Search

The marine acoustic techniques are powerful tools to investigate and identify the seabed objects by applying different processing and interpretation steps. Two types of marine acoustic imaging techniques used in this study; Side Scan Sonar (SSS) that mapping seabed features and identifies the objects on it, and Sub-Bottom Profiling (SBP) that providing information about sediment thicknesses and stratigraphic structure. The integration between these two marine acoustic techniques, as well as, ground truth data obtained from an underwater camera, was used to distinguish seabed objects; coastal boulder accumulations that are documented along the western Mediterranean coast of Egypt. The study and analysis of the collected data demonstrated that: the combination between side scan sonar, chirp sub-bottom profiling systems, and ROV images can successfully distinguish different types of objects. Generally, objects observed from SSS are indicated in the SBP as weak backscatter curves. The case study results, from analysis of SBP with ROV image to the object detected by SSS utilized three objects making a shadow in SSS seabed: boulder, hard substrate, and seagrass. The integration of these techniques resulting specifies the location of the geo-hazards area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Alamein New City is one of the newly established capital cities in Egypt. The study of the offshore extension is important to define the morpho-sedimentary seafloor features and evaluate the structure of the seafloor, sand resources, and the quantities of sediments that are responsible for beach renourishment. To achieve the purpose of the study, the marine acoustic geophysical techniques (MBES, SSS, and SBP) with video-camera attached in the ROV as a ground truth tool, were used. That has proven to be extremely powerful techniques in coastal applications. The integration of the marine geophysical data obtained from the bathymetric, shallow seismic surveys, and the validity of these data that was confirmed by SSS backscatter sonograph, in addition, the images obtained by using the ROV, divided the study area into three main zones. The southern zone (Z1) was rugged, which coincided with sandy mounds in the area, and has gradual backscatter strength from high to moderate with the direction of the prevailing current describing the rugosity of sand ripple. This zone has characterized by the thickest layer of sediment in the study area. Whereas the middle zone (Z2) showed the highest values of rugosity due to the slope where the ridge exists and has complex backscatter strength with finer thick of sediment. The northern zone (Z3) was characterized mostly by intermediate rugosity and gradual backscatter strength from high to moderate aligned with the direction of the current, describing the rugosity of sand ripple. The northern zone has the second thickest layer of sediment. The gentle sloping of the seafloor with the existence of the mounds and the submerged ridge are allowing the waves to break and scatter their energy provide natural protection for the beaches of Alamein New City. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Fluid escape structures on the Nile Deep Sea Fan were investigated during the MEDIFLUX MIMES expedition in 2004. Mud volcanoes, pockmarks and authigenic carbonate structures were surveyed for the first time with a high-resolution deep-towed 75kHz sidescan sonar and a 2–8kHz Chirp sediment echosounder. In combination with existing multibeam bathymetry and detailed seafloor in situ geological observations, these new data allowed detailed seep analyses. About 60 gas flares were detected acoustically in the water column from the sidescan sonar raw data at water depths from 770 to 1700m. These gas flares coincide at the seabed with 1) the centres of the mud volcanoes where mud is also extruded, 2) the borders of the mud volcanoes where the emitted gases contribute to the precipitation of authigenic carbonates, and 3) to the edges of broad sheets of authigenic carbonates. Subsurface sediments are commonly disturbed by ascending fluids throughout the delta, with an abundance of seep-related carbonate structures on the seafloor. The feeder channels below mud volcanoes, similar to the gas conduits below the widespread carbonate crust structures and pockmarks, are relatively narrow and, for the vast majority of them, do not exceed a few metres in diameter. The seeps on the Nile Deep Sea Fan clearly follow lineations on the seafloor that we can relate to faults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]