The Olorgesailie basin, southern Kenya Rift, is a renowned prehistoric site that preserves evidence of hominin behavior over the past ~1 million years. During this period the basin experienced environmental variability in response to orbitally controlled climate changes and tectonic forcing, which together influenced preservation of evidence for early human behavior and technological innovations. Palaeobotanical data from phytoliths extracted from outcrop paleosols show that vegetation cover varied subtly across the landscape and through time, shifting between wooded grasslands and open grasslands. Low-resolution outcrop data and a sedimentary hiatus between ~500 ka and ~320 ka hinder understanding of when important vegetation changes may have occurred and how these influenced mammalian species turnover or major transitions in hominin technology and behavior. Here we report vegetation data analyzed from a well-dated and continuous 139 m sedimentary core spanning the last ~1 million years, drilled from the southern area of the Olorgesailie catchment known as the Koora basin. Phytolith data from 270 samples show that climate largely controlled vegetation variability in the basin. These changes appear to have influenced mammalian assemblages and corresponded with changes in human behavior and technological transitions in the southern Kenya rift. Our record shows a significant shift towards more C4-short-Chloridoideae grasslands associated with increased variability in available fresh water, corresponding to the technological transition from Acheulean to Middle Stone Age around 320 ka. In addition, phytolith indices indicate increased vegetation variability 330-220 ka, corresponding to high variability in terrestrial and freshwater conditions resulting from tectonic, hydrological and ecological changes. The sediment core thus provides a unique, high-resolution opportunity to evaluate vegetation dynamics of the Olorgesailie-Koora region, providing new insights on how vegetation may have influenced our ancestors’ behavioral changes over the past ~1 million years.

The Olorgesailie basin, southern Kenya Rift, is a renowned prehistoric site that preserves evidence of hominin behavior over the past ~1 million years. During this period the basin experienced environmental variability in response to orbitally controlled climate changes and tectonic forcing, which together influenced preservation of evidence for early human behavior and technological innovations. Palaeobotanical data from phytoliths extracted from outcrop paleosols show that vegetation cover varied subtly across the landscape and through time, shifting between wooded grasslands and open grasslands. Low-resolution outcrop data and a sedimentary hiatus between ~500 ka and ~320 ka hinder understanding of when important vegetation changes may have occurred and how these influenced mammalian species turnover or major transitions in hominin technology and behavior.         Here we report vegetation data analyzed from a well-dated and continuous 139 m sedimentary core spanning the last ~1 million years, drilled from the southern area of the Olorgesailie catchment known as the Koora basin. Phytolith data from 270 samples show that climate largely controlled vegetation variability in the basin. These changes appear to have influenced mammalian assemblages and corresponded with changes in human behavior and technological transitions in the southern Kenya rift. Our record shows a significant shift towards more C4-short-Chloridoideae grasslands associated with increased variability in available fresh water, corresponding to the technological transition from Acheulean to Middle Stone Age around 320 ka. In addition, phytolith indices indicate increased vegetation variability 330-220 ka, corresponding to high variability in terrestrial and freshwater conditions resulting from tectonic, hydrological and ecological changes. The sediment core thus provides a unique, high-resolution opportunity to evaluate vegetation dynamics of the Olorgesailie-Koora region, providing new insights on how vegetation may have influenced our ancestors’ behavioral changes over the past ~1 million years.

Abstract Magmatic continental rifts often constitute nascent plate boundaries, yet long‐term extension rates and transient rate changes associated with these early stages of continental breakup remain difficult to determine. Here, we derive a time‐averaged minimum extension rate for the inner graben of the Northern Kenya Rift (NKR) of the East African Rift System for the last 0.5 m.y. We use the TanDEM‐X science digital elevation model to evaluate fault‐scarp geometries and determine fault throws across the volcano‐tectonic axis of the inner graben of the NKR. Along rift‐perpendicular profiles, amounts of cumulative extension are determined, and by integrating four new 40Ar/39Ar radiometric dates for the Silali volcano into the existing geochronology of the faulted volcanic units, time‐averaged extension rates are calculated. This study reveals that in the inner graben of the NKR, the long‐term extension rate based on mid‐Pleistocene to recent brittle deformation has minimum values of 1.0–1.6 mm yr−1, locally with values up to 2.0 mm yr−1. A comparison with the decadal, geodetically determined extension rate reveals that at least 65% of the extension must be accommodated within a narrow, 20‐km‐wide zone of the inner rift. In light of virtually inactive border faults of the NKR, we show that extension is focused in the region of the active volcano‐tectonic axis in the inner graben, thus highlighting the maturing of continental rifting in the NKR.

