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7 AUTHORS, INCLUDING:
Denisse Argote-Espino
Andres Andrade
8 PUBLICATIONS 8 CITATIONS
SEE PROFILE
SEE PROFILE
Gerardo Cifuentes-Nava
Universidad Nacional Autnoma de Mxico
34 PUBLICATIONS 51 CITATIONS
SEE PROFILE
Instituto de Geofsica, Universidad Nacional Autnoma de Mxico, Circuito Exterior s/n, Ciudad Universitaria, Mxico D.F., C.P. 04510, Mexico
Escuela Nacional de Antropologa e Historia, Perifrico Sur esq. calle Zapote, Col. Isidro Fabela, Mxico D.F., Mexico
Facultad de Ingeniera, Universidad Nacional Autnoma de Mxico, Circuito Escolar, Ciudad Universitaria, Coyoacn, Mxico D.F., C.P. 04510, Mexico
a r t i c l e i n f o
a b s t r a c t
Article history:
Received 3 June 2012
Received in revised form
9 August 2012
Accepted 22 August 2012
The implementation of a 3D Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT-3D) survey was carried out in El
Pah archaeological site, Hidalgo State, Central Mexico. A combination of a new ERT arrays allowed
studying the subsoil beneath the Main Pyramid built near the edge of a plateau, along with another
important structure (the Tecpan), which was a smaller structure that lodged the governmental council in
pre-Hispanic times. The recorded information was acquired through the combination of several electrodic designs: L-Corner (LC), Equatorial (Eq), and Minimum Coupling (MC). For the Main Pyramid, the
electrodes were set up around the perimeter of the structure, since they were not permitted to be
inserted over the edice, thus preventing damages to the architectonic elements. The second structure
allowed inserting electrodes on selected spots within the architectonic space. The combination of the
different arrays made possible the acquisition of 1204 apparent resistivities beneath the Main Pyramid
and 2460 resistivity data beneath the Tecpan. The apparent resistivity data were inverted to obtain
a three dimensional display of the subsoil electrical resistivity beneath the archaeological structure. The
interpreted resistivity model under the Main Pyramid displayed a highly resistive structure towards its
northern face that could be associated with inll. Such material was employed by the ancient
constructors to level the terrain close to the edge of the cliff. Another interesting anomaly was found
towards the central portion of the structure that could be associated to a foundation offer. The interpretation of data beneath the Tecpan identied the structural foundations and other interesting
anomalies related to the different occupational times. The investigation supported the archaeological
investigation of the site, suggesting areas of potential geological risk and of archaeological interest. For
example, the Main Pyramid presents serious stability problems, indicating that the inll has weakened,
producing cracks threatening long-term pyramid integrity.
! 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords:
3D ERT
Geophysical survey
El Pah archaeological site
Central Mexico
1. Introduction
The archaeological site of El Pah is located within the Mezquital Valley (Fig. 1, inset), in Tecozautla municipality, Hidalgo State.
The Mezquital Valley covers more than 7000 m2 of the northern
Mesoamerican limit, and includes the western side of Hidalgo State,
the northern portion of the Mexico State and a limited area of the
southern limits of Queretaro State (Lpez Aguilar and Fournier,
2009). The region forms part of the Central Mexico highlands,
within the physiographic province of the Central Volcanic Belt
(CVB).
* Corresponding author. Tel./fax: 52 5556750029.
E-mail address: efen@gmail.com (D. Argote-Espino).
0305-4403/$ e see front matter ! 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2012.08.034
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Fig. 1. Topographic model of the archaeological site of El Pahu is shown (A). The archaeological site of El Pah is located at the northern edge of a plateau. The Main Pyramid (B)
and the Tecpan (C) are also depicted.
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Fig. 2. The ERT-3D array employed in the Main Pyramid conformed by 40 electrodes
(numbered open circles) surrounding the structure. Numbers indicate the position
read by the SySCAL-Pro.
