Abstract:
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program has actively collected geophysical and sedimentological data in the northern Gulf of America (Gulf of Mexico) for several decades, including shallow subsurface data in the form of high-resolution seismic reflection profiles (HRSP). Prior to the mid-1990s, most HRSP data were collected in analog format as paper rolls of continuous profiles up to 25 meters (m) long. As part of the National Geological and Geophysical Data Preservation Program (NGGDPP;
https://datapreservation.usgs.gov/), scientists from the USGS St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center (SPCMSC) converted analog paper records to digital format using a large-format continuous scanner. The scanned image files were subsequently processed to fix distortions and crop out blank spaces prior to exporting them as geophysical industry standard Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) SEG-Y data exchange formatted files.
This data release serves as an archive of HRSP profiles annotated with header information, converted SEG-Y files, navigation data, cruise trackline map, and associated report, Pyle and others (1975). The HRSP data were collected between July 25 and August 17, 1975, using an EG&G Uniboom acoustic system, onboard merchant vessel (M/V) DECCA PROFILER. More than 3,700 kilometers (km) of HRSP were collected in the outer continental shelf waters of Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida (MAFLA-OCS). See Pyle and others (1975) for acquisition methodology. Data conversion methods are described in USGS Data Series 1047 (Bosse and others, 2017).
The data release associated with this metadata record serves as an archive of MAFLA-OCS geophysical, navigational, and support data collected between July 25 and August 17, 1975. This data release is part of an ongoing USGS data rescue effort to preserve the geologic data that facilitates easier access to legacy datasets by scientists and the public.
Supplemental_Information:
The USGS SPCMSC currently holds 13 major geophysical surveys from the northern Gulf of America in its paper repository. Over 2,000 line-km of data are available. Paper copies of data are difficult and expensive to duplicate and share with other facilities and cannot be analyzed using standard geographic information systems (GIS) and interpretative software. Conversion of this data into a usable digital format is necessary to archive the geologic information that otherwise might be lost, requiring additional redundant and expensive marine geophysical surveys. The USGS NGGDPP addresses the need to preserve, catalog, and provide access to geological and geophysical data for scientific research and economic development. In addition to the current efforts under the NGGDPP, four geophysical investigations from the 1980s and 1990s were previously archived through a preservation project in collaboration with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (Harrison and others, 2007; Sanford and others, 2009a, b, c; and Bosse and others 2017). The USGS SPCMSC scans its analog HRSP holdings using a large-format continuous scanner. The analog to digital conversion process used for this dataset is similar to the processes used previously in Harrison and others (2007) and Sanford and others (2009a, b, c). The digital files were converted into Tagged Image File Format (TIF) for standard accessibility by raster image processors. The TIF images of the seismic profiles were also converted into SEG-Y format. This standard non-proprietary format is the accepted industry standard for seismic data and can be accessed by all major seismic data processing and interpretation systems. Accompanying the HRSP are navigation and metadata files, which are generated for use in GIS, database and Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) services. Processed seismic profile images are also provided. The processed profiles provided in this data release are Portable Document Format (PDF) and TIF images that were created using Seismic Unix and/or ImageMagick software.
The northern Gulf of America is a passive continental margin, where minimal structural change to the shallow stratigraphy has occurred during the last few thousand years (Anderson and others, 2004). Therefore, subsurface data collected from this environment for the purposes of geologic assessment can be considered useful in perpetuity. The geologic information collected by the USGS in the northern Gulf remains a valuable resource for sea floor and stratigraphic investigations and is continuously revisited by researchers interested in Holocene and recent earth processes. For example, decades-old geologic data are commonly used in sediment resource studies in coastal Louisiana (Kindinger and others, 2001; Kulp and others, 2002; Rogers and others, 2009) and previously collected datasets across the Mississippi-Alabama shelf have been used in recent geologic-framework assessments (Roberts and others, 2004; Greene and others, 2007; Flocks and others, 2009).
Geophysical data were acquired for the Bureau of Land Management under contract 08550-CTS-30. The survey was conducted between July 25 and August 17, 1975, on board the M/V DECCA PROFILER. Geophysical data were acquired using an EG&G Uniboom profiler. The transducer was mounted on a towed sled, power supply was 300 Joule. Data were recorded using an EPC 4100 recorder, with a bandpass of 0.4 – 1.6 kilohertz (kHz).
Navigation events, or shots, were recorded using mark events corresponding to approximately 305 m intervals along the pre-plotted line. Positioning was provided by a long-range navigation (LORAN), a hyperbolic radio navigation system with an estimated accuracy of +/-0.2 to 0.8 km. Following SPCMSC data management protocols, this survey was assigned a USGS field activity number (FAN), 1975-304-FA. Additional survey and data details are available on the Coastal and Marine Geoscience Data System (CMGDS) at
https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/services/activity.php?fan=1975-304-FA.