East Africa is a global biodiversity hotspot and exhibits distinct longitudinal diversity gradients from west to east in freshwater fishes and forest mammals The assembly of this exceptional biodiversity and the drivers behind diversity gradients remain poorly understood, with diversification often studied at local scales and less attention paid to biotic exchange between Afrotropical regions. Here, we reconstruct a river system that existed for several millennia along the now semiarid Kenya Rift Valley during the humid early Holocene and show how this river system influenced postglacial dispersal of fishes and mammals due to its dual role as a dispersal corridor and barrier. Using geomorphological, geochronological, isotopic, and fossil analyses and a synthesis of radiocarbon dates, we find that the overflow of Kenyan rift lakes between 12 and 8 ka before present formed a bidirectional river system consisting of a "Northern River" connected to the Nile Basin and a "Southern River," a closed basin. The drainage divide between these rivers represented the only viable terrestrial dispersal corridor across the rift. The degree and duration of past hydrological connectivity between adjacent river basins determined spatial diversity gradients for East African fishes. Our reconstruction explains the isolated distribution of Nilotic fish species in modern Kenyan rift lakes, Guineo-Congolian mammal species in forests east of the Kenya Rift, and recent incipient vertebrate speciation and local endemism in this region. Climate-driven rearrangements of drainage networks unrelated to tectonic activity contributed significantly to the assembly of species diversity and modern faunas in the East African biodiversity hotspot.

Complex, time‐dependent, and asymmetric rift geometries are observed throughout the East African Rift System (EARS) and are well documented, for instance, in the Kenya Rift. To unravel asymmetric rifting processes in this region, we conduct 2D geodynamic models. We use the finite element software ASPECT employing visco‐plastic rheologies, mesh‐refinement, distributed random noise seeding, and a free surface. In contrast to many previous numerical modeling studies that aimed at understanding final rifted margin symmetry, we explicitly focus on initial rifting stages to assess geodynamic controls on strain localization and fault evolution. We thereby link to geological and geophysical observations from the Southern and Central Kenya Rift. Our models suggest a three‐stage early rift evolution that dynamically bridges previously inferred fault‐configuration phases of the eastern EARS branch: (1) accommodation of initial strain localization by a single border fault and flexure of the hanging‐wall crust, (2) faulting in the hanging‐wall and increasing upper‐crustal faulting in the rift‐basin center, and (3) loss of pronounced early stage asymmetry prior to basinward localization of deformation. This evolution may provide a template for understanding early extensional faulting in other branches of the East African Rift and in asymmetric rifts worldwide. By modifying the initial random noise distribution that approximates small‐scale tectonic inheritance, we show that a spectrum of first‐order fault configurations with variable symmetry can be produced in models with an otherwise identical setup. This approach sheds new light on along‐strike rift variability controls in active asymmetric rifts and proximal rifted margins.

