MURI Towards an integrative understanding of near-surface seabed structure and stability in the deep sea
Abstract
Naval and engineering applications in the deep sea are expanding, especially in the seabedsurface layer, e.g., use of smaller, unmanned submersibles for surveying strategically importantareas; deployment, anchoring, and retrieval of instrumentation; burial of deep-sea cables;leveraging sediment redox conditions to power equipment. These applications require animproved, integrative understanding of the seabed that includes short-term changes driven bybiological and hydrodynamic processes, as well as tools for remote sensing of seabed properties.Our interdisciplinary team proposes to test the overarching hypothesis that organic matter inputto the deep sea drives biological processes that modify geotechnical and geoacoustic propertiesof the surface layer of sediments. In testing thishypothesis, we will explore the spatial andtemporal variability and relationships among these properties subject to forcing from bottomcurrents within a highly productive region of the ocean, the central California continental margin.This region experiences seasonal and interannual variability in organic matter and sedimentdeposition to the seabed and spatial variability in the infaunal community influenced by waterdepth, bottom water oxygen, and lateral transport. We plan to combine seasonal sampling ofgeological, geotechnical, geoacoustic, biological, and biogeochemical properties along a depthgradient from continental slope to abyssal plain with high-temporal-resolution sampling of thebottom boundary layer and seabed surface. Our results will provide insight on the patterns ofseabed structure and stability and the mechanisms driving those patterns, and will improve ourability to predict and remotely detect related changes in deep sea sediments.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Nov 08, 2024
- Source ID
- N000142412446
Entities
People
- Clare Reimers
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- Oregon State University
- United States Navy