Abstract:
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Coastal and Marine Geology Program has actively collected geophysical and sedimentological data in the northern 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 long. As part of the National Geological and Geophysical Data Preservation Program (NGGDPP;
https://datapreservation.usgs.gov/), and in collaboration with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Marine Minerals Program, scientists at the USGS St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center 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 as industry standard Society of Exploration Geophysicists date exchange (SEG-Y) formatted files.
This data release serves as an archive of HRSP profiles annotated with header information, converted SEG-Y files, navigation data, and cruise trackline shapefiles. The HRSP data were collected using a Huntec boomer seismic system onboard research vessel (R/V) Kit Jones. The geophysical surveys were conducted from July 7-19, 1992 with data being acquired along the Florida shelf near Pensacola Beach, St. Joseph Bay aquatic Preserve, and St. George Island. Data collection and processing methods are described in USGS Data Series 1047.
To archive all digitized analog boomer seismic profile data and associated files collected along the northern Gulf of Mexico from the R/V Kit Jones cruise, July 7 to 19, 1992.
Supplemental_Information:
The USGS Saint Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center (SPCMSC) currently holds data from 13 major geophysical surveys from the northern Gulf of Mexico in its paper repository. A conservative estimate of 2,000 line-kilometers (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 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). Data collection and processing methods are described in detail in 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 (TIFF) for standard accessibility by raster image processors. The TIFF images of the seismic profiles were then 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. Navigation and metadata files, which are generated for use in GIS, database, and Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) services as well as processed seismic profile images are also provided. The processed profiles provided in this data release are Portable Document Format (PDF) files that were created using Seismic Unix and/or Imagemagick software.
The northern Gulf of Mexico 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 of Mexico remains a valuable resource for seafloor and stratigraphic investigations and is continuously revisited by researchers interested in Holocene and recent earth processes. For example, decades-old geologic data is commonly used in sediment resource studies in coastal Louisiana (for example, 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, 2011).
The seismic data were collected using a single-channel Huntec boomer/benthos hydrophone system with an Ocean Research Equipment (ORE) Geopulse power supply. The system consists of an electromechanical sound source mounted on a catamaran sled towed behind the vessel at the water surface. The signal emitted from the sound source is received by a 5 meter- (m) long hydrophone streamer towed alongside the sled. The received signal was recorded by a signal that passed through bandpass filters and was sent to a graphic recorder using a sweeping stylus to burn electrostatic paper. The seismic returns were printed onto paper rolls as two-dimensional profiles representing shots horizontally (time along track) and depth (two-way travel time). Geographic positioning of the system was collected using a long-range navigation (LORAN-C) system and annotated onto the paper copies.
Theme:
Theme_Keyword_Thesaurus: USGS Metadata Identifier
Theme_Keyword: USGS:fe3d2b38-d5b7-483f-a082-7167f9a58a19
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: ocean processes
Theme_Keyword: sediment transport
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: R/V Kit Jones
Theme_Keyword: marine sediment transport
Place:
Place_Keyword_Thesaurus: Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) Content
Place_Keyword: United States of America
Place_Keyword: Gulf of Mexico
Place_Keyword: Florida shelf
Place_Keyword: Saint Joseph Bay Aquatic Preserve
Place_Keyword: St. George Island
Place_Keyword: Pensacola Beach
Public domain data from the U.S. Government are freely redistributable with proper metadata and source attribution. The U.S. Geological Survey requests to be acknowledged as originator of these data in future products or derivative research.
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: 2004
Title:
Late Quaternary stratigraphic evolution of the northern Gulf of Mexico margin: 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: http://doi.org/10.2110/pec.04.79.0001
Citation_Information:
Originator: Bosse, S.T., Flocks, J.G., and Forde, A.S.
Publication_Date: 2017
Title:
Digitized analog boomer seismic-reflection data collected during U.S. Geological Survey cruises Erda 90-1_HC, Erda 90-1_PBP, and Erda 91-3 in Mississippi Sound, June 1990 and September 1991
Series_Information:
Series_Name: U.S. Geological Survey Data Series
Issue_Identification: 1047
Publication_Information:
Publication_Place: St. Petersburg, FL
Publisher: U.S. Geological Survey
Online_Linkage: https://doi.org/10.3133/ds1047
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://pubs.usgs.gov/ds/296/
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://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/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 143-188
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://pubs.usgs.gov/ds/370/