The Koora Basin (south Kenya Rift) preserves a continental, tropical, one-million-year record of environmental change driven by global climate, regional tectonism and volcanism. Diatom-based reconstructions from Olorgesailie Drilling Project (ODP) cores indicate lakes that expanded and contracted with conductivities ranging between -200 and > 25,000 mS.cm(-1) and pH of 7.9-11.2. Benthic and planktonic diatoms document mostly shallow fresh water between 1 Ma and 870 ka with deeper freshwater lakes from 870 to 470 ka. After the Mid-Brunhes Event at about 430 ka, diatoms record many transgression-regression cycles with both freshwater and saline-alkaline lakes present. Palaeosols also indicate episodes of desiccation and lower water tables. Carbonates and zeolites are present in younger sediments, especially after 400 ka. Many high-lake-level stages correlate with low values in ocean benthic delta O-18 stack data. Most, but not all, low lake levels occurred during higher delta O-18 MIS intervals, suggesting tectonic and/or volcanic events, in addition to climatic forcing, influenced the drainage, outlet heights and accommodation space. The 870-470 ka period of deeper freshwater lakes at Koora correlates well with the neighbouring Lake Magadi pollen record that suggests generally wetter conditions at this time. Wet-dry cycles after 470 ka at Koora developed when the Magadi record indicates a change towards drier conditions, but with many wetter intervals. High lake level periods at Koora also correlate with phases of diatom-inferred flooding at Magadi. Outcrops north of Koora also document several large lakes during deposition of parts of the Olorgesailie Formation prior to -500 ka. The Koora environmental history helps to fill an environmental gap (500-320 ka) encompassing critical changes in hominin lithic technology caused by a hiatus at Olorgesailie. During the first part of this interval (470-390 ka), Koora was occupied by a shallow alkaline lake, suggesting relatively dry conditions. The second part (390-320 ka) was characterised by fluctuating deeper lakes that imply greater variability and wetter conditions. Subsequently, both the Olorgesailie and Koora records indicate variable environments. (C) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Continental rifts show surface expressions of deep crustal processes, such as faulting and volcanism. The East African Rift System (EARS) is one of the most prominent examples of an active continental rift driven by tectonics and magmatism. Nonetheless, we still struggle to quantify the amount of extension due to these processes on a kyr- to Myr-time-scale. In particular, the distribution of extension within low-offset normal fault networks within rift basin interiors is challenging to determine. To address these issues, we develop a semi-automated workflow to extract normal faults from the TanDEM-X science DEM data (12 m horizontal resolution, 0.4 m average height error) of the Magadi-Natron Region of the Eastern branch of the EARS, limited to the north by the Suswa caldera (1.15°S) and to the south by Gelai and Oldoinyo Lengai volcanoes (2.75°S). This data allows us to quantify brittle surface deformation that occurred since the last deposition of widespread volcanic lavas in these basins. Our workflow consists of five steps: (1) gradient calculation, (2) thresholding, (3) skeletonization, (4) Hough transformation, and (5) clustering. Because the surface faults appear as topographic discontinuities, we first calculate the gradient of the DEM to detect them. Then we use an adaptive threshold (Otsu) to distinguish faults from unfaulted areas. Next, we skeletonize the threshold to extract line segments and perform a Hough transformation to determine the orientation of these segments. Finally, we use a density-based clustering algorithm (DBSCAN) to group these segments into faults. This algorithm is considering proximity between the segment, similarity in dip and strike direction. A strike analysis applied on the fault data of the whole basin shows four main directions from distinct fault populations. Each direction cluster corresponds to a geological layer and a time interval. For example, the azimuth N20°, corresponds to present and recent rift direction, mostly on the ~1Myr old Magadi trachyte. A direction of N170° is mostly represented in earlier, Mio-Pliocene volcanic units of the rift. Moreover, we derive the fault displacement distribution throughout the basin.This allows us to calculate the total extension of each geological unit and to compute the overall amount of extension of the region during geologically recent times. We provide a new high-resolution fault map that depicts strike direction and throw even of small-offset normal faults. This characterization helps us increase our understanding of recent brittle deformation within the Magadi-Natron region and thus the propagation of rifting in the eastern branch of the East African Rift System.

In magmatically active continental rifts, crustal deformation is often accompanied by caldera volcanism along the rift axis. These caldera volcanoes help to characterize the spatiotemporal relationship between regional tectonic extension, the development of normal faults, and the role of magmatism during the long-term evolution of continental rifts. In the Kenya Rift, magmatic activity has been focused at regularly spaced Quaternary volcanoes, each located within an extensional sub-basin of the rift. We document the structural characteristics of the c. 36-ka-old Menengai Caldera and adjacent regions located within such a young zone of extension, to gain insight into the role of regional-scale structures and volcanism in a rift zone subjected to oblique extension, and discuss the role of magmatic centers in the context of advanced stages of rift-basin differentiation. Our field mapping and high-resolution digital surface models in the greater Menengai area located in the Central Kenya Rift show that the interior rift sectors are dominated by NNE-striking Holocene normal faults perpendicular to the regional ESE-WNW extension direction. Inside the caldera, these structures continue, but are overprinted by post-collapse doming and faulting of the magmatic center, resulting in obliquely slipping normal faults bounding a resurgence horst. Radiocarbon dating of faulted units as young as 5 ka cal BP and the paleo-shorelines of a lake formed during the African Humid Period in the Nakuru Basin that we use as strain markers indicate that volcanism and faulting inside and in the vicinity of Menengai must have been sustained during the Holocene. Our analysis confirms that the caldera is located at the center of an extending rift segment that is kinematically linked with adjacent zones of extension; similar volcano-tectonic relationships apply to virtually all larger volcanic centers in the Kenya Rift. These zones of extension in the inner sectors of the rift are arranged in en échelon patterns and are linked by transfer zones. In contrast to punctiform spreading centers in much more advanced extensional regions (e.g., the Red Sea) normal faulting in the Kenya Rift is not focused at these volcanic centers. We suggest that the magmatic centers in the segmented Kenya Rift are precursors of a more evolved rifting stage, where magmatic centers may constitute nucleation points of faulting in future magma-assisted rifting that will ultimately lead to the final stages of continental break-up.

