Marine sediment echosounding using PARASOUND
RV Polarstern is equipped with a hull-mounted PARASOUND-DS2 sediment echosounder (ATLAS Hydrographic GmbH, Bremen, Germany) that generates two primary frequencies between 18 and 23.5 kHz transmitting in a narrow beam of 4 degrees at high power. These frequencies allow sub-bottom penetrations of up to 70 m with a high vertical and lateral resolution.
Bottom and sub-bottom reflection patterns obtained by PARASOUND characterize the uppermost sediments in terms of their acoustic behaviour. This can be used to interpret the sedimentary environments and their changes in space and time.
PARASOUND echosounding is most frequently used to
- select coring locations for gravity and box cores
- identify lateral differences in sedimentary facies with particular emphasis on features such as submarine slides, debris flows etc.
- connect geological investigations (sediment cores) with geophysical studies (core logging, reflection seismics)