Mine Burial Experiments at the Martha's Vineyard Coastal Observatory

Several experiments to measure postimpact burial of seafloor mines by scour and fill have been conducted near the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution's Martha's Vineyard Coastal Observatory (MVCO, Edgartown, MA). The sedimentary environment at MVCO consists of a series of rippled scour depressions (RSDs), which are large scale bedforms with alternating areas of coarse and fine sand. This allows simultaneous mine burial experiments in both coarse and fine sand under almost identical hydrodynamic forcing conditions. Two preliminary sets of mine scour burial experiments were conducted during winters 2001-2002 in fine sand and 2002-2003 in coarse sand with a single optically instrumented mine in the field of view of a rotary sidescan sonar. From October 2003 to April of 2004, ten instrumented mines were deployed along with several sonar systems to image mine behavior and to characterize bedform and oceanographic processes. In fine sand, the sonar imagery of the mines revealed that large scour pits form around the mines during energetic wave events. Mines fell into their own scour pits, aligned with the dominant wave crests and became level with the ambient seafloor after several energetic wave events. In quiescent periods, after the energetic wave events, the scour pits episodically infilled with mud. After several scour and infilling events, the scour pits were completely filled and a layer of fine sand covered both the mines and the scour pits, leaving no visible evidence of the mines. In the coarse sand, mines were observed to bury until the exposed height above the ripple crests was approximately the same as the large wave orbital ripple height (wavelengths of 50-125 cm and heights of 10-20 cm). A hypothesis for the physical mechanism responsible for this partial burial in the presence of large bedforms is that the mines bury until they present roughly the same hydrodynamic roughness as the orbital-scale bedforms present in coarse sand.     

Measured and Predicted Burial of Cylinders During the Indian Rocks Beach Experiment

Burial of instrumented mine-like cylinders as a result of wave-induced scour was measured during experiments conducted in shallow water (15-16 m) with fine-sand (133-mum) and coarse-sand (566-mum) sediments off Indian rocks beach (IRB), FL. scour pits developed around the instrumented cylinders in the fine-sand site when significant waveheights exceeded 2 m, causing the cylinders to pitch, then roll into the developing scour pits, often changing heading to align parallel with the wave crest. Final cylinder burial was nearly 40 cm (about 70%-80% mine diameter) relative to the sediment-water interface, but only 20%-50% relative to surface area covered. The difference was caused by the lack of complete infilling of scour pits. Little development of scour pits and burial was noted on the coarse-sand site and the cylinders buried to only 20%-40% of the cylinder diameter below the sediment surface. Burial results, although variable, are in general agreement with the wave-induced scour model developed by Trembanis et al. (2007) for the fine sand, but not for the coarse sand where measured burial was much less than predicted.     

Multibeam Observations of Mine Burial Near Clearwater, FL, Including Comparisons to Predictions of Wave-Induced Burial

A Kongsberg Simrad EM 3000 multibeam sonar (Kongsberg Simrad, Kongsberg, Norway) was used to conduct a set of six repeat high-resolution bathymetric surveys west of Indian Rocks Beach (IRB), just to the south of Clearwater, FL, between January and March 2003, to observe in situ scour and burial of instrumented inert mines and mine-like cylinders. Three closely located study sites were chosen: two fine-sand sites, a shallow one located in 13 m of water depth and a deep site located in 14 m of water depth; and a coarse-sand site in 13 m. Results from these surveys indicate that mines deployed in fine sand are nearly buried within two months of deployment (i.e., they sunk 74.5% or more below the ambient seafloor depth). Mines deployed in coarse sand showed a lesser amount of scour, burying until they present roughly the same hydrodynamic roughness as the surrounding rippled bedforms. These data were also used to test the validity of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS, Gloucester Point, VA) 2-D burial model. The model worked well in areas of fine sand, sufficiently predicting burial over the course of the experiment. In the area of coarse sand, the model greatly overpredicted the amount of burial. This is believed to be due to the presence of rippled bedforms around the mines, which affect local bottom morphodynamics and are not accounted for in the model, an issue currently being addressed by the modelers. This paper focuses specifically on two instrumented mines: an acoustic mine located in fine sand and an optical instrumented mine located in coarse sand.     

