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The use of ground penetrating radar (GPR) in the investigation of historical quarry abandonment in Svalbard

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2016

Benjamin Koster  and
Frigga Kruse
Benjamin Koster
Affiliation:
Neotectonics and Natural Hazards Group; RWTH Aachen University, Lochnerstr. 4-20; 52056 Aachen; Germany (b.koster@nug.rwth-aachen.de)
Frigga Kruse
Affiliation:
Arctic Centre, University of Groningen, Aweg 30; 9718 CW Groningen; Netherlands
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Abstract

This paper investigates historical quarry abandonment in Spitsbergen, Svalbard. A short-lived British marble quarry in Kongsfjorden lay deserted after 1920. We ask why this attempt at the large-scale development of Arctic marble was unproductive; whether there are structural features that affected the known historical trenches and boreholes; and whether the reason for abandonment was primarily geological. During interdisciplinary fieldwork rooted in industrial archaeology and structural geology, we employed medium-resolution ground penetration radar (GPR) to discern subsurface disturbances near the workings. Seven survey grids gave rise to both areas of fracturing and folding as well as areas of sound marble. Using complementary historical documents, we are able to dispel the myths that permafrost or shattered surface rock affected workability and profitability. Although structural disturbances were present, bedrock geology was, in fact, less important than the proportion of waste rock to marketable product. Whether a product was marketable depended on a multitude of other factors. This paper moves away from oversimplified reasoning in mining history and promotes the bridging of geological and historical scales in order to understand the full suite of local and global driving forces in the historical process.

Type
Research Article
Information
Polar Record , Volume 52 , Issue 3 , May 2016 , pp. 330 - 344
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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