Depth and Frequency Dependence of Geoacoustic Properties on the New England Mud Patch from reflection coefficient inversion

Authors

Jiang Yong-Min, Center for Maritime Research and Experimentation
Charles W. Holland, Portland State UniversityFollow
Stan E. Dosso, University of Victoria
Jan Dettmer, University of Victoria

Sponsor

Support for this study was provided by NSF OCE-1737399, NSF OCE-2125407, and NSF XSEDE/ACCESS OCE170012, NSF OCE-1851412 to AT, NSF OCE-2125408 to KRS.

Published In

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

10-18-2023

Subjects

Geoacoustic -- properties, Sediments (Geology) -- Acoustic properties

Abstract

Muddy sediments cover significant portions of continental shelves, but their physical properties remain poorly understood compared to sandy sediments. This paper presents a generally applicable model for sediment-column structure and variability on the New England Mud Patch (NEMP), based on trans-dimensional Bayesian inversion of wide-angle, broadband reflection-coefficient data in this work and in two previously published reflection-coefficient inversions at different sites on the NEMP. The data considered here include higher frequencies and larger bandwidth and cover lower reflection grazing angles than the previous studies, hence, resulting in geoacoustic profiles with significantly better structural resolution and smaller uncertainties. The general sediment-column structure model includes an upper mud layer in which sediment properties change slightly with depth due to near-surface processes, an intermediate mud layer with nearly uniform properties, and a geoacoustic transition layer where properties change rapidly with depth (porosity decreases and sound speed, density, and attenuation increase) due to increasing sand content in the mud above a sand layer. Over the full frequency band considered in the new and two previous data sets (400–3125 Hz), there is no significant sound-speed dispersion in the mud, and attenuation follows an approximately linear frequency dependence.

Rights

Copytight: 2023 Acoustical Society of America

Description

6 month embargo, per publisher

Locate the Document

https://doi-org/10.1121/10.0021309

DOI

10.1121/10.0021309

Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/40975

Citation Details

Jiang, Y. M., Holland, C. W., Dosso, S. E., & Dettmer, J. (2023). Depth and frequency dependence of geoacoustic properties on the New England Mud Patch from reflection coefficient inversion. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 154(4), 2383-2397.