By John Bryant, Ph.D., Executive Vice President, Aperture
Between 2010 and 2013, I summited Mt. Ararat in eastern Turkey four times as part of an expedition searching for the remains of Noah’s Ark. The work was later featured in the 2015 documentary Finding Noah. My role was chief engineer and scientist. The team needed someone to evaluate what was beneath the ice and rock using geophysical methods, and to do it without a stake in the outcome.
That second part mattered as much as the first.
The work
I ran two systems on the mountain. The first was electrical resistivity tomography (ERT), using a Thunderbird system. ERT measures how the ground resists electrical current, which lets you build a picture of subsurface materials and changes in their properties.
The second was ground penetrating radar (GPR) from GSSI, using 200 MHz, 400 MHz and 1 GHz antennas. Lower frequencies see deeper with less detail. Higher frequencies give sharper resolution closer to the surface. Using both methods, across multiple frequencies, lets you check one data set against another instead of trusting a single reading.
This is the same approach I use on a foundation failure or a levee investigation. The setting was just less forgiving.
The conditions
Weather was the hardest part. We were working on a glacier, and Ararat makes its own weather. Lenticular cloud systems form over the summit and conditions can change in a matter of hours rather than days. You plan a full day of data collection and lose it by noon.
In 2010, I spent 10 straight hours collecting data in sub-freezing temperatures and came away with first-degree frostbite in my toes. That was a lesson in how much the environment can push against careful work, and how important it is not to let it rush you.
What we found
During successive years from 2010 to 2013 the geophysical testing revealed linear features at depth that had some parallel angularity. Because the geophysical scans can be ambiguous, I recommended drilling and digging to confirm the existence and cause of these angular striations seen in the GPR. These angular bands turned out to be shear zones in the ice from the slow creep movement of ice downslope over time.
The team
What I remember most is the people. The same group worked together over four years, and we became a brotherhood. The team knew I was there as the independent, unbiased scientist. They didn’t ask me to confirm what they hoped to find. They asked me to follow the data, and they respected that approach every season.
That respect is not a given on any project. When a team has strong beliefs about the answer, the scientist’s job is to keep the process honest. On Ararat, the team made that easy.
What carries over
People sometimes ask what an Ark expedition has to do with forensic engineering. My answer is that the method doesn’t change. Whether you’re investigating a failed retaining wall, a building settlement claim or an anomaly under a glacier, you form a hypothesis, collect data, test it and let the results stand on their own.
The scientific method works. It worked at 17,000 feet, and it works in the courtroom. The questions are different. The discipline is the same.
