Acoustic environment of the Hatteras and Nares Abyssal Plains, western North Atlantic Ocean, determined from velocities and physical properties of sediment cores
Citable URI
https://hdl.handle.net/1912/10262DOI
10.1575/1912/10262Keyword
Underwater acoustics; Marine sedimentsAbstract
Seventeen piston cores up to 13 m long were recovered from representative acoustic and lithologic
environments of the Hatteras and Nares Abyssal Plains in the western North Atlantic. Compressional-wave
velocities (corrected to in situ conditions) and bulk physical properties measured on the cores are used to
characterize the acoustic framework of these areas. For correlation with conventional seismic data, wholecore
averages of properties are a better index to the acoustic nature of abyssal plain sediments than properties
of the upper few centimeters of the seafloor because (I) strong changes in lithofacies (and acoustic properties)
occur over depth scales of tens of centimeters to meters in the sediment column, and (2) conventional seismic
frequencies of 3.5 kHz or less sample these variations to subbottom depths of tens of meters and more. Wholecore
properties are a function of the thickness and distribution of high-velocity silt and sand layers in the core;
they vary in a complex fashion with proximity to the source of turbidity currents, distance from axial paths of
turbidity-current flows, local and regional basin geometry, and seafloor slope. Thus strongly reflective seabed
regions with numerous high-velocity layers are not restricted simply to near-source areas nor are weakly
reflective seabed regions (clay sediments only) limited to "distal" areas. Whole-core properties show a good
qualitative correlation to variations in 3.5-kHz reflection profiles, and 3.5-kHz echo character therefore
provides a useful means of mapping general acoustic properties over large regions of abyssal plains.
Description
Also published as: Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 68 (1980): 1376-1390
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Suggested Citation
Tucholke, B. E. (1981). Acoustic environment of the Hatteras and Nares Abyssal Plains, western North Atlantic Ocean, determined from velocities and physical properties of sediment cores. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. https://doi.org/10.1575/1912/10262Related items
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