GPR Detection of Fossil Structures in Conductive Media Supported by FDTD Modelling and Attributes Analysis: An Example from Early Pleistocene Marine Clay at Bargiano Site (Central Italy)
The application of Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) prospecting to the search of fossil structures, particularly using advanced techniques like Finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) modelling and GPR attribute analysis, is currently poorly exploited in paleontology. Here, we promote the use of such a G...
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ftmdpi:oai:mdpi.com:/2076-3263/11/9/386/ 2023-08-20T04:10:00+02:00 GPR Detection of Fossil Structures in Conductive Media Supported by FDTD Modelling and Attributes Analysis: An Example from Early Pleistocene Marine Clay at Bargiano Site (Central Italy) Maurizio Ercoli Roberto Bizzarri Angela Baldanza Angela Bertinelli Diego Mercantili Cristina Pauselli agris 2021-09-11 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences11090386 EN eng Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute Geophysics https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/geosciences11090386 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Geosciences; Volume 11; Issue 9; Pages: 386 GPR fossils clay attenuation modelling attributes analysis early Pleistocene Text 2021 ftmdpi https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences11090386 2023-08-01T02:40:34Z The application of Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) prospecting to the search of fossil structures, particularly using advanced techniques like Finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) modelling and GPR attribute analysis, is currently poorly exploited in paleontology. Here, we promote the use of such a GPR workflow at Bargiano (Umbria, central Italy), a unique paleontological site known for the discovery of cetacean skeletons, dolomitized sperm-whale cololites (Ambergrisichnu salleronae), and layered fossil assemblages. The study site is characterized by a very uneven topography shaping highly conductive clayey deposits, representing not exactly ideal conditions for GPR surveying. After generating models encompassing a real topography and variable electrical properties of media, we simulated buried fossil structures at variable depth with different size and geometry, using different operative frequencies. After obtaining information on the characteristics of reflections, investigation depth, and detectability, we provide a comparison with experimental data, also used to compute instantaneous amplitude and phase attributes. Upon depicting a peculiar GPR signature for our targets, we discuss the results in light of ground-truthing performed through trenching. Our workflow allowed us to restrict the excavation areas, extending the surface information in depth in a non-invasive way, and optimizing the field operations, necessary for the preservation of the study site. Text Sperm whale MDPI Open Access Publishing Geosciences 11 9 386 |
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MDPI Open Access Publishing |
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English |
topic |
GPR fossils clay attenuation modelling attributes analysis early Pleistocene |
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GPR fossils clay attenuation modelling attributes analysis early Pleistocene Maurizio Ercoli Roberto Bizzarri Angela Baldanza Angela Bertinelli Diego Mercantili Cristina Pauselli GPR Detection of Fossil Structures in Conductive Media Supported by FDTD Modelling and Attributes Analysis: An Example from Early Pleistocene Marine Clay at Bargiano Site (Central Italy) |
topic_facet |
GPR fossils clay attenuation modelling attributes analysis early Pleistocene |
description |
The application of Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) prospecting to the search of fossil structures, particularly using advanced techniques like Finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) modelling and GPR attribute analysis, is currently poorly exploited in paleontology. Here, we promote the use of such a GPR workflow at Bargiano (Umbria, central Italy), a unique paleontological site known for the discovery of cetacean skeletons, dolomitized sperm-whale cololites (Ambergrisichnu salleronae), and layered fossil assemblages. The study site is characterized by a very uneven topography shaping highly conductive clayey deposits, representing not exactly ideal conditions for GPR surveying. After generating models encompassing a real topography and variable electrical properties of media, we simulated buried fossil structures at variable depth with different size and geometry, using different operative frequencies. After obtaining information on the characteristics of reflections, investigation depth, and detectability, we provide a comparison with experimental data, also used to compute instantaneous amplitude and phase attributes. Upon depicting a peculiar GPR signature for our targets, we discuss the results in light of ground-truthing performed through trenching. Our workflow allowed us to restrict the excavation areas, extending the surface information in depth in a non-invasive way, and optimizing the field operations, necessary for the preservation of the study site. |
format |
Text |
author |
Maurizio Ercoli Roberto Bizzarri Angela Baldanza Angela Bertinelli Diego Mercantili Cristina Pauselli |
author_facet |
Maurizio Ercoli Roberto Bizzarri Angela Baldanza Angela Bertinelli Diego Mercantili Cristina Pauselli |
author_sort |
Maurizio Ercoli |
title |
GPR Detection of Fossil Structures in Conductive Media Supported by FDTD Modelling and Attributes Analysis: An Example from Early Pleistocene Marine Clay at Bargiano Site (Central Italy) |
title_short |
GPR Detection of Fossil Structures in Conductive Media Supported by FDTD Modelling and Attributes Analysis: An Example from Early Pleistocene Marine Clay at Bargiano Site (Central Italy) |
title_full |
GPR Detection of Fossil Structures in Conductive Media Supported by FDTD Modelling and Attributes Analysis: An Example from Early Pleistocene Marine Clay at Bargiano Site (Central Italy) |
title_fullStr |
GPR Detection of Fossil Structures in Conductive Media Supported by FDTD Modelling and Attributes Analysis: An Example from Early Pleistocene Marine Clay at Bargiano Site (Central Italy) |
title_full_unstemmed |
GPR Detection of Fossil Structures in Conductive Media Supported by FDTD Modelling and Attributes Analysis: An Example from Early Pleistocene Marine Clay at Bargiano Site (Central Italy) |
title_sort |
gpr detection of fossil structures in conductive media supported by fdtd modelling and attributes analysis: an example from early pleistocene marine clay at bargiano site (central italy) |
publisher |
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences11090386 |
op_coverage |
agris |
genre |
Sperm whale |
genre_facet |
Sperm whale |
op_source |
Geosciences; Volume 11; Issue 9; Pages: 386 |
op_relation |
Geophysics https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/geosciences11090386 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences11090386 |
container_title |
Geosciences |
container_volume |
11 |
container_issue |
9 |
container_start_page |
386 |
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