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 seabed surface layer, e.g., use of smaller, unmanned submersibles for surveying strategically important areas; deployment, anchoring, and retrieval of instrumentation; burial of deep-sea cables; leveraging sediment redox conditions to power equipment. These applications require an improved, integrative understanding of the seabed that includes short-term changes driven by biological 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 input to thedeep sea drives biological processes that modify geotechnical and geoacoustic properties of the surface layer of sediments. In testing this hypothesis, we will explore the spatial and temporal variability and relationships among these properties subject to forcing from bottom currents within a highly productive region of the ocean, the central California continental margin. This region experiences seasonal and interannual variability in organic matter and sediment deposition to the seabed and spatial variability in the infaunal community influenced by water depth, bottom water oxygen, and lateral transport. We plan to combine seasonal sampling of geological, geotechnical, geoacoustic, biological, and biogeochemical properties along a depth gradient from continental slope to abyssal plain with high-temporal-resolution sampling of the bottom boundary layer and seabed surface. Our results will provide insight on the patterns of seabed structure and stability and the mechanisms driving those patterns, and will improve our ability to predict and remotely detect related changes in deep sea sediments.Approved for Public Release
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Nov 08, 2024
- Source ID
- N000142412447
Entities
People
- Nina Stark
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- University of Florida