Abstract
Concentrated metals such as seafloor hydrothermal deposits and rare earth rich mud are expected to be used as marine mineral resources. Understanding subseafloor structures by the seismic reflection survey is necessary to understand the spatial distribution of marine mineral resources. The imaging accuracy of the subseafloor structure depends on the source frequency and data density. Therefore, densely acquiring data near the seafloor, it is possible to acquire high-resolution data that matches the scale of the target.
In this study, we investigated a survey method for establishing a seismic reflection survey system using an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) that enables efficient data acquisition in the deep sea. As a result of the survey experiment of the portable autonomous hydrophone cable developed for mounting on the AUV, it was shown that it is possible to obtain a high resolution cross section by correcting the cable attitude under water. In addition, as a result of the AUV mounting test of the portable autonomous hydrophone cable, we observed the system noise caused by the AUV thruster and the hydrophone cable required for the selection of the seismic source. In the future, it is expected that the seismic reflection survey system using the AUV will be developed by the offshore survey experiment.