For the second step, the Corner array is surveyed. The current
electrodes (black dots) are xed in two opposite corners of the
square (Fig. 3B), as well as the potential electrodes (gray dots).
These move one position in the direction of the arrows until they
reach the end of the line. For starting electrodes #5 and #6 end at
electrode positions #13 and #14, respectively, while starting electrodes #25 and #24 end at electrode #17 and #16 position. In the
next level of observation, the current electrodes move back to their
position in the opposite corners of the square (#5 and #25), but the
potential electrodes are now at #7 and #23. The array is moved one
position in the direction indicated by the arrows until electrode
positions in #14 and #16 are reached. All the procedures are iteratively repeated until just one observation can be done, that is
when current electrodes are in position #5 and #25 and potential
electrodes are in position #14 and #16.
The last step for the corner array (Fig. 3C) shows the same
position of the current electrodes as above. The difference now is
that the potential electrodes (gray dots) move together in a clockwise direction. For the rst level of observation, the current electrodes (black points) are in #5 and #25 and potential electrodes
(gray dots) are in #24 and #23. The entire array is moved in
direction of the arrow until electrodes positions #16 and #15 are
reached. The next level takes place by moving the current electrodes again to #5 and #25, the potential electrodes are now in #23
and #22 and the array is moved until electrodes #16 and #15 are
reached. The procedure is repeated until just one observation can
be completed, when the current electrodes are in #5 and #25 and
the potential electrodes are in #16 and #15.
The corner array is repeated for each corner of the square which
encloses the structure. The calculated position at depth of the
Fig. 3. The L (A) and Corner (B and C) arrays designed to survey the subsoil beneath the Main Pyramid. The arrows indicate the direction of measurements that the SySCAL-Pro
must follow. Coordinates of each electrode are loaded into the SySCAL-Pro system and position of current (black) and potential (gray) electrodes are given. Then, automatically, the
ERT device will survey the area.
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Fig. 4. View of the attribution points for the disposition of the electrodes around the
Main Pyramid for the L (D) and Corner (E) arrays. The solid lines in the surface
represent the electrical tomography lines. The points at depth represent the position of
the resistivities observed in the subsoil. Such positions are calculated with the ElectrePro software (Copyright 2010 IRIS Instruments).
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Fig. 5. Electrode observations carried out for the Eq parallel (A) and Diagonal (B) arrays. Arrows depict the direction of electrode shifting. Position of the electrodes around the Main
Pyramid for the Equatorial (Eq) parallel (C) and diagonal (D) arrays.
The closest lines will produce shallower data points, and as the
distance between parallel lines increase, deeper estimated locations for the resistivities are calculated. The last array employed
was the MC described below.
3.2.1. Minimum Coupling (MC) array
Two parallel lines are also needed to carry out the apparent
resistivity observations. The current electrodes are set at the
Fig. 6. Location of the electrodes around the Tecpan is depicted. 44 electrodes surround the structure (A) similarly to the methodology explained for Fig. 2. It was possible to have
electrodes within the structure at selected positions (B) to carry on a traditional ERT-3D survey.
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the last electrode is reached. Then, the current electrodes move one
electrode space up and the process start again, moving the potential electrodes once more. The sequence is complete when the last
electrode is reached. Then, the same procedure follows by shifting
the potential electrodes to the contiguous line (Fig. 8B) and the
process is repeated in a similar way. Fig. 8C shows the apparent
resistivity distribution at depth obtained with this process. The
sequence is done between closest lines and then for the farther
lines. In total, six patterns of resistivity positions are estimated by
the Electre-Pro software (Copyright 2010 IRIS Instruments).
The nal observed resistivities at depth are obtained by
combining all the arrays discussed previously. Fig. 9A depicts the
total resistivity points measured at depth for the Main Pyramid, and
Fig. 9B shows the location at depth of the total observation points
for the Tecpan. These diagrams display the total points (1552 points
for the Main Pyramid and 2358 points for the Tecpan) employed to
compute the 3D resistivity models.
