Detection of Vertebrate Skeletons by Ground Penetrating Radars: An Example from the Ica Desert Fossil-Lagerstätte

We present a technique for the detection of vertebrate skeletons buried at shallow depths through the use of a ground-penetrating radar (GPR). The technique is based on the acquisition of high-resolution data by medium-to-high frequency GPR antennas and the analysis of the radar profiles by a new forward modelling method that is applied on a set of representative traces. This approach allows us to obtain synthetic traces that can be used to build detailed reflectivity diagrams that plot spikes with a distinct amplitude and polarity for each reflector in the ground. The method was tested in a controlled experiment performed at the top of Cerro Los Quesos, one of the most fossiliferous localities in the Ica Desert of Peru. We acquired GPR data at the location of a partially buried fossil skeleton of a large whale and analyzed the reflections associated with the bones using the new technique, determining the possible signature of vertebrae, ribs, the cranium (including the rostrum), and mandibles. Our results show that the technique is effective in the mapping of buried structures, particularly in the detection of tiny features, even below the classical (Ricker and Rayleigh) estimates of the vertical resolution of the antenna in civil engineering and forensic applications.