STRATIGRAPHIC ANALYSIS AND GEOACOUSTIC MODELLING AT THE DH-1, 2 LONG-CORE SITES IN THE KOREAN CONTINENTAL MARGIN OF THE EAST SEA

In the Korean continental margin of the western East Sea, stratigraphic and bottom models were investigated on the basis of long-core data and stratigraphic analysis with subbottom and air-gun profiles in the core sites. The long cores of 23.6 m and 27.2 m were acquired at the DH-1, 2 sites where are located near the Donghae City and the water depths are 357.8 m and 316.6 m deep, respectively. The long-core sediments were recovered using the Portable Remotely Operated Drill (PROD), a fully contained drilling system, remotely operated at the seafloor. The recovered core sediments were analyzed for physical, sedimentological, and geoacoustic properties mostly at 10~30 cm intervals. The detailed geoacoustic model at the DH-1 core site comprises vertical data of the 125 P-wave speeds and 121 P-wave attenuations of 23.6 m core sediments, consisting of 7 geoacoustic units. The geoacoustic model of the DH-2 core site was based on vertical measurements of the 86 P-wave speeds and 76 attenuation values of 27.2 m core sediments. These stratigraphic and geoacoustic models probably contribute for understanding vertical and lateral variability of acoustic properties in the Korean continental margin of the western East Sea.

Acknowledgements: This research was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (2010-0025733) and by the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy through the grant of Marine Geology and Geophysical Mapping Project (GP2010-013).