Although climate change is considered to have been a large-scale driver of African human evolution, landscape-scale shifts in ecological resources that may have shaped novel hominin adaptations are rarely investigated. We use well-dated, high-resolution, drill-core datasets to understand ecological dynamics associated with a major adaptive transition in the archeological record ~24 km from the coring site. Outcrops preserve evidence of the replacement of Acheulean by Middle Stone Age (MSA) technological, cognitive, and social innovations between 500 and 300 thousand years (ka) ago, contemporaneous with large-scale taxonomic and adaptive turnover in mammal herbivores. Beginning ~400 ka ago, tectonic, hydrological, and ecological changes combined to disrupt a relatively stable resource base, prompting fluctuations of increasing magnitude in freshwater availability, grassland communities, and woody plant cover. Interaction of these factors offers a resource-oriented hypothesis for the evolutionary success of MSA adaptations, which likely contributed to the ecological flexibility typical of Homo sapiens foragers.

In the EARS orographic forcing of rainfall, pronounced relief contrasts between shoulder areas and the axial rift sectors results in steep environmental and surface-process gradients, severed fluvial networks, and diverse vegetation types. Due to sustained Quaternary tectono-volcanic activity and the effects of a superposed, highly variable climate these basins have been further differentiated into distinct environments that are either isolated or fluvially connected on time scales of several 103 to 106 years. The EARS thus comprises important physical corridors, but also barriers with spatially varying topographic conditions and resource distribution. Varying paleo-environmental settings and the present-day distribution of some mammal groups in the EARS' Kenya Rift highlight the importance of rift corridors for the migration of species and the interchange of now geographically isolated lineages. For example, the presently disjunct distribution of the Bat-eared fox (Otocyon megalotis), the Black-backed jackal (Canis mesomelas) and the Oryx sister taxa (Oryx beisa and O. gazella) in northeastern vs. southern Africa, or of various rainforest antelopes such as Bongo (Tragelaphus euryceros) in the Congo basin and beyond the EARS in central Kenya, suggests that variability in connectivity along and across the rift has influenced species dispersal. Protracted rifting dictates the overall geomorphic character of the migration corridors, but fluvial connectivity varies significantly as a response to orbitally driven climatic conditions. These factors were responsible for lateral change in vegetation cover, such as the distribution of wet forests that enabled dispersal in the equatorial sectors of the rift. Such conditions ultimately determined whether the meridionally oriented rift segments acted as gateways or barriers.

The structural evolution of calderas in rifts helps to characterize the spatiotemporal relationships between magmatism, long wavelength crustal deformation and the formation of tectonic deformation zones along the rift axis. We document the structural characteristics of the c. 36 ka old Menengai Caldera located within a young zone of extension in the central Kenya Rift. Field mapping and high-resolution digital surface models show that NNE-striking Holocene normal faults perpendicular to the regional ESE–WNW extension direction dominate the interior sectors of the rift. Inside the caldera, these structures are overprinted by post-collapse doming and faulting of the magmatic centre, resulting in obliquely slipping normal faults bounding a resurgence horst. Radiocarbon dating of faulted units as young as 5 ka cal BP and the palaeo-shorelines of a lake formed during the African Humid Period in the Nakuru Basin indicate that volcanism and fault activity inside and in the vicinity of Menengai must have been sustained during the Holocene. Our analysis confirms that the caldera is located at the centre of an extending rift segment and suggests that other magmatic centres and young zones of faulting along the volcano-tectonic axis of the Kenya Rift may constitute nucleation points of faulting that ultimately foster future continental break-up. Supplementary material:40Ar/39Ar radiometric dating data table is available at: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4647818

