hot Creek before ~1100calyrBP is followed by a period of rapid aggradation within all three drainages between ~1100 and 850calyrBP. A final aggradation event occurred between ~630 and 520calyrBP at La Jara Creek. These patterns of landscape evolution over the past ~3300yr provide the framework for an archeological model that predicts the potential for buried and surficial cultural materials in the research area.

Raman spectroscopy explores molecular structural signatures of hidden materials in depth: Universal Multiple Angle Raman Spectroscopy.

Non-invasive 3D imaging in materials and medical research involves methodologies such as X-ray imaging, MRI, fluorescence and optical coherence tomography, NIR absorption imaging, etc., providing global morphological/density/absorption changes of the hidden components. However, molecular information of such buried materials has been elusive. In this article we demonstrate observation of molecular structural information of materials hidden/buried in depth using Raman scattering. Typically, Raman spectroscopic observations are made at fixed collection angles, such as, 90°, 135°, and 180°, except in spatially offset Raman scattering (SORS) (only back scattering based collection of photons) and transmission techniques. Such specific collection angles restrict the observations of Raman signals either from or near the surface of the materials. Universal Multiple Angle Raman Spectroscopy (UMARS) presented here employs the principle of (a) penetration depth of photons and then diffuse propagation through non-absorbing media by multiple scattering and (b) detection of signals from all the observable angles.

Quantitative risk analysis of fire and explosion on the top-side LNG-liquefaction process of LNG-FPSO

Since the massive use and production of fuel oil and natural gas, the excavating locations of buried energy-carrying material are moving further away from onshore, eventually requiring floating production systems like floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO). Among those platforms, LNG-FPSO will play a leading role to satisfy the global demands for the natural gas in near future; the LNG-FPSO system is designed to deal with all the LNG processing activities, near the gas field. However, even a single disaster on an offshore plant would put the whole business into danger. In this research, the risk of fire and explosion in the LNG-FPSO is assessed by quantitative risk analysis, including frequency and consequence analyses, focusing on the LNG liquefaction process (DMR cycle). The consequence analysis is modeled by using a popular analysis tool PHAST. To assess the risk of this system, 5 release model scenarios are set for the LNG and refrigerant leakages from valves, selected as the most probable scenarios causing fire and explosion. From the results, it is found that the introduction of additional protection methods to reduce the effect of fire and explosion under ALARP criteria is not required, and two cases of the selection of independent protection layers are recommended to meet the SIL level of failure rate for safer design and operation in the offshore environment.

Detection of spin-resolved electronic structures from a buried ferromagnetic layer utilizing forward Mott scattering

We report ultrahigh-resolution spin-resolved hard X-ray photoemission (HAXPES) for a buried FeNi alloy film. By utilizing the forward Mott scattering in a Au layer on FeNi, our spin-resolved HAXPES method does not require a standard spin detector and allows us to use the multi-channel electron detection system for the high-efficient electron detection as used in conventional photoemission spectroscopy. A combination of the forward Mott scattering and multi-channel detection leads us to measure a clear spin polarization as well as spin-resolved majority and minority states in the Fe 2p core-level spectra without using the standard spin detector. This method enables us to measure spin-resolved core-level spectra for buried ferromagnetic materials.

Study of filled dolines by using 3D stereo image processing and electrical resistivity imaging

This article deals with doline degradation due to uncontrolled waste dumping in the past in the Logatec Polje in Slovenia. It introduces a concept for determining 3D geometric characteristics (shape, depth, radius, area, and volume) of formerly concave landforms (i.e., recently filled dolines) by using a combination of two methods: (1) photogrammetric stereo processing of archival aerial photographs and (2) electrical resistivity imaging (ERI). To represent, visualize, and study the characteristics of the former surface morphology (i.e., the dolines before they were filled), a digital terrain model (DTM) for 1972 (DTM1972) was made using digital photogrammetry processing of five sequential archival aerial photographs (1972, © GURS). DTM1972 was visually and quantitatively compared with the DTM5 of the recent surface morfology (DTM5, © GURS, 2006) in order to define areas of manmade terrain differences. In general, a circular area with a higher terrain difference is an indicator of a filled doline. The calculated terrain differences also indicate the thickness of buried waste material. Three case-study dolines were selected for 3D geometric analysis and tested in the field using ERI. ERI was used to determine the genetic type of the original doline, to confirm that the buried material in the doline is actually waste, and to ascertain opportunities for further study of water pollution due to waste leakage. Based on a comparison among the ERI sections obtained using various electrode arrays, it was concluded that the basins are actually past concave landforms (i.e., dolines) filled with mixed waste material having the lowest resistivity value (bellow 100 ohm-m), which differs measurably from the surrounding natural materials. The resistivity of hard stacked limestone is higher (above 1,000 ohm-m) than resistivity of cracked carbonate rocks with cracks filled with loamy clay sediments while in loamy alluvial sediment resistivity falls below 150 ohm-m. Nevertheless, the contrast is sufficient to confirm the landfilled waste in all studied dolines. Based on the resistivity values of buried waste and the proximity of furniture and paper factories in the Logatec Polje, it is assumed that the dolines are filled with organic waste, mostly wood material mixed with other waste (municipal, construction, and demolition waste), which causes the variability of electrical resistivity.

