GPR techniques did save the paleontologists some digging, but they were only able to record an average depth of 3.4 feet below the surface. The Mineseeker blimp, developed by the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency and the Lightship Group in the United Kingdom and requested by the United Nation s Mine Action Coordination Centre, made its first foray into Kosovo in mid-November. Preliminary analysis of the results suggests that the airship successfully detected mines with at least the frequency of prior methods. The principles of physics used for remote-sensing radar recovery of land mines and fossils are quite similar. The military is searching just below the surface for mines, while we will be looking deeper beneath the surface for bones, says Paesler.
Dinosaur remains emerge from the ground as it erodes from wind and water exposure.
Any exposed bones found by a paleontology team toiling at the surface, then, have been sandblasted by the wind subject to what paleontologists call aeolian abrasion . SAR technology could potentially allow fossils to be uncovered before they have surfaced, resulting in the discovery of better preserved specimens. And although the location of his phantom digs is still undecided, he mentioned the existence of sand mines in North Carolina which, he points out, was neighbor to Morocco 200 million years ago the intended site in the Sahara Desert of his first true remote-sensing radar search for dinosaur remains.