A Probabilistic Expert System Approach for Sea Mine Burial Prediction

Knowledge of the extent of burial of bottom sitting sea mines is critical to mine detection due to the significantly degraded capabilities of mine-hunting systems when the mines are buried. To provide an enhanced capability for predicting mine burial in support of U.S. Navy mine countermeasure (MCM) operations, an expert system approach to predicting sea mine burial has been developed. This expert system serves as a means to synthesize previous and current research on sea mine burial due to impact upon deployment and subsequently due to scour, the two dominant burial mechanisms in littoral waters. Prediction systems for impact and scour burial have been implemented as simple Bayesian networks whose probabilistic basis provides means of accounting for the inherent uncertainties associated with mine deployment methods, simplified physics-based burial models, and environmental variability. Examples of burial predictions and comparisons to results from field experiments are illustrated. In addition, a proposed risk metric is developed and applied to provide a geospatial mapping of mine burial probability.     

Predicting Seabed Burial of Cylinders by Wave-Induced Scour: Application to the Sandy Inner Shelf Off Florida and Massachusetts

A simple parameterized model for wave-induced burial of mine-like cylinders as a function of grain-size, time-varying, wave orbital velocity and mine diameter was implemented and assessed against results from inert instrumented mines placed off the Indian Rocks Beach (IRB, FL), and off the Martha's vineyard coastal observatory (MVCO, Edgartown, MA). The steady flow scour parameters provided by Whitehouse (1998) for self-settling cylinders worked well for predicting burial by depth below the ambient seabed for (0.5 m) diameter mines in fine sand at both sites. By including or excluding scour pit infilling, a range of percent burial by surface area was predicted that was also consistent with observations. Rapid scour pit infilling was often seen at MVCO but never at IRB, suggesting that the environmental presence of fine sediment plays a key role in promoting infilling. Overprediction of mine scour in coarse sand was corrected by assuming a mine within a field of large ripples buries only until it generates no more turbulence than that produced by surrounding bedforms. The feasibility of using a regional wave model to predict mine burial in both hindcast and real-time forecast mode was tested using the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA, Washington, DC) WaveWatch 3 (WW3) model. Hindcast waves were adequate for useful operational forcing of mine burial predictions, but five-day wave forecasts introduced large errors. This investigation was part of a larger effort to develop simple yet reliable predictions of mine burial suitable for addressing the operational needs of the U.S. Navy.     

Guest Editorial Special Issue on Mine Burial Processes

The 23 papers in this special issue focus on mine burial processes. The special issues begins with the guest editors providing a short history and introduction, followed by five papers that describe field and laboratory experiments, models, and sediment strength measurement related to mine burial by impact. The next nine papers describe instrumentation, field measurements, and modeling of mine burial by wave-induced scour. The next three papers describe laboratory experiments, simulations, and modeling of wave- and current induced scour, followed by three papers relating measurements, simulations, and modeling of sediment transport. The last two papers describe and provide examples of probabilistic MBPs systems intended for operational use.     

Mine-Impact Burial Model (IMPACT35) Verification and Improvement Using Sediment Bearing Factor Method

Recently, a 3-D model (IMPACT35) was developed to predict a falling cylindrical mine's location and orientation in air-water-sediment columns. The model contains the following three components: 1) triple coordinate transform, 2) hydrodynamics of falling rigid object in a single medium (air, water, or sediment) and in multiple media (air-water and water-sediment interfaces), and 3) delta method for sediment resistance with the transient pore pressure. Two mine-impact burial experiments were conducted to detect the mine trajectory in water column [Carderock Division, Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC), West Bethesda, MD, on September 10-14, 2001], and to measure the mine burial volume in sediment (Baltic Sea in June 2003). The existing IMPACT35 predicts a mine's location and orientation in the water column, but not in the sediment column. Since sediment resistance largely affects the mine burial depth and orientation in sediment, a new method (bearing factor) is proposed to compute the sediment resistant force and torque. The improvement of IMPACT35 with the bearing factor method is verified using the data collected from the Baltic Sea mine-impact burial experiment. The prediction error satisfies near-Gaussian distribution. The bias of the burial volume (in percent) prediction reduces from 11% using the delta method (old) to 0.1% using the bearing factor method (new). Correspondingly, the root-mean-square error (rmse) reduces from 26.8% to 15.8%.     

Mine Burial Observations During the 2003–2004 U.S. Office of Naval Research Experiment

During the 2003-2004 winter season, the U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR, Arlington, VA), sponsored a detailed in situ study of the mine burial process resulting from wave-seafloor-mine interaction at Martha's Vineyard Coastal Observatory (MVCO, Edgartown, MA). In total, 16 mine shapes were deployed. Six were the Forschungsanstalt der Bundeswehr fur Wasserschall und Geophysik (FWG, Kiel, Germany) burial registration mines using optical sensors, four others were equipped with acoustical sensors, and six were simple shapes. Repeated acoustic surveys and detailed sediment sampling were conducted to characterize the site and the burial status of all objects. This paper focuses on data from three recovered optical systems. The records show three roll events at all three registration mines, which are necessary for scour burial. Two systems experienced a fourth roll event. Results from earlier experiments suggest only three (four) stages of progressively increasing burial despite frequent successive burial and exposure cycles (some as short as 1 h). During these burial-exposure cycles changes of buried mine volume reached up to 80%. The only reasonable explanation is a change of sediment height of up to 40 cm relative to the stably lying mines. This requires new concepts. Cyclic burial changes that were observed simultaneously at different positions cannot be explained with existing models. The least difficult explanation is ldquounderwater sand stormsrdquo which are characterized by a high sediment suspension.     

