Acoustic imaging of an inhomogeneous sediment matrix

This paper presents and applies a new acoustic imaging approach to quantitatively determine geophysical parameters of complex inhomogeneous sediment layers. The concept is called an Acoustic Sub-seabed Interrogator or ASI and it is based on optimising the criteria of temporal and spatial resolution and of coherence by utilizing broadband, narrow beam calibrated sources and fixed receivers on a stationary platform.The ASI concept was experimentally tested over a complex pseudo-glacial till built at a scale of 20:1. Compressional velocity, attenuation losses and thickness values were easily attained using the ASI's coherent spatial scanning approach and through a discrete application of the Hilbert transform in the post processing of data. The simulations provided indepth insight into the model's physical and spatial variations and by statistical distribution emphasized the depositional processes involved in creating the layer. It is believed that the fundamental internal information elucidated by the ASI for the pseudo-till structure and illustrated in the resultant acoustic core cannot be attained using current marine geophysical and geotechnical techniques.