Sub-bottom profiler

The CHIRP Sub-Bottom Profiling is a cost efficient type of  geophysical  survey for the investigation of the in depth structure of seafloor sediments. By using the CHIRP technology of signal modulation, the investigations can be done with high resolution and high penetration. It is an useful tool for the investigation of buried objects and pipelines. Higher penetration is obtained in finer sediments.

Pre-dredging survey

A crucial question has to be answered in some dredging cases: is there hard rock bottom beneath the soft sediments?  A clear answer can be provided after performing a sub-bottom survey to identify if there is any hard bottom and if this is the case, to map the extent and thickness of the covering soft sediments.

Pipe, burried object detection

The buried pipelines or other objects in sediments can be still seen using a sub-bottom profiler. This piece of equipment has the advantage of receiving reflected sound waves from the object of interest due to the difference in acoustic impedance. The target can be seen as discontinuous horizon or in case of a point or line feature, as a diffraction hyperbola.

Preconstruction site survey

For the design of offshore constructions it is necessary to have information regarding the seafloor and subsurface structure, such as bathymetry, side-scan sonar images, seabed classification, magnetic anomalies and subsurface structure and lithology. The Sub-bottom profiler provides valuable information regarding the sub-seafloor structure, gases in sediments and hard bottoms where digging is hard to do. Sediment thickness maps and sediment volume calculations are derived from this type of data.

Sedimentology

The Sub-bottom profiler provides valuable information regarding strata geometry. It is valuable for research projects where the sediment body geometry is required. By analyzing reflector terminations (onlap, downlap, toplap and erosional truncation) the geometrical relation between adjacent strata and depositional history can be described.