Measurement of Interface Thermal Resistance With Neutron Diffraction

A noncontact, nondestructive neutron diffraction technique for measuring thermal resistance of buried material interfaces in bulk samples, inaccessible to thermocouple measurements, is described. The technique uses spatially resolved neutron diffraction measurements to measure temperature, and analytical or numerical methods to calculate the corresponding thermal resistance. It was tested at the VULCAN instrument of the Spallation Neutron Source, Oak Ridge National Laboratories on a stack of three 6061 alloy aluminum plates (heat-source, middle-plate, and heat-sink), held in dry thermal contact, at low pressure, in ambient air. The results agreed with thermocouple-based measurements. This technique is applicable to all crystalline materials and most interface configurations, and it can be used for the characterization of thermal resistance across interfaces in actual engineering parts under nonambient conditions and/or in moving/rotating systems.

Spectral analysis of ground penetrating radar signals in concrete, metallic and plastic targets

Abstract The accuracy of detecting buried targets using ground penetrating radar (GPR) depends mainly on features that are extracted from the data. The objective of this study is to test three spectral features and evaluate the quality to provide a good discrimination among three types of materials (concrete, metallic and plastic) using the 200 MHz GPR system. The spectral features which were selected to check the interaction of the electromagnetic wave with the type of material are: the power spectral density (PSD), short-time Fourier transform (STFT) and the Wigner–Ville distribution (WVD). The analyses were performed with simulated data varying the sizes of the targets and the electrical properties (relative dielectric permittivity and electrical conductivity) of the soil. To check if the simulated data are in accordance with the real data, the same approach was applied on the data obtained in the IAG/USP test site. A noticeable difference was found in the amplitude of the studies' features in the frequency domain and these results show the strength of the signal processing to try to differentiate buried materials using GPR, and so can be used in urban planning and geotechnical studies.

Emulsion PCR-coupled target enrichment: An effective fishing method for high-throughput sequencing of poorly preserved ancient DNA

Due to the difficulties in deep sequencing, high-throughput sequencing of ancient DNA has been limited to exceptionally well-preserved ancient materials. The primary factor is microbial attack popularly observed in the buried materials, and it causes drastic increase in relative ratio of microbial DNA in the extracted DNA. We present a unified strategy in which emulsion PCR is coupled with target enrichment followed by next-generation sequencing. The method made it possible to obtain efficiently non-duplicated reads mapped to target sequences of interest, and this can achieve deep and reliable sequencing of ancient DNA from typical materials, even though poorly preserved.

Magnetic anomalies of steel drums: a review of the literature and research results of the INGV

<p>The detection and evaluation of the status of disposal sites that contain hazardous waste materials is becoming an increasingly important element in environmental investigations. Close cooperation between the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV; National Institute of Volcanology and Geophysics) in Rome and the Italian environmental police has resulted in numerous underground investigations of different buried materials. Among the geophysical investigation tools, magnetometry is the most effective, rapid and precise of all of the geophysical methods for localizing buried steel drums. Analysis of magnetic map anomalies can provide a variety of information about buried materials, including extension, distribution and depth, with processing of the acquired magnetic data. This information is also very useful in case of excavations that are aimed at the recovery of hazardous waste. This study determines the most relevant analyses reported in the literature, with modeling of magnetometric methods for environmental applications both theoretically and experimentally. Some studies and research results achieved by the INGV in relation to magnetic anomalies produced by buried steel drums are also reported, as found in field operations and as achieved from test sites.</p>

