Field Activity Details for field activity 2015-006-FA

Other ID: MGL1506

Status: Completed

Organization(s): USGS, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Funding Program(s): Law of the Sea - Outer Limits of the US Continental Margins (LQ000FQ), Marine Geohazards Sources and Probability (LQ00ENR)

Principal Investigator(s): Deborah Hutchinson, Nathaniel Miller

Affiliate Investigator(s): Warren Wood (NRL) Ray Sliter (USGS, PCMSC)

Information Specialist(s): Matthew Arsenault

Data Type(s): Electro-Magnetic: Gravity, Electro-Magnetic: Magnetics, Location-Elevation: Navigation, Seismics: Air Gun / Water Gun, Seismics: Multichannel, Seismics: Sonobuoy, Seismics: Sub Bottom Profiler, Sonar: Multibeam, Sonar: Sound Velocity

Scientific Purpose/Goals: To map sediment thickness for delineating the outer limits of the extended continental shel and landslide deposits to better understand tsunami hazards along the Atlantic margin

Vehicle(s):

Start Port/Location: Charleston

End Port/Location: New York

Start Date: 2015-04-08

End Date: 2015-05-04

Equipment Used: Geometrics G-856 magnetometer, Bell Aerospace BGM-3 gravimeter, DGPS, Other, Multichannel seismics, 3.5 kHz, Air gun, EM122 12 kHz multibeam, Other

Information to be Derived: sediment thickness, stratigraphy,

Summary of Activity and Data Gathered: The USGS conducted a 23-day geophysical survey in deep-water along the Atlantic continental margin using R/V Marcus G. Langseth. The seismic program is to collect multichannel seismic refraction data to determine sediment thickness and enable the U.S. to delineate the Atlantic extended continental shelf (ECS). The same data will also be used to understand large submarine landslides and therefore assess their potential tsunami hazard for infrastructure and communities living on the Eastern Seaboard. The survey was conducted across the Atlantic continental margin, from near the junction of the slope and upper rise, in water depths greater than 1500m, out to the abyssal floor, greater than 5000m. This field program had two primary objectives. 1) To collect the data necessary to establish the outer limits of the U.S. Continental Shelf, or Extended Continental Shelf (ECS), as defined by Article 76 of the Convention of the Law of the Sea. 2) To study the sudden mass transport of sediments down the continental margin as submarine landslides that pose potential tsunamigenic hazards to the Atlantic and Caribbean coastal communities. Data Collected: gravity, magnetics, multi-beam bathymetry, backscatter, multi-channel seismic, sonobuoy (refraction seismic), sound velocity profiles, sub-bottom profiling

Staff: Matthew Arsenault

Affiliate Staff:

Notes: approximately 2,761 kilometers of multi-channel seismic data collected by the U.S. Geological Survey during USGS survey 2015-06-FA. These data were collected off the U.S. Seaboard Atlantic as part of the U.S. Extended Continental Shelf project and investigations of tsunami hazards.

Location:

Atlantic Ocean, New England to south of Cape Hatteras

Platform(s):

Publications

Portals/Viewers

Data Acquired