As a result of sustained tectonic and magmatic processes throughout the latter half of the Cenozoic, the eastern branch of the EARS exhibits an extensional tectonic system with pronounced relief contrasts, constituting both corridors and barriers for species dispersal. The tectono-magmatic history has generated a region of highly variable topography that results in widely varying amounts of rainfall and vegetation cover. Today, the generally dry eastern branch of the EARS hosts numerous sub-basins and adjacent local high-relief areas that are hydrologically isolated, with unique microclimates, vegetation types, faunas and superposed surface processes. However, during episodes of climate change with a trend toward more humid conditions, many of these basins hosted freshwater lakes that were hydrologically connected. These areas have repeatedly exhibited freshwater conditions and likely served as gateways and migration corridors mainly for aquatic organisms, in particular fish, facilitating population expansion, dispersal and gene flow. Here, we analyze the manifold manifestations of the AHP in Kenya and adjacent sectors of the EARS to establish the timing and spatial extent of a paleo-drainage system documented by lake shorelines, deltas, overflow channels and sediments. These vestiges of fluvial connectivity in the rift have emerged as analogs for recurrent Pleistocene episodes with high lake levels and inter-basin linkage that repeatedly connected equatorial basins with regions to the north and south, respectively. For example, fossil evidence for the Pleistocene occurrence of the Nile crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus) as far south as equatorial Lake Bogoria (Kenya) and its present occurrence in the now closed Lake Baringo basin indicate fluvial connectivity over several degrees of latitude during more humid episodes in the past. Similarly, the occurrence of more than a dozen of the same fish species in the presently unconnected Lakes Albert and Turkana is likely due to a mutual connection during the AHP when Lake Turkana was overflowing into the White Nile. Taken together, the divergent fossil and modern faunal evidence and geomorphic and sedimentological evidence of contrasting hydrological conditions between the wet AHP and the present, suggest that the conditions during the AHP provides a template of fluvial connectivity and potential dispersal patterns for earlier humid phases during the Plio-Pleistocene.

The Olorgesailie Drilling Project and the related Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project in East Africa were initiated to test hypotheses and models linking environmental change to hominin evolution by drilling lake basin sediments adjacent to important archeological and paleoanthropological sites. Drill core OL012-1A recovered 139 m of sedimentary and volcaniclastic strata from the Koora paleolake basin, southern Kenya Rift, providing the opportunity to compare paleoenvironmental influences over the past million years with the parallel record exposed at the nearby Olorgesailie archeological site. To refine our ability to link core-to-outcrop paleoenvironmental records, we institute here a methodological framework for deriving a robust age model for the complex lithostratigraphy of OL012-1A. Firstly, chronostratigraphic control points for the core were established based on 4 Ar/39Ar ages from intercalated tephra deposits and a basal trachyte flow, as well as the stratigraphic position of the Brunhes-Matuyama geomagnetic reversal. This dataset was combined with the position and duration of paleosols, and analyzed using a new Bayesian algorithm for high-resolution age-depth modeling of hiatus-bearing stratigraphic sections. This model addresses three important aspects relevant to highly dynamic, nonlinear depositional environments: 1) correcting for variable rates of deposition, 2) accommodating hiatuses, and 3) quantifying realistic age uncertainty with centimetric resolution. Our method is applicable to typical depositional systems in extensional rifts as well as to drill cores from other dynamic terrestrial or aquatic environments. We use the core age model and lithostratigraphy to examine the inter connectivity of the Koora Basin to adjacent areas and sources of volcanism. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Kenya rift is known as one of the most tectonically active on shore rift due to the analysis of the morphology of the fresh Quaternary caldera volcanoes. In the northern Kenya rift, six volcanic centers locate, erupt basalts and trachytes and form the trachytic shield volcanoes. One of those volcanic centers, Paka, was investigated by systematic Ar/Ar dating of 32 latest fresh volcanics from lava flows and was found that the eruptive activities range continuously from 0.58 Ma to 0.012 Ma. Three relatively pronounced eruptive periods were found as around 0.4 Ma, 0.15 Ma and younger than 0.05 Ma by relative frequency of eruption events. The division of whole Paka eruptive events to three episodes of 0.6-0.35 Ma (I), 0.35-0.1 Ma (II) and 0.1-0 Ma (III) based on the pronounced periods clearly shows that the spatial change of eruptive locations gradually converge to NNE-SSW direction, which is similar to that of the Kenya Rift. Combination of obtained ages with C.I.P.W. norm mineral calculation of all rocks brought the different figures of the volcanic history of Paka, previously deduced in the report of the geological survey of northern Kenya Rift by Dunkley et al. (1993). The volcanic activity started at 0.58 Ma by the eruption of the nepheline-normative basalt (Lower Basalt), meanwhile hyperthene-normative basalts erupted together with nepheline-normative basalts only in the period from 0.3 to 0.1 Ma, which is the intermediate period of the whole trachytic activities lasted since 0.43 Ma to 0.01 Ma (Fig.). Dunkley et al. (1993) and our whole-rock geochemical data show that the hyperthene-normative basalts cover the surface more widely around Paka than the nepheline-normative basalts and that the nepheline-normative basalts distribute only at Paka. Additionally, Dunkley et al. (1993) suggested that Paka sits on the hyperthene-normative basaltic lava flows and also that the youngest hyperthene-normative basalts (Young Basalt) erupted as the upper units than Paka and distribute among volcanic centers of Paka, Silali and Korosi. However, the obtained ages did not support this age-model. Instead the hyperthene-normative basalts actually erupted only in the middle period during the formation of Paka and the oldest eruption at Paka was the nepheline-normative basalt. Nevertheless, this new order of the eruptions could rather more easily be explained as the following simple model for a magma-plumbing system by the high-pressure experimental petrology; a single hot mantle-diapir uprised beneath Paka firstly separates smaller amounts of nepheline-normative basaltic magmas under higher pressures and causes their eruptions, then at the shallower depth separates more voluminous hyperthene-normative basaltic magmas by the higher degree of melting and causes their eruptions. Furthermore, it is also observed that the incompatible elemental ratios of Nb/Zr in the rocks gradually decrease along the above three episodes. This is also consistent with the model of the single hot mantle-diapir beneath Paka and its repeated segregation of basaltic magmas, because the Nb/Zr ratios in those basaltic magmas separated by the fractional melting decrease due to the slightly higher partitioning coefficient of Zr against mantle minerals and are maintained in the differentiated trachytic magmas. From these discussions, we conclude that the volcanic activities at Paka could rather simply be explained by the single mantle-diapir model. Although the flood basalts and trachytic shield volcanoes in northern Kenys Rift are often considered as the separate products, our results imply that those magmas could be derived from the identical magma plumbing system and erupt as the products from the identical volcano SGL37-05 JpGU-AGU Joint Meeting 2017