Potential water quality impacts originating from land burial of cattle carcasses

Among the conventional disposal methods for livestock mortalities, on-farm burial is a preferred method, but the potential water quality impacts of animal carcass burial are not well understood. Typically, on-farm burial pits are constructed without liners and any leachate produced may infiltrate into soil and groundwater. To date, no information is available on temporal trends for contaminants in leachate produced from livestock mortality pits. In our study, we examined the concentrations of conventional contaminants including electrical conductivity, COD, TOC, TKN, TP, and solids, as well as veterinary antimicrobials and steroid hormones in leachate over a period of 20months. Most of the contaminants were detected in leachate after 50days of decomposition, reaching a peak concentration at approximately 200days and declined to baseline levels by 400days. The estrogen 17β-estradiol and a veterinary antimicrobial, monensin, were observed at maximum concentrations of 20,069ng/L and 11,980ng/L, respectively. Estimated mass loading of total steroid hormone and veterinary pharmaceuticals were determined to be 1.84 and 1.01μg/kg of buried cattle carcass materials, respectively. These data indicate that leachate from carcass burial sites represents a potential source of nutrients, organics, and residues of biologically active micro-contaminants to soil and groundwater.

Delineation of Egyptian mud bricks using magnetic gradiometer techniques

A near-surface magnetic gradiometer survey of a site at Hawara, Fayoum city is used to delineate archaeological features made by mud bricks at shallow depths in the northeast of the pyramid of Amenemhat III. Magnetic survey data were processed to a precise forward processing sequence, including clipping, de-sloping, removing stripes and edge discontinuities, de-spiking, filtering, interpolating, and finally detecting statistically significant results. The processed magnetic data indicate high amplitude anomalies in the northeastern part of the pyramid Amenemhat III, suggesting the presence of shallow cemeteries of mud brick walls. Low pass filtering of the vertical gradient data helped reveal the relatively deep mud brick features in the generally shallow section. These features were isolated using a statistical detection technique, and verified by the correlation with the surrounding mud brick discoveries. This required the analysis of the magnetic behavior of exposed mud bricks and man-made objects for comparison with the magnetic signature of buried material. These were then matched with the vertical magnetic gradients of the exposed mud brick features from here and three other Egyptian localities. They are mostly the extension of the 12th Dynasty cemeteries, which exist in the western and southwestern parts of the study area.

Optimized Spectral Transformation for Detection and Classification of Buried Radioactive Materials

We investigate the detection and classification of buried radioactive materials of interest using data collected by a sodium iodide (NaI) detector with a short sensor dwell time (i.e., less than or equal to 1 s). The objective of detection is to detect a target from background and nontarget materials, while the objective of classification is to classify targets buried at different depths. Binned energy windows can reduce data dimensionality, help alleviate the negative impact from background, and suppress trivial spectral variations. However, the performance is sensitive to bin partition parameters including the number of bins and their bin widths. We have developed a particle swarm optimization (PSO)-based automatic system to determine these parameters. We also propose to apply a multiobjective PSO to optimize both the detection and classification accuracy simultaneously. The experimental results show that the PSO-based algorithm can outperform the Powell's direction set optimization method. The multiobjective PSO can achieve the balance between the two objectives, and it may provide even better individual accuracy than a single-objective PSO.

Burial and decomposition of plant pigments in surface sediments of the Baltic Sea: role of oxygen and benthic fauna