Full-Scale Mine Burial Experiments in Wave and Current Environments and Comparison With Models

A mine burial field experiment was carried out on two sandy seafloors between January and April 2004 in the Bay of Brest, France. Burial recording mines (BRMs) were used to measure burial and mine orientation at 15-min intervals. Sonar and bottom photographs were also used to characterize sediment morphology and mine burial. These observations are compared with the predictions of mine burial using the following three models: a momentary liquefaction model, a current-induced scour model, and a wave-induced scour model. Analysis combines mine burial data, sediment data, seabed observations, and hydrodynamic measurements. At the first site, ldquoRascas,rdquo the seabed dynamics are dominated by tides and river runoff. Almost no mine burial was measured during the experiment which is in agreement with predictions of mine burial models (current-induced scour and liquefaction). Dynamics at the second site, ldquoBertheaume,rdquo are driven by tides and ocean waves. A long storm (one week) and several swell events were experienced and significant mine burial was observed in conjunction with high significant waveheights. Mine burial models suggest that burial at ldquoBertheaumerdquo was dominated by wave-induced scour rather than current-induced scour or momentary liquefaction.     

冲绳海槽北部氧化还原敏感元素的早期成岩过程

The early diagenesis processes of several redox-sensitive trace metals(RSMs)(Mo, U and V) were studied with several short sediment cores(～25 cm) collected in the northern Okinawa Trough(OT). Pore water vertical profiles indicated that the sedimentary environments in all cores were between oxic and suboxic, not yet reaching anoxic sulfidic conditions. The recycling process of Mo in sediments was clearly associated with Mn and yielded little authigenic accumulation, while U showed a downcore increase in sediment and its authigenic mass accumulation rate(MAR) was estimated to be ～23% of the Changjiang(Yangtze) and Huanghe(Yellow) riverine flux. Benthic diffusive fluxes and MAR were calculated and the comparison of them showed that U and V fluxes matched relatively well both in direction and in magnitude, implying that diffusion processes at the sedimentwater interface is the dominant process controlling the remobilization or burial of V and U in northern OT. This work provided a systematic study(both in pore water and solid phase) on the RSMs geochemical behaviors during early diagenesis process, yielding a quantitative assessment of the remobilization or burial fluxes of the RSMs in northern OT. Such studies are in general lacking in the coastal margin of Northwest Pacific Ocean.     

Influence of hydrocarbon injection on the compaction by pressure-solution of a carbonate rock: An experimental study under triaxial stresses

The preservation of good petrophysical properties (high porosity/high permeability) at great depth in carbonate rocks may lead to the existence of a deeply buried reservoir (DBR), a target of interest for the oil industry. One of the key processes controlling diagenesis of the burial environment is Pressure Solution Creep (PSC), an efficient compaction process responsible for the evolution of porosity and permeability in many carbonate reservoirs. In this experimental study, we examine the effect of i) the presence of oil in the pore space and ii) its timing of injection on the PSC process and the petrophysical properties of a carbonate rock. The experiments were performed using a flow-through high-pressure cell, allowing the simulation of the pressure/stresses and temperature conditions of a DBR. Multi-disciplinary data (mechanical, chemical, petrographical and petrophysical) demonstrate that, without oil in the pore space, the main diagenetic process is the PSC, a process reducing by three the initial porosity but having no influence on intrinsic water permeability. An early injection of oil prior to water circulation causes the inhibition of PSC by the coating of the grains, leading to the preservation of porosity. Conversely, a late injection of oil does not preserve initial porosity. The dataset obtained from these experiments show the importance of the timing of oil charging in a reservoir in the preservation of initial porosity at great depth by the inhibition of PSC. However, the coating of grains by hydrocarbons may also inhibit further diagenetic processes leading to a creation of secondary porosity at depth.     