Theme:
Theme_Keyword_Thesaurus: USGS Metadata Identifier
Theme_Keyword: USGS:932f4066-08af-4616-8f1b-a309a85e1f2a
Theme:
Theme_Keyword_Thesaurus: ISO 19115 Topic Category
Theme_Keyword: geoscientificInformation
Theme_Keyword: oceans
Theme:
Theme_Keyword_Thesaurus: USGS Thesaurus
Theme_Keyword: marine geology
Theme_Keyword: geology
Theme_Keyword: sediment transport
Theme_Keyword: ocean processes
Theme_Keyword: coastal processes
Theme_Keyword: seismic reflection methods
Theme:
Theme_Keyword_Thesaurus: None
Theme_Keyword: Marine
Theme_Keyword: Society of Exploration Geophysicists
Theme_Keyword: SEG-Y
Theme_Keyword: M/V Decca Profiler
Place:
Place_Keyword_Thesaurus: Geographic Names Information System (GNIS)
Place_Keyword: Gulf of America
Place_Keyword: State of Mississippi
Place_Keyword: State of Florida
Place_Keyword: State of Alabama
Place_Keyword: Sanibel Island
Place_Keyword: Pascagoula
No access constraints. Please see 'Distribution Information' for details.
These data are marked with a Creative Common CC0 1.0 Universal License. These data are in the public domain and do not have any use constraints. Users are advised to read the dataset's metadata thoroughly to understand appropriate use and data limitations.
Browse_Graphic_File_Name: MAFLA_75_Nav_map6_georef.tif
Browse_Graphic_File_Description:
Supplemental scanned paper map (available in MAFLA_TracklineMap.zip), which shows all analog seismic profiles collected during the MAFLA 1975 survey, including the lines that were not located and scanned from the repository at the USGS SPCMSC (tracklines 4, 7, 30, and 41) .
Browse_Graphic_File_Type: TIF
Environment as of Metadata Creation: Microsoft Windows 11 Enterprise Version 23H2; Environmental Systems Research Institute (Esri) ArcGIS Pro 3.2.1; Seismic Unix (Release 44); Microsoft Word for Office 365 (version 16); Adobe Photoshop Creative Cloud (version 2019); Chesapeake Technology's ImageToSEGY (version 2.2).
Citation_Information:
Originator:
Anderson, J.B., Rodriguez, A., Abdulah, K.C., Fillon, R.H., Banfield, L.A., McKeown, H.A., and Wellner, J.S.
Publication_Date: 20040101
Title:
Late Quaternary stratigraphic evolution of the northern Gulf of Mexico margins—A synthesis, in Anderson, J., and Fillon, R., eds., Late Quaternary stratigraphic evolution of the Northern Gulf of Mexico
Series_Information:
Series_Name: Society for Sedimentary Geology
Issue_Identification: 79
Other_Citation_Details: pages 1-23
Online_Linkage: https://doi.org/10.2110/pec.04.79.0001
Citation_Information:
Originator: Flocks, J.G., Ferina, N.F., and Kindinger, J.L.
Publication_Date: 2009
Title:
Recent geologic framework and geomorphology of the Mississippi-Alabama shelf, northern Gulf of Mexico, in, Buster, N.A., and Holmes, C.W., eds., Gulf of Mexico origin, waters, and biota: Volume III, Geology
Series_Information:
Series_Name: College Station, Texas, Texas A&M University Press
Issue_Identification: 3
Other_Citation_Details: pages 157-173
Online_Linkage: https://muse.jhu.edu/book/1783
Citation_Information:
Originator:
Harrison, A.S., Dadisman, S.V., Kindinger, J.L., Morton, R.A., Blum, M.D., Wiese, D.S., and Subino, J.A.
Publication_Date: 2007
Title:
Archive of digital and digitized analog boomer seismic reflection data collected during USGS cruise 96CCT02 in Copano, Corpus Christi, and Nueces Bays and Corpus Christi Bayou, Texas, July 1996
Series_Information:
Series_Name: U.S. Geological Survey Data Series
Issue_Identification: 296
Online_Linkage: https://doi.org/10.3133/ds296
Citation_Information:
Originator:
Kindinger, J.L., Flocks, J.G., Kulp, M.A., Penland, P.S., and Britsch, L.D.
Publication_Date: 2001
Title:
Sand resources, regional geology, and coastal processes for the restoration of the Barataria barrier shoreline
Series_Information:
Series_Name: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report
Issue_Identification: 2001-384
Other_Citation_Details: 69 pages
Online_Linkage: https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr01384
Citation_Information:
Originator:
Kulp, M.A., Howell, P.D., Adiau, S., Penland, P.S., Kindinger, J.L., and Williams, S.J.
Publication_Date: 2002
Title:
Latest Quaternary stratigraphic framework of the Mississippi River delta region
Series_Information:
Series_Name: Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies Transactions
Issue_Identification: 52
Other_Citation_Details: pages 573-582
Online_Linkage:
Citation_Information:
Originator:
Roberts, H.H., Fillon, R.H., Kohl, B., Robalin, J.M., and Sydow, J.C.
Publication_Date: 2004
Title:
Depositional architecture of the Lagniappe Delta: Sediment characteristics, timing of depositional events, and temporal relationship with adjacent shelf-edge deltas, in Anderson, J.B., and Fillon, R., eds., Late Quaternary stratigraphic evolution of the northern Gulf of Mexico
Series_Information:
Series_Name: Society for Sedimentary Geology
Issue_Identification: 79
Other_Citation_Details: pages 142-189
Online_Linkage:
Citation_Information:
Originator: Sanford, J.M., Harrison, A.S., Wiese, D.S., and Flocks, J.G.
Publication_Date: 2009
Title:
Archive of digitized analog boomer seismic reflection data collected from Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana, to Mobile Bay, Alabama, during cruises onboard the R/V ERDA-1, June and August 1992
Series_Information:
Series_Name: U.S. Geological Survey Data Series
Issue_Identification: 370
Other_Citation_Details: 2009c
Online_Linkage: https://doi.org/10.3133/ds370
