Ground penetrating radar (GPR) and capacitive coupled resistivity (CCR) measurements were conducted in order to image subsurface structures in the Orkhon Valley, Central Mongolia. The data are extended by information from drill cores to the entire transects distinguishing different sedimentary environments in the valley. The Orkhon Valley is part of the high sensitive Steppe region in Central Mongolia, one of the most important cultural landscapes in Central Asia. There, archaeological, geoarchaeological and sedimentological research aims to reconstruct the landscape evolution and the interaction between man and environment during the last millennia since the first settlement. In May 2009 and 2010 geophysical surveys have been conducted including transects with lengths between 1.5 and 30 km crossing the entire valley and a kilometre-scaled grid in the southern part of the investigation area.The geoelectrical and GPR data revealed the existence of two layers characterized by different resistivity values and radar reflectors. The two layers do not only represent material contrasts, but also reflect the influence of sporadic permafrost which occurs in several areas of Mongolia. The results help to reconstruct the evolution of the braided Orkhon River and therefore give important hints to understand the environmental history of the Orkhon Valley.

Raw data (.bin, .stn files): time, position and magnetic field data are stored in DataMapper G-858 compressed binary format for maximum use of available RAM. Transmitted binary data is stored in a binary file with the extension .bin. This file requires about 100 kB of hard disk storage per hour of collection (at 10 readings per second). The .stn file has ASCII format. You can create this file at any point in your analysis and can be viewed with any text editor. Most editing functions can be accomplished with the Magmap program, see MagMapp2000 hdl:10013/epic.36486.d001.This work was part of the BMBF funded Mongolian-German multidisciplinary project: "Geo-Archaeology in the Steppes - Reconstruction of Cultural Landscapes in the Orkhon Valley, Central Mongolia" directed by Prof. Dr. Jan Bemmann, see http://www.vfgarch.uni-bonn.de/forschung-1/aktuelle-projekte/geoarchaeologie-in-der-steppe (link) or hdl:10013/epic.36487.d001 (web pages archived as pdf).