Assess the Effectiveness of Multichannel Analysis of Surface Waves Method in Mapping Ancient Structures in Ultrashallow Aquatic Environments: The Case of Agioi Theodoroi, Greece

Abstract

The present geophysical research aims to evaluate the applicability of multichannel analysis of surface waves (MASW) on mapping ultrashallow underwater ancient masonry remnants. The work presents the analysis from a single seismic line using MASW and seismic refraction tomography (SRT) methods and its corresponding electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) section surveyed at the submerged prehistoric site of Agioi Theodoroi area located 10 km eastern of Heraklion, Crete, Greece. The 2D MASW velocity model exhibits significant correspondence with the resistivity structure extracted from the ERT data, showing lateral S‐wave velocity (Vs) variations at the positions where the high resistivity anomalies exist. The analysis of synthetic seismic data calculated from a respective model reproduced a comparable S‐wave velocity pseudo‐section with the real data. However, the investigated targets (submerged buried masonry) appear shallower and wider in MASW sections than in the real world and the corresponding synthetic models, due to insufficient vertical and horizontal resolution of this method. Surface waves travelling through the seafloor sediments (Scholte‐waves) demonstrate very low velocity values. This makes them suitable for the detection of shallow and relatively large (> 0.5 m) underwater manmade structures, providing the enhancement of MASW method resolution, by utilizing a high frequency (> 100 Hz) seismic source, recording short Scholte wavelengths (≤ 1 m) and using shorter (≤ 0.5 m) receiver spacing and array length. Consequently, the results of this work demonstrate the potential in employing conventional seismic techniques in the delineation of underwater antiquities and the revealing of the cultural dynamics in very shallow off‐shore archaeological sites.