Drones document Europe's largest Roman auriferous complex

Drones document Europe's largest Roman auriferous complex https://i1.wp.com/www.eresviral.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Drones-documentan-el-mayor-complejo-aurífero-romano-de-Europa.jpg?fit=260%2C143&ssl=1

Drones document Europe's largest Roman auriferous complex







The northwest of the Iberian Peninsula concentrates the largest complex of gold mines from Roman times in Europe. However, the passage of time and human activity have been hiding and destroying part of this extensive mining heritage. This situation is especially relevant in the province of León, where the largest gold center in the northwest is located. Although this area was already known, now scientists from four Spanish universities have just published in the international mining and new technologies magazine Minerals-MDPI one of the largest attempts made to date to document the most representative examples of the entire northwest gold mining and that is composed of the main elements that served to extract the precious metal.



The new methodology used combines information from laser scanning of the land surface and rectified images to obtain control elements in the field for subsequent documentation with drones. This method, effective, fast and low cost, allows the development of high precision models. Approximately, some 30,000 hectares have been mapped, in what is the largest attempt to date to bring to light the mining remains, a little more than 70% of the localized remains, with a unique precision.







Ancient Roman gold mines (Castrocontrigo, León). (Image: Javier Fernández Lozano)



"Drones are versatile tools that allow working in inaccessible and remote areas quickly and effectively," says the lead researcher of this initiative, Javier Fernández Lozano, Department of Earth Sciences and Condensed Matter Physics (CITIMAC) the University of Cantabria (Spain). "Thanks to them we have been able to reach inaccessible areas more than 2,000 meters high, where flights have been made to obtain a series of high resolution images and three-dimensional models capable of reproducing what we observe on the spot on a television, a tablet or even your mobile phone, "he adds.



These models will serve to provide more information on the mining elements of the Roman hydraulic complex, such as channels and ponds for the collection of water, which served for their supply to the main mines. Thanks to the drones we have a digital model of the terrain that allows to perform efficiently and quickly measurements on the ground. For example, researchers can analyze the slopes of the channels, something that until now had not been possible to perform accurately due to the absence of a faithful model of the representation of the Earth's surface.



But beyond the important scientific value that emerges from the seven models, which document the best preserved examples of the different mining works, canals, ponds and murias that extend through the mining complex of the Sierra del Teleno, researchers they provide a tool of high educational and dissemination value, as well as with important implications for the preservation of the mining heritage, in danger of disappearing due to the passage of time and interference with human activities in the area.



With this methodology, based on the technique of photogrammetry on the images taken with the drones, geologists try to provide the administration with new means to highlight the gold mining remains throughout the province of León. The models provide exact replicas at the scale of the different elements and can be very useful in interpretation centers to show the public how mining works developed throughout the Northwest 2000 years ago. (Source: DICYT)

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