Geotechnical Influence on the Acoustic Properties of Marine Sediments of the Santos Basin, Brazil

Abstract

There are several problems associated with core location and sediment deformation during the coring procedure. Geophysical investigation of the seafloor using acoustic systems, such as high-resolution seismic and single-beam sediment classification, provides a very cost-effective evaluation on the distribution of sedimentary environments. The present study investigates the relationship between acoustic impedance and geotechnical properties of shallow marine sediments from the Santos Basin, Brazil. A total of eight cores from different geological settings were collected and measurements of P-wave velocity (Vp), gamma density, mean grain size, void ratio, water content and shear strength were conducted. The results show that, despite different trends according to the sedimentary environment, the acoustic impedance correlates very well with all geotechnical parameters analyzed.

Keywords:

• geotechnics
• marine geophysics
• sediments

Acknowledgments

The authors want to thank REPSOL SINOPEC Brasil for the funding of the project.