Muography Emerges as Tool for Searching for Wrecks
Cosmic particle imaging may revolutionise non-invasive shipwreck exploration.
A new study has outlined how muography, a technique that uses naturally occurring cosmic particles known as muons, could be applied to detect and map shipwrecks lying underwater. Researchers suggest the method may overcome limitations of sonar and optical surveys in sediment-heavy or turbid waters.
How it works
Muons are subatomic particles produced by cosmic rays in the upper atmosphere. Unlike light or sound, they can penetrate dense materials, such as rock, soil, or water. By measuring how muons are absorbed or deflected, scientists can reconstruct hidden structures in three dimensions. The approach has already been used in volcanology and archaeology, including imaging the Great Pyramid of Giza.
Application to shipwrecks
According to modelling published in September 2025, muography could reveal the shape of wrecks even when buried under sediment or located in murky seas, where visibility and sonar are less effective. Tests have been run on scenarios similar to Baltic Sea conditions, where wrecks often lie partially covered by silt.
Note, however, that no confirmed, public record of a full-scale, underwater muography scan of an existing shipwreck with clear, published results appears to exist (at least in the academic and accessible literature we searched and located).
Potential benefits
The technique could make surveys less invasive, avoiding direct disturbance of fragile wreck sites. It may also reduce costs compared to long ROV or submersible missions. If proven in field trials, muography could provide archaeologists with an additional non-destructive tool to map wrecks in deep or sensitive waters.
Fact file
What is muography?
Muography is an imaging method that uses cosmic particles called muons to see inside objects. Muons form naturally in the atmosphere when cosmic rays strike air molecules. They can travel through rock, water, and other dense materials. By counting how many muons pass through and where they are blocked, scientists can reveal hidden shapes and densities. It works like an X-ray on a very large scale and has been used to study volcanoes, pyramids, tunnels—and now, potentially, shipwrecks underwater.
Why not X-rays?
X-rays are useful for medical scans and small objects, but they cannot penetrate very large or dense structures. To image a mountain or shipwreck with X-rays would need artificial beams far too powerful and unsafe. Muography avoids this problem by using muons that already stream through the Earth from cosmic rays. These particles are natural, constant, and harmless, and because they can pass through great thicknesses of rock or water, they allow scientists to map massive hidden structures where X-rays are ineffective.
