Structural exploration

In addition to numerous small projects involving a large range of issues, work largely concentrates on practical methods for exploring peat deposits (Fig. 1). Precise data on the thickness of the peat over large areas is vital for exploitation work, and for determining the thickness of the residual peat which must stay in place to help renaturisation.

Another example of the work carried out by the group is an investigation carried out on the southern Baltic coast of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern as part of the SINCOS research group. This work revealed structures providing valuable information on the development of the Holocene coastline. Different types of reflections were recorded which allow the sequence to be divided up into four radar facies.

Figure 2 shows a 400 m section of a radargram of the Bug peninsula (Rügen). The lower part of the figure shows the geological interpretation of the line. Facies BI has short and fast parallel reflections beneath a hill-like dome. This is an erosional remnant of marine sands, and is particularly interesting because the dominant process on the south-western Baltic coast is one of deposition. The dipping elements of the adjacent facies BII reflect the old morphology. The more or less horizontal reflections in facies BIII indicate wind-protected deposits. Facies BIV is thin and represents aeolian deposits.

(Kopie 2)

Figure 3: Radar survey of a peat deposit (left) and on Rügen (right)