See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/276420141 A 3-D digital model of Peak Cavern, Castleton, Derbyshire, UK, integrating cave survey, geophysics, geology and archaeology Conference Paper · September 2002 CITATIONS READS 0 103 8 authors, including: Jamie Keith Pringle Armin Schmidt Keele University University of Bradford 146 PUBLICATIONS 1,640 CITATIONS 112 PUBLICATIONS 933 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE Randolph E. Donahue Andy Gardiner Michigan State University Heriot-Watt University 57 PUBLICATIONS 1,172 CITATIONS 47 PUBLICATIONS 527 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: Deep water sedimentary rocks with GPR View project Time-lapse Microgravity. View project All content following this page was uploaded by Anthony Robin Westerman on 18 May 2015. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. Introduction The Lower Carboniferous Castleton Reef, situated in Derbyshire, UK, is riddled with an extensive network of cave systems. Peak Cavern, situated in Castleton, forms the exit of one of these systems. Ford (1999) recommends further investigations of "promising cave sites, such as Peak Cavern entrance". The entrance (or 'Vestibule') was first recorded in the Domesday Book. The Vestibule may have been a site of human habitation since the Upper Palaeolithic. Hemp rope has been manufactured at Peak Cavern for the last four or five hundred years on terraces sculpted from the cave earth deposits (Hancock, 1999). The depth of the cave fill and its sedimentological and/or archaeological layering were all uncertain. Invasive Location map archaeology of the cave earth deposits is prohibited, so non-destructive, geophysical imaging techniques have been applied. 1700 1803 Present Day A 3-D digital model of House under bench 4 Peak Cavern, from Woodall (1979) from Woodall (1979) from Hancock (1999) Castleton, Derbyshire, Resistivity Pseudo-sections UK, integrating cave An expanding Wenner array was used to collect earth resistance data along transects on three benches. The electrode spacing was increased from 0.5m to 5m, in steps of 0.5m, and results plotted as apparent resistivity pseudosections. Ground resistivity values are colour survey, geophysics, contoured, from high (red) to low (blue). The most striking feature in all three sections is the sloping apparent resistivity contrast geology and seen from 12-18m on all 3 sections. This has been interpreted as the top of alluvial deposits, which later extended towards the caveís entrance. archaeology The near-surface part of the sections shows several inverted v-shaped low-resistivity anomalies, which may be caused by man-made features (Hancock, 1999). Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) investigations Pringle, J.K.1 The cave earth deposits were profiled along the terraces using the pulseEKKO PE100 system with 110MHz frequency antennae. Schmidt, A.2 The Common Mid-Point (CMP) velocity profile (centre below) shows two distinct layers, with slower cave earth overlying faster Carboniferous Limestone. Note that each main group of primary reflection events has a multiple train beneath.Westerman, A.R.1 The 2-D fixed-offset profiles along the terraces show several anomalies which correspond to known features such as small houses 3 in the cave earth (below left) and increasing depth of cave fill, from the back of the cave towards the entrance (below right). These Shandley, D. cave-fill deposits accreted laterally on the channel bend at the back of the cave during times of flood (lowest profile below). Donahue, R.E.2 GPR image of house Harrison, J.4 low 2 velocity Hancock, A. cave cave earth floor Gardiner, A.R.1 high vel. limestone multiple 1 Institute of Petroleum Engineering, Heriot-Watt multiple cave University, Edinburgh, UK. floor 0.22 m/ns 0.34 2-D, fixed-offset profile along bench 3 2 Department of Archaeological Sciences, House under bench 4 GPR CMP analysis University of Bradford, UK. 3 Strata Software, The Business & Innovation lateral accretion surfaces Centre, Angel Way, Bradford, UK. 4 Peak Cavern, Castleton, Derbyshire, UK. cave floor Websites: 2-D, fixed-offset profile along main streamway 1http://www.pet.hw.ac.uk/research/3d_dom/ Cave Entrance Survey & Data Integration 2http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/archsci/ 3 The Vestibule, incuding cave roof (coloured brown below), rope walk terraces (outline in white below) and bedrock exposed in the stream http://www.peakcavern.co.uk/ (coloured blue below) were surveyed, using a Total Station theodolite and a Penmap acquisition system. The survey data were then combined 4http://www.penmap.com/ with Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) profiles and interpreted horizons, using Bentley Microstation (CAD) software (compare with Pringle et al., in press). Note that the base of cave earth, interpreted from the GPR profiles, has been matched to known outcrops of rock head, principally along the streamway (see picture immediately below left). REFERENCES Ford, T.D., 1999, The growth of Geological knowledge in cave roof the Peak District, Mercian Geologist, 14, 4, 161-190. Hancock, A.J., 1999, An investigation of the soils and sediment contained within the entrance chamber (or The Vestibule), Peak Cavern, and the assessment of their archaeological significance through the integration of geophysical techniques. BSc Project, Dept. of Archaeological Sciences, University of Bradford, 71pp. rock in stream bed Pringle, J.K., Clark, J.D., Westerman, A.R. & Gardiner, A.R. (in press), Using GPR to image 3-D turbidite channel architecture in the Carboniferous Ross Formation, Conclusions terrace edges County Clare, Western Ireland. In; Bristow, C.S. & Jol, H. (eds.), GPR in Sediments, Geological Society Special The cave floor slopes down from Publication. west to east, sub-parallel to the roof, which is consistent with Woodall, B. (1979). Peak Cavern. Brian Woodall cave erosion along bedding Publishers, Buxton, Derbyshire, UK. planes. GPR is an appropriate technique for imaging cave deposits, but the acquisition parameters could be refined for future investigations. Acknowledgements cave base rock in stream bed The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of their respective projects at Heriot-Watt and Bradford Universities. We should also like to thank Dom Tatum and Julian Clark for field support and Steve N Gourlay for CAD model assistance. Peter Fenning of ESS Ltd., Mike Galbraith of SIS Ltd. (now with GEDCO) and Bentley 10m Microstation are all thanked for their 3-D CAD Model software support. Institute of Petroleum Engineering, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh EH14 4AS Tel: 0131 451 3134 Email: [email protected] View publication stats.