Godley Bridge Survey, Surrey. Archaeological Monitoring of Seismic Ground Testing

On 26th May 2010 Oxford Archaeology undertook a field impact assessment of
geotechnical seismic survey investigations upon the potential archaeological
resource at two trial locations north-east of Haslemere, Surrey. The investigation
was undertaken in advance of, and to inform, a programme of geotechnical
prospecting within the surrounding landscape.
The survey utilised a 200g explosive charge buried 2 m deep into the underlying
sediments. Controlled archaeological excavation and sampling of the discharged
explosive at two locations established that these had a localised impact upon the
surrounding sediment and that this was unlikely to significantly affect any
archaeological remains. The explosive force created blast craters with diameters of
c 0.65 m surrounded by areas of sediment compaction. The localised outcrops of
ironstone found within the Weald Clay Formation were found to be resilient to the
impacts of the blast.