Late Quaternary High-Resolution Climate Archives in the Sahara

Resolving sedimentary deposits in the Azraq Basin/Jordan using non-invasive geophysical techniques

A second geophysical field survey was undertaken in the Azraq Basin in October 2012.

 

The thickness of the sedimentary deposits was determined along two perpendicular transects crossing the entire Qa Al Azraq mudflat. In the mudflat centre, the sediments reach down to a depth of roughly 70 m. Surprisingly, we found the deepest location towards the northern edge of the mudflat with approximately 120 m.

The mudflat consists of thick sequences of hyper-saline clays. This high conductive environment is a challenging task when applying Transient Electromagnetic (TEM) methods. Large transmitter and receiver arrays, thick transmitter cables and an appropriate cooling system was required to ensure long data sets with good data quality. Besides that, the delicate equipment had to be protected against sandstorms and dust vortex.

 

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Inversion model for station A65 in the mudflat centre. The graph shows the depth versus the subsurface electrical resistivity.

Figure: Projects A2 and B1
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Setup of a TEM station on the mudflat. In the background, a small dust vortex is passing the station. The equipment is mounted in a Zarges box to protect it against dust. In the foreground, the transmitter cable is visible.
Photo: Pritam Yogeshwar
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Transient Electromagnetic Survey in the Azraq Basin, Jordan using a Large Transmitter Setup

ProjectProject

Project

Project A2
completed in 2017
(1st Phase) + (2nd Phase)

 

Principal Investigator:

Dr. Stefan Kröpelin
Prof. Dr. Bülent Tezkan
Prof. Dr. Martin Melles

 

Researcher:

Pritam Yogeshwar

 

PhD Candidate:

Jan Kuper
Marc Seidel

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Resolving sedimentary deposits in the Azraq Basin/Jordan using non-invasive geophysical techniques

A second geophysical field survey was undertaken in the Azraq Basin in October 2012.  

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