In order to locate and ascertain the dimensions of an ancient orangery, we explored an area of about 70 m x 60 m in the Rheinsberg Palace Garden (Germany) with multiple geophysical techniques. The Rheinsberg Park, situated about 100 km northwest of Berlin, Germany, was established by the Prussian emperors in the 18th century. Due to redesign of the architecture and the landscaping during the past 300 years, buildings were dismantled and detailed knowledge about some original buildings got lost. We surveyed an area close to a gazebo where, after historical sources, an orangery was planned around the year 1740. However, today it is not clear to what extent this plan has been realized and if remains of this building are still buried in the subsurface. Applied geophysical techniques include magnetic gradiometry, frequency domain electromagnetic (FDEM) and direct current (DC) resistivity mapping as well as ground penetrating radar (GPR). To get an overview of the site, we performed FDEM electrical conductivity mapping using an EM38 instrument and magnetic gradiometry with caesium magnetometers. Both data sets were collected with an in- and crossline data point spacing of ca. 10 cm and 50 cm, respectively. DC resistivity surveying was performed using a pole-pole electrode configuration with an electrode spacing of 1.5 m and a spacing of 1.0 m between individual readings. A 3-D GPR survey was conducted using 200 MHz antennae and in- and crossline spacing of ca. 10 cm and 40 cm, respectively. A standard processing sequence including 3-D migration was applied. A combined interpretation of all collected data sets illustrates that the magnetic gradient and the EM38 conductivity maps is are dominated by anomalies from metallic water pipes from belonging to the irrigation system of the park. The DC resistivity map outlines a rectangular area which might indicate the extension of a former building south of the gazebo. The 3-D GPR data set provides further insights about subsurface structures and relevant geometries. From this data set, we interpret the depth and the extent of foundation and wall remains in the southern and central part of the site indicating the extent of the old orangery. This case study clearly illustrates the benefit of using multiple geophysical methods in archaeological studies. It further illustrates the advantage of 3-D GPR surveying at sites where anthropogenic disturbances (such as metallic pipes and other utilities) might limit the applicability of commonly applied mapping techniques such as magnetic gradiometry or EM38 conductivity mapping.