MEPS Marine Ecology Progress Series Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections MEPS 455:33-49 (2012) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps09661 Burial and decomposition of plant pigments in surface sediments of the Baltic Sea: role of oxygen and benthic fauna Alf B. Josefson1, Joanna Norkko2,3,4, Alf Norkko2,4,5 1Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, 4000 Roskilde, Denmark 2Marine Research Centre, Finnish Environment Institute, PO Box 140, 00251 Helsinki, Finland 3Environmental and Marine Biology, Department of Biosciences, Åbo Akademi University, Artillerigatan 6, 20520 Åbo, Finland 4Tvärminne Zoological Station, University of Helsinki, 10900 Hanko, Finland 5Department of Marine Ecology-Kristineberg, University of Gothenburg, 45034 Fiskebäckskil, Sweden *Email: aj@dmu.dk ABSTRACT: Degradation and burial of organic matter in sediments are important processes for oxygen dynamics and thus for the outcome of eutrophication. To assess the influences of bottom-water oxygen and macroinvertebrate fauna function on these processes, we investigated distributions of phytopigments as markers of phytoplankton detritus in surface sediments across the Baltic Sea. We compared pigment concentrations among sites with different oxygen levels and different values of a bioturbation potential index combining abundance, individual size and species-specific rankings of mobility and sediment reworking (BPI). BPI was positively influenced by oxygen availability, with a threshold at 45 to 90 µmol l–1, below which it decreased rapidly to zero in anoxic sediments. There was significant co-variation between pigments and both oxygen and BPI after accounting for differences in pigment concentrations with sediment depth and among different sub-areas, which were largely attributed to different inputs of phytoplankton. Negative correlations between pigments and both BPI and oxygen in communities dominated by Macoma balthica and Scoloplos armiger, and between pigments and BPI in the upper sediment layers inhabited by Monoporeia affinis and Pontoporeia femorata, suggested increased degradation with increasing bioturbation. Positive correlations between pigments and BPI in communities dominated by Marenzelleria spp. suggested mainly burial, which also was supported by positive correlations between Marenzelleria abundance and both sediment water content and the freshness of buried organic material. It is hypothesised that a shift from sensitive resident species like Monoporeia or Scoloplos to the more hypoxia-tolerant Marenzelleria will slow down overall degradation rates, counteracting hypoxia formation in the bottom water. KEY WORDS: Baltic Sea · Bioturbation · Plant pigments · Oxygen · Burial Full text in pdf format PreviousNextCite this article as: Josefson AB, Norkko J, Norkko A (2012) Burial and decomposition of plant pigments in surface sediments of the Baltic Sea: role of oxygen and benthic fauna. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 455:33-49. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps09661 Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in MEPS Vol. 455. Online publication date: May 30, 2012 Print ISSN: 0171-8630; Online ISSN: 1616-1599 Copyright © 2012 Inter-Research.

The effect of site fertility and climate on current weathering in Finnish forest soils: Results of a 10–16 year study using buried crushed test-rock material

Knowledge of the weathering rates in forest soils is needed when nutrient balances and the sustainability of silvicultural practices are estimated. The effects of site fertility and climate on weathering rates were studied in boreal coniferous forest soils in Finland by following transformations in crushed rock (Spectrolite, a dark, anorthosite feldspar dominated gabbro) confined in porous bags inserted into E-, B- and C-horizons along fertility and climate gradients, and left to weather for 10, 11 or 16years. Organic carbon (OC) was accumulated in E-horizon incubated crushed test-rock material and it was more acidified and weathered than that deeper in the soil. There was a tendency for faster weathering of the C-horizon bags in the fertile sites than in the poor sites. Multivariate analyses indicated that more OC was accumulated in the bags in fertile sites than in poor sites, and that the crushed rock was more weathered in north than in south Finland although temperature sum and precipitation decreased northwards. The results suggest that humidity is an important climatic factor determining weathering rates and that fertile sites have greater potential to release base cations through weathering and sequester C to mineral surfaces than do poor sites.

Combination of Anomaly Algorithms and Image Features for Explosive Hazard Detection in Forward Looking Infrared Imagery

A novel approach is proposed for combining multiple anomaly algorithm decisions with image space cell-structured features in a long wave infrared (LWIR) system in the context of forward looking (FL) buried explosive hazard detection along a road. A pre-screener is applied first, which is an ensemble of trainable size-contrast filters with mean shift clustering in Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) space. Next, features from image chips representing anomaly decisions from different algorithms are extracted from UTM confidence maps based on maximally stable extremal regions (MSERs) and Gaussian mixture models (GMMs). Pre-screener hits in UTM space are back-projected into the video at multiple standoff distances and cell-structured local binary patterns (LBPs), histogram of gradients (HOGs) and mean-variance descriptors are extracted. Experiments are conducted using buried materials with varying metal contents and depths at a U.S. Army test site. Results are extremely encouraging for FL imaging and show a significant decrease in the number of false alarms (FAs). Targets not currently detected by our system are also not detected by a human under manual visual inspection.

