Preliminary investigation of underground settlements of Nevsehir Castle region using 2.5-D electrical resistivity tomography: Cappadocia, Turkey

WOS: 000390014100018The Nevsehir Castle region located in the middle of Cappadocia with approximately cone shape is investigated for the existence of an underground city using the geophysical method of electrical resistivity tomography. Underground cities are commonly known to exist in Cappadocia. The current study has obtained important clues that there may be another one under the Nevsehir Castle region. Several 2.5-D resistivity profiles totaling approximately 4 km in length surrounding the Nevsehir Castle are measured to determine the distribution of electrical resistivities under the study area. Several high resistivity anomalies with a depth range 8-20 m are discovered to associate with a systematic void structure beneath the Nevsehir Castle. Because of the high-resolution resistivity measurement system currently employed, we were able to isolate the void anomalies from the embedding structure. Using 3-D visualization techniques, we show the extension of the void structure under the measured profiles