Searching for evidence of WW I German occupation in Namibia

Searching for WW I German armaments in Namibia, 2017

So I have had a few unusual survey proposals over the years, Yagan’s head comes to mind for example, but a call back in October led to a trip at the end of the year to Namibia.  At first I thought the request a little bizarre and one in which I would be of limited help but on talking the problem through I saw that perhaps geophysics might be able to add to the investigation.  

So what was the request? Well it started with a story surrounding the retreat of German troops from Namibia during WW I.  The story goes that as the German Schutztruppe ("protection force") left the country they disposed of various armaments in the sinkholes around the town of Tsumeb. In particular the lakes of Ojikoto and Guinas were suspected to contain field guns, rifles, carriages, ordnance and even (as always in these cases) a safe full of gold!  

German WW I field gun in Ojikoto Museum

This was too much to resist!!

The architecture of the caves and even their depths were in dispute despite a long history of local divers testing their prowess at exploration. Descriptions by local divers Chris Steenkamp and Johan le Roux (who provided incredible support throughout the trip - thanks guys) talked of overhanging caves extending unknown distances with jagged roofs and a very soft sediment on the lake floors.  The region is one of limestone and dolomite with a regional fracture pattern that shows linear trends to the lakes.  Along the weakened trend the lakes open up as sink holes and thus have steep to vertical sides.  These were going to necessitate some unusual access means and a very portable geophysical survey platform. 

Lake Ojikoto

To survey the lake floor and also to stand a chance of seeing something of the lake sides would require a sonar with a wide beam pattern so I took with me both a 468kHz and a 234kHz SwathPlus.  Motion reference and positioning was provided by a TSS DMS205, a Vector Cresent and Topcon HiperPro.  

The steep sides of Lake Guinas Lake meant that we had to abseil the inflatable boat into the sinkhole before setting up the equipment.  However, once on the lake the sonar produced fantastic maps of the underground structure showing the bell-like form of the sinkholes and also providing a series of targets for the dive operations. 

In Lake Ojikoto these were at 30-40m depth and proved to be a carriage gun and boxes of shells however in Lake Guinas the depth of over 100m was way beyond my comfort dive range and so remains to be investigated with remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and cameras.  

The sonar produced a really great map of the underside or roof of the sinkholes even where the angle was very small compared to the water surface but the data set did require some significant manual filtering as the geometries of the structure was anything but typical for sonar data. Still, it just goes to prove that often you really do not know what you will get with geophysics until you try!

"outer" walls of cave

point cloud view of cave walls

The “expedition” was in part sponsored by a US Travel channel so watch out for Josh Gates and Expedition Unknown to be broadcast on March 6^th in the US on the Travel Channel. 
Check out to view. 

Unfortunately, no gold yet but we will continue our hunt for the means to support the Schools future………

Kilwa Marine Geophysics Survey, 2014

I have just returned from Tanzania working with Dr Ted Pollard from the British Institute in Eastern Africa and Elgidius Ichumbaki from the University of Dar es Salaam. Ted (also an honorary researcher at St Andrews) has been researching coastal archaeological sites along the southern Tanzanian islands near World Heritage site of Kilwa for over 10years.  His studies have documented settlements and trade back to Middle Stone Age with extensive developments from the 14C and 15C based on gold trade  that originated in modern Zimbabwe. To date, most of his work has been focused around recording intertidal sites in relation to the changing geomorphology that will have dictated the land use.  He has shown how river channels and harbours have silted up, settlements abandoned both as a result of nature and from human pressure.  There is a fascinating story in this coast line and one that despite the obvious immediate differences (its hot and the water is warm) has many similarities to the work that many of us are conducting around the North Sea.  

Kilwa Fort, Kilwa World Heritage Site, Tanzania

So this year Ted wanted to investigate the sub-tidal part of the study area.  In order to do this I have brought out our SwathPlus 468kHz bathymetric sidescan.  This is the sonar that we have been using up in Orkney, Scotland (see earlier posts) to successfully map the submerged topography (the drowned landscape) but also using to map different types of biological habitat on the seafloor.  It was deployed with a TSS DMS205 motion reference unit, sound velocity probe, Vector Hemisphere GPS and Topcon RTK dGPS.  Unfortunately here I do not have the advantage of bringing a custom survey vessel so we are relying on the collaboration with the Tanzanian Antiquities Department.  Check the video clip to see how the survey went and get a feel for the place. The boat required a fair amount of impromptu rigging and a couple of visits to a local woodworking shop - here my demands on yokes to go around the keel of a boat were a welcome change from making bed frames I think.

Charles Okeny from BIEA surveying using the SwathPlus bathymetric sonar

Over the course of the two weeks we managed to get a fair amount of the inner harbours covered including some great detail around the old fort and palace. Water depths ranged down to 65m and from the mapping it appears that there are a number of submerged coral terraces plus some great sediment features. 

As with any geophysics, it is only as good as the ground truth and so there was nothing for it here but to jump into the water to get some.  Whereas I am usually a fan of putting down an ROV (remotely operated camera) there was just not the facilities to do this and so we hired kit from a local dive centre and had to do the honourable thing – diving around coral reefs can be a hardship, honest!

The final map of bathymetry showing a deep (>60m) channel with steep coral shelf breaks

Dr Ted Pollard 

The result of the day of targeted dives proved out many of the sonar targets and gave some valuable information on seafloor type.  It also gave us the first confirmation of archaeological significance with a large pottery scatter at one site.  Ted will now be following this up with careful analysis/identification of the pottery.

Seismic Data, Orkney

Previous Rising Tides Geophysics Results
Over the past couple of years we have been collecting bathymetry and sub-bottom seismic information from the Bay of Firth and Loch of Stenness.  These give us the first hint at palaeo-landscapes. 

Bathymetry in Bay of Firth showing deep inner basin

 The bathymetry information was acquired using a SEA Swathplus 468kHz sonar deployed on our department boat, Envoy and also on my specially adapted Zego Boat.  The sub-bottom information was acquired with a Sesistec Boomer system in the Bay of Firth and using a Tritech SeaKing Parametric Sonar on Loch of Stenness.

The results allow us to target areas of the seafloor that are rock and those of sediment.  The rock areas are investigated by ROV (remotely operated vehicle) or diver and the sediment by coring

Section of bathymetry from Loch of Stenness near Brodgar World Heritage Site

Sub-bottom profiles through stone features and sediment sequences in Stenness