Ground Penetrating Radar Roundup: Civil War Stockades, Football Field Sinkholes, and Hurricane Sandy

Beyond just detecting leaks, like we do here at Leak Masters, our state-of-the-art ground penetrating radar system can be used to find some other things- we’re rounding up a list of the good, the bad, and the fascinating.

In Georgia, archaeologists from two universities used ground-penetrating radar along with other technologies to unearth remnants of a civil war stockade. The file photo below shows a stockade similar to the one discovered in Jenkins County.

Verona High School, in New Jersey, is seeing sinkholes open up on their football field. Yikes! The Board of Education has employed a local company’s ground penetrating radar services to discover the cause of the holes- residents suspect it may be a well shaft dating from when the school was a large orphanage in the 1800s.

In its wake, Hurricane Sandy left a lot of damage, which is now being assessed in part by using ground-penetrating radar to find sub-pavement damage not visible to the naked eye. Balfour Beatty Rail is on standby to deploy their ground penetrating radar services to help other railways locate track deficiencies.

On a tragic note, researcher from the University of South Florida discovered multiple graves believed to be linked to the Dozier School for Boys – a reform school just shut down last year. The NPR story outlines a history of the grim institution, but relatives of those buried at the Florida school are getting answers to their questions and will be able to put their lost relatives to rest. Pictured below is archaeologist Richard Estabrook at the school using GPR to find the unmarked graves.

Internationally, the Institute of National Remembrance in Poland is launching a search to find victims of “Little Katyn” – the largest Soviet crime on Polish territory since WWI, when 2000 Poles were arrested near Augustow, Poland, and some 562 were never seen again. The search will be conducted not far from the memorial near the Augustow Forest, pictured below.

Photo Credits: Georgia Public Broadcasting, Railway Track and Structures, NPR, and Polskie Radio DLA Zagranicy