Combined Shallow Seismic And Hydrogeological Investigation Of The Ancient Hierakonpolis Site In Southern Egypt

The ancient temple-town of Hierakonpolis, and its surrounding area near Edfu in southern Egypt<br>has been investigated using shallow seismic observations and hydrologic field measurements.<br>This temple-town, now buried in Nile silts beneath a shallow water table produced by<br>surrounding irrigation canals, was continuously inhabited from at least 3200 B.C. through<br>Roman times and is believed to hold many important artifacts in addition to those found at the<br>turn of this century. Any future excavations will require continuous dewatering to a depth of at<br>least 5 m. Typically 24- or 36-channel profiles or arrays were run using shotgun shell shallow<br>sources placed off the ends and in the middle of each spread. The high-quality data collected has<br>been used together with shallow boreholes to map the depth of the water table (l-4 m) beneath ’<br>the site and in adjacent areas; to locate localized anomalies believed to be associated with burred<br>man-made structures or objects: to discover a major reflecting boundary, interpreted to be an<br>ancient channel of the Nile River. at a depth of approximately 100 m; to discover a prominent<br>deeper reflector at a depth of approximately 180 m; and to discover a prominent shallow reflector<br>at a depth of approximately 30 m, the origin and significance of which is unknown. The<br>water-table depth distribution over the site has been determined at approximately 60 borehole<br>locations. Some of these boreholes. co-located with seismic profiles, provide calibration data for<br>continuous seismic determinations of water depth as well as soil moisture and soil composition<br>that are very helpful in the seismic interpretation. Borehole temperature and salinity<br>measurements help to characterize the groundwater flow regime induced by nearby irrigation<br>canals. Examples of the field observations and their interpretation will illustrate each of these<br>major findings.