4. Results
Fig. 7. WennereSchlumberger (A) and Eq parallel (B) arrays are depicted. Such
a distribution of resistivities at depth was obtained with the second array (Fig. 7B).
corners of each ERT prole (Fig. 8), as done in the previous array. In
this setting (Fig. 8A), the current electrodes are xed (A, B), whereas
the potential (M, N) electrodes move along the ERT prole
following the direction of the arrow. Such process continues until
Fig. 8. Electrode shifting method is shown (A and B) to estimate the resistivity distribution at depth (C) for the Minimum Coupling (MC) array.
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Fig. 10. 3-D display of the real resistivities distribution under the Main Pyramid (A). Dotted line depicts the limits of the Main Pyramid and the black dots mark the position of the
electrodes. Letters (AeF) indicate important detected features. A resistivity interval (marked in the color scale) is obtained; main resistivity anomalies can be clearly observed. View
from the northern face of the cube. The landslide surface of the articial lling (A) is marked with discontinuous lines (B and C). (For interpretation of the references to color in this
gure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
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Fig. 11. The topographic model and the corresponding resistivity 3D model are superimposed on a 90" view. The inll material (A) affects the NW portion of the structure. An
interesting anomaly (B) can be associated to a foundation offer. Image to the right depict the subsidence effects on the main building, ssures and cracks are deteriorating the
stability of the edice.
Fig. 12. A 3-D distribution for the inverted real resistivities of the Tecpan is depicted in two different views. Three important anomalies can be observed. A low resistive anomaly (A)
is found within the limits of the Tecpan. Anomaly B depicts an interesting morphology, suggesting the entrance of a cave. Anomaly C could be associated to a more consolidated tuff.
Finally, dotted lines dene a pre-Hispanic oor, located few centimeters deep from the surface.
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Fig. 13. A 90" view is presented for the Tecpan showing two resistivity intervals. Anomaly A possesses and interesting geometry suggesting a small gathering room or part of the
foundations of the rst constructive phase. Anomaly B might correspond to a Tuff more consolidated, and nally C suggest a cavity or tunnel probably partially collapsed. Anomaly C
possesses continuity towards the main stairway of the Tecpan.
high resistivity values are left. The resistivity intervals of 96 Ohmme260 Ohm-m, and 3000 Ohm-me10,000 Ohm-m are displayed
in this image. The rst interval presented corresponds to
materials lesser consolidated, where feature A matches the limits
of the Tecpan. This could be an evidence of an inner room,
beneath this structure. On the other hand, anomaly C depicts
a high resistive bulk of more than 6000 Ohm-m that can be
associated to a well consolidated tuff. Anomaly C reects a high
resistive material, which can be interpreted as a cavity entrance.
The morphology of such resistive material suggests a tunnel
partially collapsed. This is due to the lack of continuity towards
the eastern section of the Tecpan (observe Fig. 12A and B). Such
a structure deepens up to 7 m deep.
Finally, Fig. 13 depicts the resistivity cube overlapped with the
topographic model of the Tecpan. Resistive feature A ts well over
the western portion of the Tecpan. The interpreted geometry of
such low resistive material seems to dene the foundations of the
rst constructive phase of this pyramid. Anomaly B is of great
extension and it is very likely that this material was employed to
level the terrain at this point, towards the SE of the structure. The
interesting resistivity element depicted by letter C shows an
evidence of the existence of a tunnel in the direction to the Tecpan.
It is interesting to note, that the resistive structure apparently ends
at the western stairway of the pyramid to an approximate 2 m deep.
5. Conclusions
The new ERT-3D methodology applied to survey two discovered
archaeological structures solved properly the questions involved in
this investigation with a few losses of shallow information. The
results provided useful data about the distribution of archaeological and geological elements, where interesting resistive features
were detected. In the Main Pyramid, the presence of an articial
lling deposited over the tepetate horizon was detected, warning
about the landslide planes and the lateral run off of soils
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