Influence of benthic sediment transport on cold‐water coral bank morphology and growth: the example of the Darwin Mounds,north‐east Atlantic

The Darwin Mounds are small (up to 70 m in diameter), discrete cold‐water coral banks found at c. 950 m water depth in the northern Rockall Trough, north‐east Atlantic. Formerly described in terms of their genesis, the Darwin Mounds are re‐evaluated here in terms of mound growth processes based on 100 and 410 kHz side‐scan sonar data. The side‐scan sonar coverage is divided into a series of acoustic facies representing increasing current speed and sediment transport/erosion from south to north: pockmark facies, ‘mounds within depressions’ facies, Darwin Mound facies, stippled seabed facies and sand wave facies. Mound morphometric changes are quantified and show a south‐to‐north divergence from an inherited morphology, reflecting the outline of coral‐colonized fluid escape structures, to developed, downstream elongated, elevated mound forms. It is postulated that increasing current speeds and bedload sand transport favour mound growth and development by a process of enhanced sand sedimentation within mounds due to current deceleration by frictional drag around coral colonies. Comparisons are made with similar growth processes attributed to comparably sized cold‐water coral mounds in the Porcupine Seabight, offshore Ireland.     

基于回波时间的多波束测深与声纳数据匹配方法

以多波束精确的水深数据为参照源,采用原始回波时间对多波束测深数据与其同源声纳数据进行匹配,从而获得高精度和高分辨率的海底影像数据,并避免了传统声纳图像处理过程中斜距改正所带来的几何形变。匹配结果采用光照图输出,并与三维水深图、原始声纳图像和CARIS处理后的声纳图像进行比较分析。该方法有效地提高了多波束数据的利用率,增强了对海底地形的探测分辨率。     

侧扫声纳系统成图中的位移、变形和噪声问题

侧扫声纳声图判读的正确性和准确性对海洋工程的实施和维护中具有非常重要的作用。但诸多影响因素的存在使得声纳声图不能真实反映海底状况。了解这些因素，并在判读过程中尽可能消除其影响，以达到正确和准确判读是非常有意义的。本文将这些影响因素按照作用结果分为位移、变形和噪声3个大类，并对其校正或消除方法进行讨论。     

Extensional faulting and segmentation of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge north of the Kane Fracture Zone (24° 00′ N to 24° 40′ N)

The combination of multi-beam echo-sounder swath bathymetry and high-resolution deep-towed sidescan sonar provides a powerful database from which to examine mid-ocean ridge processes. We have used such a database, gathered from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge north of the Kane Fracture Zone (the MARNOK area), to examine the relationship between tectonic, volcanic, and bathymetric segmentation. We have identified structural domains, with different fault distributions, and neovolcanic segments that are distinct from the 2nd or 3rd order bathymetric segmentation.From their mutual relationships, a model is proposed for the magmatic accretion of oceanic crust at slow spreading ridges that relates the local melt supply to the tectonic style. We suggest that these are mutually interactive, and determine whether volcanic extrusion along the ridge is continuous and slow, or episodic and rapid.     

Tectonic evolution of Gorda Ridge inferred from sidescan sonar images

Gorda Ridge is the southern segment of the Juan de Fuca Ridge complex, in the north-east Pacific. Along-strike spreading-rate variation on Gorda Ridge and deformation of Gorda Plate are evidence for compression between the Pacific and Gorda Plates. GLORIA sidescan sonographs allow the spreading fabric associated with Gorda Ridge to be mapped in detail. Between 5 and 2 Ma, a pair of propagating rifts re-orientated the northern segment of Gorda Ridge by about 10° clockwise, accommodating a clockwise shift in Pacific-Juan de Fuca plate motion that occurred around 5 Ma. Deformation of Gorda Plate, associated with southward decreasing spreading rates along southern Gorda Ridge, is accommodated by a combination of clockwise rotation of Gorda Plate crust, coupled with left-lateral motion on the original normal faults of the ocean crust. Segments of Gorda Plate which have rotated by different amounts are separated by narrow deformation zones across which sharp changes in ocean fabric trend are seen. Although minor lateral movement may occur on these NW to WNW structures, no major right-lateral movement, as predicted by previous models, is observed.     

Accuracy of the spatial representation of the seafloor with bathymetric sidescan sonars

When isobath maps of the seafloor are constructed with a bathymetric sidescan sonar system the position of each sounding is derived from estimates of range and elevation. The location of each pixel forming the acoustic backscatter image is calculated from the same estimates. The accuracy of the resulting maps depends on the acoustic array geometry, on the performances of the acoustic signal processing, and on knowledge of other parameters including: the platform's navigation, the sonar transducer's attitude, and the sound rays' trajectory between the sonar and the seafloor. The relative importance of these factors in the estimation of target location is assesed. The effects of the platform motions (e.g. roll, pitch, yaw, sway, surge and heave) and of the uncertainties in the elevation angle measurements are analyzed in detail. The variances associated with the representation (orientation and depth) of a plane, rectangular patch of the seafloor are evaluated, depending on the geometry of the patch. The inverse problem is addressed. Its solution gives the lateral dimensions of the spatial filter that must be applied to the bathymetric data to obtain specified accuracies of the slopes and depths. The uncertainty in the estimate of elevation angle, mostly due to the acoustic noise, is found to bring the main error contribution in across-track slope estimates. It can also be critical for along-track slope estimates, overshadowing error contributions due to the platform's attitude. Numerical examples are presented.On leave at the Naval Research Laboratory, Code 7420, Washington D.C. 20375-5350, U.S.A.     

侧扫声纳和浅地层剖面仪在杭州湾海底管线检测中的应用

首先介绍了杭州湾油管检测工程概况,引出了海底油管检测的必要性。其次,介绍了该工程中运用的两种重要仪器——侧扫声纳和浅地层剖面仪的原理及影响因素。最后,通过两种仪器的数据分析、图像判读,提出了综合利用两种仪器可增强两种数据的互补性并提高工程质量。