Geochemical impacts to prehistoric iron-rich siliceous artifacts in the nearshore coastal zone

In the Middle Atlantic region of the United States, landscapes drowned by sea level rise contain scores of prehistoric archaeological sites. These sites provide archaeologists with a rare opportunity to investigate various geologic processes. During the transition from a terrestrial to an offshore setting, the materials associated with an archaeological site are exposed to a series of geochemical processes inherent to the formation of tidal marsh. The duration of the geochemical exposure to tidal marsh is largely dependent on the rate of marine transgression. Here we describe the stages associated with the sulfidization and sulfuricization scheme and the impact to iron-rich lithic artifacts from naturally drowned archaeological sites. Sulfidization and sulfuricization should also impact buried archaeological materials as a result of anthropogenic dredge spoil dumping and the creation of man-made tidal marshes along modern coastlines. Our results indicate that the surfaces of an iron-rich artifact, as well as its interior are visually and geochemically altered by prolonged exposure to the anaerobic conditions of a tidal marsh. Not only should researchers be cautious about making lithic material identification on artifacts found within coastal tidal marsh areas, but museum curators should be aware of the damaging impact of long-term aerobic storage. The geochemical tidal marsh scheme that has altered or corroded iron-rich lithic artifacts in the nearshore zone is an expression of a process that has impacted numerous earlier prehistoric sites currently located on the continental shelf or beneath the coastal estuaries around the world.

Investigations of shield effect and type of soil on landmine detection

This paper investigates the possibility of optimizing the performance of the neutron backscattering method in landmine detection by designing a suitable shield around a 252Cf neutron source to reduce the background due to soil and the neutrons emitted from the source that hit the detector directly. A series of Monte Carlo simulations were performed to improve the source shield thickness and to study the elastically backscattered (EBS) 252Cf neutrons from the buried explosive material TNT in the soil; the optimal configuration was examined against different soil types and source heights. The results obtained in terms of performance of the relative (EBS) neutrons confirmed that the proposed source shield has significantly improved the signal to background ratio. Higher signal-to-background ratio was observed using 252Cf neutron source as compared to Pu–Be source.

Recycling of Amazon floodplain sediment quantified by cosmogenic 26Al and 10Be

The modern Amazon trunk stream and tributaries contain substantial amounts of sediments that were formerly stored for 1–3 m.y. in floodplains. By reworking of floodplain deposits, this sediment is being incorporated into Amazonian streams. We conclude this from using the ratio of in situ−produced cosmogenic 26 Al to 10 Be in detrital sediment from rivers draining the sediment-producing Andean, Guyana, and Brazilian shield areas, as well as the largest Amazonian lowland rivers. Samples from the modern Amazon River yield 26 Al/ 10 Be ratios between ∼3.8 and 5.5, and thus represent mixing between a non-buried sediment end member and a formerly buried sediment end member. The non-buried end member is sourced in the Andes with a ratio of ∼6.5, reflecting recent erosion of hillslopes exposed to cosmic rays, and the buried end member is potentially represented by deeply stored floodplain sediment as old as Miocene age, with a ratio of ∼3, that was partially shielded from cosmic rays. This simple picture of binary mixing is complicated by grain-size effects. Coarser-grained sediment from non-Andean settings (lowlands, cratonic shields) contains slightly more formerly buried material, whereas finer-grained lowland sediment mostly records non-buried 26 Al/ 10 Be ratios and nuclide concentrations that are indicative of an Andean source. Our assessment shows an incorporation of formerly buried, old sediment of central Amazonian floodplains to the fresh, Andean-derived sediment mainly carried in the Amazon trunk stream. We interpret our results to mean that the Amazon regularly avulses into these old deposits that crop out in more distal vicinities to the main river and temporarily leaves its current Holocene channel.

Testing a detection dog to locate bumblebee colonies and estimate nest density

Bumblebee nests are difficult to find, hampering ecological studies. Effective population size of bumblebees is determined by nest density, so the ability to quantify nest density would greatly aid conservation work. We describe the training and testing of a dog to find bumblebee nests. The dog was trained by the British army, using B. terrestris nest material. Its efficacy in finding buried nest material of a range of bumblebee species was 100%, and no false positives were recorded, suggesting that the dog was able to generalize across Bombus species. The dog was then used to locate bumblebee nests in four different habitats on the island of Tiree, west Scotland. The dog located 33 nests, and nest densities recorded varied from 0 to 1.86 nests per hectare, according to species and habitat. Habitat preferences appeared to be evident among the bumblebee species, with most B. muscorum nests in machair and all of the B. distinguendus nests being in dunes. We conclude that the technique has great potential, but note that using a dog to detect nests in more densely vegetated habitats may be less successful.