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The construction of the Banda Aceh Wastewater Treatment Plant has been delayed due to the discovery of archaeological artifacts in the construction area. In an effort to protect the existence of archaeological artifacts, a survey using the magnetic method was carried out to identify the distribution of archaeological artifacts. Total magnetic field intensity data were measured using the Proton Precession Magnetometer (PPM) equipment. The measuring area is 38 m × 40 m with 1599 measurement points and the distance between the points is 1 m. Total magnetic field anomaly values were obtained through the diurnal and International Geomagnetic Reference Field (IGRF) corrections. The maximum values of the total magnetic field anomaly are 71.0 nT and the minimum values are -99.5 nT. The maximum and minimum values are close to where the artifacts have been exposed. To obtain the distribution of anomalies, analysis signal processes were performed. The results succeeded in showing the existence of archaeological artifacts based on elongated and closed anomalies. Elongated anomalies were identified as a fence structure called diwai in Acehnese culture and the closure anomalies were identified as gravestones. The existence of these archaeological artifacts and their historical values need to be preserved so that they will be educational facilities and historical tourism objects for the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigation of sediments carried by tsunami 2004 was conducted in Seungko Meulat village, located in Lhoong subdistrict of Great Aceh, Aceh province, Indonesia. Seungko Meulat is directly opposite the Indian Ocean thus it is probable to be affected by the giant tsunami that has hit Aceh province. The deposit samples were taken at two points using a hand drill with a depth of over 1 meter. The collected samples have been further prepared in the laboratory including cleaning, refining, and sieving. Based on our visual observations, the 2004 tsunami candidate layer was found in our study. Tsunami deposits were identified at a depth of 4 cm with a thickness of 16-24 cm. The layers are characterized by light brown coarse to fine sand material located above a dark brown paleosoil layer with sharp erosion contacts. The tsunami deposits of coarse size at the bottom gradually turn into medium to fine sand at the upmost layer. The finer grain size of sand material reflects weakened tsunami waves in the pre-backwash deposition. Moreover, the lower part of the tsunami deposition layer is rich in plant roots, stems, and anthropogenic products. Based on the results obtained, the tsunami layers found in this study have characteristics that are almost similar to the tsunami layer found in other areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gampong Pande is an ancient village from the first millennium, the area is known as zero km of Banda Aceh Municipality today. Many cultural heritages are found around the area including a complex of ancient graveyards known as diwai by Acehnese. Physically the structure has been destroyed and buried by aging and natural hazards processes, archaeological investigation is needed for conservation. Before archaeological excavation, a geophysical survey of the very low frequency electromagnetic (VLF-EM) method has been applied to image subsurface structures of the ancient graveyard. The VLF-EM data were measured using the GEM-systems console, namely, GSM-19 T. Data measurement was carried out on 20 profiles with a 1 m distance between stations. The length of each profile is 45 meters so that the measurement covered the graveyard area. Magnetic fields in terms of in-phase and out-phase data were measured with frequencies 19.8 kHz and 21.4 kHz propagated by VLF radio transmitters. Based on the data, the area with the graveyard structure is shown by lower in-phase and out-phase values than the area outside the structure. The first derivative of VLF-EM data (i.e., Fraser filter) analysis indicated some elongated buried structures in the subsurface. The structures were further clarified by 2D modeling of the Karous Hjelt filter as the wall of the graveyard was 1 meter to 4 meters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study to locate the paleotsunami deposition was carried out in Seubadeh Village situated in East Bakongan Timur sub-district of South Aceh, which is a part of the province of Aceh, Indonesia. Seubadeh Village is located on the coast and faces directly to Indian Ocean, thus possibly affected by historic tsunamis occured in the past. this area has been identified geologically as one of the areas that has the potential to store paleotsunami deposition. The sample collection was carried out by drilling the ground using coring at several points with depth of up to 3 meters. The collected soil samples have been processed in the laboratory, dried and sifted. Visual observation of the soil and sediment samples taken showed that it mainly consits of sand and ordinary soil. However, it was found that there were parts of the deposited layer that show geological characteristics fit to characteristics of a paleo-tsunami deposition layer. Thus, the excavated deposition layer is a very potential candidate for the paleotsunami layer. The paleotsunami candidate layer was found at at a depth of 2.5 meters below ground level. The deposition layer considered as the candidate paleotsunami deposition consists of 2 separate layers with different thickness. The first deposition layer has a thickness of more than 30 cm, while the second layer has a thickness of more than 9 cm. The paleotsunami deposition layer found will be further characterized by geological methods and optical analytical tools, namely laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS). This study implies that the south west coast of Aceh holds records of past tsunami events, and Seubadeh Village could be an appropriate area to study paleotsunami further. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigation of affected soils by the massive Indian Ocean tsunami 2004 in Banda Aceh city was carried out utilizing X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) technique for analyzing and identifying its chemical component. Based on this preliminary study, the XRF investigation demonstrated that the affected soil samples in Banda Aceh city 10 years after the tsunami disaster were still contaminated by alkali metal elements identified as salt content (Ca and K) and transition metal elements involving Al, Si, P, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, and Sr. On the other hand, this research also revealed that Fe element dominantly appeared in the tsunami-affected soils in more than 35% of collected samples, then it followed by Si and Ca elements. It could be noticed that almost all of the chemical elements that appeared in the soil 10 years after the tsunami event were higher than the similar experiment held 1.5 and 3 years after the Indian Ocean tsunami 2004 in Aceh province. This work found that the concentration ratio of Fe/Ti and Si/Ti is far higher than other elements, thus the ratio is potential chemical signature to characterize the soil samples impacted by 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami in Banda Aceh city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, plasma characteristics in terms of temperature and electron density of a plasma of the tsunami impacted soil sample induced by a transversely excited atmospheric carbon dioxide (TEA-CO2) LIBS was studied. Practically, the tsunami impacted soil samples was taken from at the worst affected area by the giant tsunami, Banda Aceh city, Aceh province, Indonesia. The generated plasma has been produced after TEA-CO2 pulses laser was targeted onto sample placed on a sample holder in air surrounding gas. The emission spectral lines emitted from the plasma region collected using system of an optical multichannel analyser (OMA) allowed atomic emission lines could be clearly identified. The temperature of plasma was estimateed through the method of Boltzmann plot, while the plasma electron density has been obtained by method of Saha-Boltzmann using spectral lines of calcium both atomic and ionic spectral lines. As results, the plasma temperature and electron density produced were T = 8691 K and 5,2 × 1015 cm−3, respectively. Generally, the plasma temperature and density electron obtained are fit to the Maxwell distribution criteria kT <50,000 and Mcwhriter's criteria (Ne >1.6×1012 T½ (ΔE)3) for plasma laser in state of local thermal equilibrium LTE). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]