Self-Burial of Short Cylinders Under Oscillatory Flows and Combined Waves Plus Currents

Self-burial processes of finite-length cylinders under oscillatory flows and waves plus currents were examined with the following two different experimental facilities: a large oscillating water-sediment tunnel (LOWST) and a large wave-current tank. More than 130 experiments, with different model cylinders, were conducted within both facilities. The burial mechanisms studied include burial due to local scour and bedform migration. Burial due to fluidization in the tunnel was also explored, but only in a qualitative way. In the case of experiments with LOWST, the equilibrium burial depth was found to be a power function of the shields parameter (thetas). In the wave-current tank, the equilibrium burial depth was also found to be a function of the Shields parameter, albeit with larger scatter. The experimental observations made in both facilities have similar trends but different magnitudes. For equivalent values of the Shields parameter, smaller equilibrium burial depths were observed in the wave flume when compared to the ones in LOWST. After burial induced by local scour takes place, bedform (ripples and sandwaves) formation and evolution play a strong and, in some cases, dominant role on the equilibrium burial depth of the cylinders. Depending on how the vertical dimensions of bedforms compare to the specimen's diameter, cyclical covering and uncovering of the object may take place due to the passage of the migrating sandwaves. In such case, burial depth B_d no longer coincides with the vertical displacement (V_d) of the object as in the case when the burial process is dominated by local scour.     

Numerical Simulations of the Flow and Sediment Transport Regimes Surrounding a Short Cylinder

The 3-D flow field and bed stress surrounding a short cylinder in response to combined wave and mean-flow forcing events is examined. Model simulations are performed with a 3-D nonhydrostatic computational fluid dynamics model, FLOW-3D. The model is forced with a range of characteristic tidal and wave velocities as observed in 12-15 m of water at the Martha's Vineyard Coastal Observatory (MVCO, Edgartown, MA). The 2.4-m-long and 0.5-m diameter cylinder is buried 10% of the diameter on a flat, fixed bed. Regions of incipient motion are identified through local estimates of the Shields parameter exceeding the critical value. Potential areas of sediment deposition are identified with local estimates of the Rouse parameter exceeding ten. The model predictions of sediment response are in general in agreement with field observations of seabed morphology obtained over a one-week period during the 2003-2004 MVCO mine burial experiment. Both observations and simulations show potential transport occurring at the ends of the mine in wave-dominated events. Mean flows greater than 10 cm/s lead to the formation of larger scour pits upstream of the cylinder. Deposition in both cases tends to occur along the sides, near the center of mass of the mine. However, the fixed-bed assumption prohibits the prediction of full perimeter scour as is observed in nature. Predicted scour and burial regimes for a range of wave and mean-flow combinations are established.     

Behavior of a Large Cylinder in Free-Fall Through Water

This paper presents results of experimental deployment of a large instrumented cylinder of variable nose geometry and center of mass offset (CMO) in free-fall in realistic environment. Data on four tests series in the Gulf of Mexico are presented and analyzed statistically. The stochastic nature of the problem of the cylinder free-falling through water is outlined and described as an input to the subsequent impact burial prediction package. Significance of the CMO on the behavior of the cylinder is underlined. Influence of the release conditions on trajectory is discussed and found to affect the behavior of the cylinders only in the first 3.5 m of free-fall in water. Beyond this depth, quasi-stable (in the mean sense) conditions are achieved. Effects of three different nose shapes-blunt, hemispherical, and chamfered-on cylinder behavior are analyzed and found to have a pronounced influence on the fall trajectory. The blunt nose shape appears to be hydrodynamically most stable in free-fall. Apparent periodicity in motions of all cylinders were noted and were found to be the function of the CMO and nose shape primarily. Implications of these and other findings on modeling and impact burial predictions are discussed.     

Scour and Burial Mechanics of Objects in the Nearshore

A process-based, numerical, hydrodynamic vortex lattice mine scour/burial model (VORTEX) is presented that simulates scour and burial of objects of arbitrary shape resting on a granular bed in the nearshore. There are two domains in the model formulation: a far-field where burial and exposure occur due to changes in the elevation of the seabed and a near-field involving scour and transport of sediment by the vortices shed from the object. The far-field burial mechanisms are based on changes in the equilibrium bottom profiles in response to seasonal changes in wave climate and accretion/erosion waves spawned by fluxes of sediment into the littoral cell. The near-field domain consists of one grid cell extracted from the far-field that is subdivided into a rectangular lattice of panels having sufficient resolution to define the shape of the object. The vortex field induced by the object is constructed from an assemblage of horseshoe vortices excited by local pressure gradients and shear over the lattice panels. The horseshoe vortices of each lattice panel release a pair of vortex filaments into the neighboring flow. The induced velocity of these trailing vortex filaments causes scour of the neighboring seabed and induces hydrodynamic forces on the object. Scour around the object and its subsequent movement into the scour depression contribute to burial, while far-field changes in local sand level may increase burial depth or expose the object. Scour and burial predictions of mines and mine-like objects were tested in field experiments conducted in the nearshore waters off the Pacific coast of California at Scripps Pier, the Gulf Coast of Florida at Indian Rocks, and off the Atlantic coast of Massachusetts at Martha's Vineyard. Model predictions of mine scour and burial are in reasonable agreement with field measurements and underwater photographs.     

