Shallow Crustal Structure of the Bransfield Basin Using an Autonomous Underwater Hydrophone

Abstract

We investigated subsurface structures of the Bransfield Basin, the Antarctic with AUH (Autonomous Underwater Hydrophne) which was designed to record abyssal T-waves generated from submarine earthquakes. The data obtained from a multi-channel seismic survey and an AUH were used for this study. A seismic reflection method was applied to the multi-channel seismic survey data in order to identify bathymetry and sedimentary structures, and the signals recorded in the AUH were used to obtain deep structures as we applied a seismic refraction method. Even though we couldn't investigate deeper and detailed structure in study area because of lack of Airgun's capacity, the AUH showed possibilities for being used for a marine seismic survey. From this experiment, we decided the upper and lower sediment layer velocities, detected irregular basement topography probably caused by submarine volcanic/magmatic activities, and retrieved the velocity of the basement and the depth of the sediment layer/basement boundary.