Underwater georadar

The "Hügelis", underwater monuments in the form of chains of hills on the Swiss shores of Lake Constance, have received immense media coverage in recent years. The development of the underwater georadar of the AG Sedimentology played a large part in this. Because of the high-resolution structural exploration, it could be clearly demonstrated that this monumental structure was piled up by human hands around 3500 years before Christ. But highly resolved sediment structures are also the basis of limnic sedimentology, which is possible for the first time with this device built at the TU and which enables completely new research perspectives in climatic and lacustrine sediment dynamics.

As part of the EU project 'HyMoBioStrategie', in cooperation with the Institute for Lake Research in Langenargen (Lake Constance), a georadar system from GSSI was modified so that it can be used underwater, currently up to 10m depth. The further development is currently underway. This made it possible for the first time in the world to examine lacustrine sediments up to 3m below the sea floor with high resolution. These structural analyzes led to a completely new picture of lacustrine flow dynamics and the resulting sediment distribution processes. Archaeological sites under water could also be examined with this system and, in the case of the “Hügelis” on the Swiss shores of Lake Constance, led to sensational findings with a corresponding media response.

Picture: Jens Hornung

Dr. Jens Hornung

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