Mine Burial Prediction: A Short History and Introduction

Naval mines have been in use for over 200 years. They are a cheap and effective way to significantly affect naval operations. Bottom mines in shallow water are particularly difficult to find when they are partially or wholly buried. The U.S. Office of Naval Research (Arlington, VA) and the Naval Research Laboratory (Stennis Space Center, MS) sponsored a six-year-long program to upgrade the capability to predict mine burial. The program consisted of laboratory studies, computer modeling, and field observation programs. Results of the studies have been combined into stochastic predictive programs that utilize state of the art process models and incorporate uncertainty in model capability and in our ability to know the correct values of model inputs.     

Seafloor Properties From Penetrometer Tests

Quasi-static and freely falling dynamic penetrometers are currently in extensive use for measuring the mechanical properties of sediments composing the littoral seafloor. Sediments in this zone are often inhomogeneous both laterally and with depth so that it is difficult to predict burial of mines and other objects when relying on models that assume uniform, homogeneous sediment. The results of penetrometer tests discussed in this paper show that there can be a wide spread in the penetration resistance that is measured depending on the degree of sediment inhomogeneity and the rate of penetration. Moreover, the dilative response of granular strata appears to further complicate matters because of the sudden, large changes in shear strength that can occur. As a result, mine burial models currently in use, which often rely on simple strain-rate factors and shear strength determined from experiments utilizing uniform, reconstituted sediment, do not appear to be adequate to handle real in situ conditions in many cases. The objective of this paper is to obtain a better understanding of in situ properties and how they may be incorporated into various burial models.     

珠江口盆地白云凹陷恩平组泥岩元素地球化学特征及环境指示意义

泥岩的元素特征对沉积环境变化有较高的灵敏度,能够较好地保存原始沉积记录。为了明确白云凹陷恩平组烃源岩发育环境,选取凹陷内5口钻井泥岩样品进行元素测试。利用元素地球化学方法,系统分析白云凹陷各洼陷恩平期古水深、古氧相、古气候、古盐度和埋藏效率等古环境指标,结果表明：白云西洼处于水深较深、气候偏冷潮湿、还原性弱的淡水环境,埋藏效率相对最低;白云东洼处于水深较浅、气候湿热、亚还原半咸水环境,埋藏效率高;白云主洼处于水深相对最深、暖湿气候、亚还原—还原的淡水环境,埋藏效率相对中等;白云南洼处于水深总体较浅、暖湿气候、亚还原环境,咸水—半咸水—淡水均有分布,埋藏效率总体趋好。环境恢复结果显示白云主洼、白云东洼和白云南洼恩平期烃源岩的形成和保存条件较好,白云西洼相对较差。     

末次盛冰期以来冲绳海槽中部沉积物有机碳和磷的地球化学研究

利用元素及同位素地球化学方法研究了冲绳海槽中部沉积物岩芯中有机碳及磷的地球化学特征及影响因素。结果表明,冲绳海槽沉积速率(16.5～32.5 cm/ka)变化小,不是沉积物中有机碳埋藏的重要影响因素。相对于全新世氧化性底水环境,末次盛冰期/冰消期冲绳海槽缺氧底水环境提高了沉积物对有机碳的埋藏效率。冲绳海槽沉积物中各形态磷的相对含量与其他边缘海沉积物中的相似。交换态磷(Ex-P)含量低、变化小。末次盛冰期/冰消期缺氧底水环境下铁氧化物的还原溶解导致铁结合磷(Fe-P)释放以及自生磷矿物(Au-P)的形成。全新世氧化性底水条件有利于铁氧化物的有效再生及对磷的再吸附,但不利于Au-P的保存。总有机碳(TOC)和有机磷(Org-P)之间良好的相关性表明TOC埋藏对Org-P含量的重要控制作用。冲绳海槽沉积物中碎屑磷(De-P)含量低于长江口及东海陆架沉积物中的含量,这与陆源碎屑向外海传输减弱有关。在约9.3kaBP(岩芯200cm深度),TOC、Fe-P、Org-P、De-P以及FeHR均出现的极小值可能由物质坡移造成。