STITCHING TOGETHER A QUILT OF HIGH-RESOLUTION GEOPHYSICAL AND GEOTECHNICAL SURVEY DATA ON THE U.S. OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF. THE INTEGRATION OF LEGACY SITE CHARACTERIZATION DATA TO PROVIDE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF SAND AND MIXED SEDIMENT INFORMATION FOR DECISION MAKERS

Under the authority of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, the Department of the Interior (DOI) is responsible for managing the development of energy and mineral resources on the U. S. Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). Prior to permitting any activities, detailed geophysical and geotechnical site characterization surveys, in the form of lease block hazard and archaeological survey reports, are required to help minimize and mitigate any potential impacts to environmental and cultural resources. For the past 70 years, various agencies within DOI have managed the offshore oil and gas program. Since 2011, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has been tasked with collecting and reviewing these surveys. To better manage resources and conflicts of use between competing OCS programs such as Oil & Gas, Renewable Energy, Carbon Storage and Sediment Resources, BOEM scientists are inventorying all the relevant legacy site characterization geophysical and geotechnical data to incorporate into both relational and Geographic Information System (GIS) geodatabases. Gulf of Mexico OCS legacy data will include 3D seismic surveys, 2D high resolution surveys, geotechnical borings, sediment cores, side-scan sonar (SSS) surveys, and single- and multi-beam echo sounder data. Legacy 3D seismic availability for the GOM OCS is extensive with ~1,000 3D datasets available for study including ~600 Time and ~400 Depth Surveys. 3D seismic will be utilized to assess the shallow geologic framework and provide information about the disposition of the overlying sediments. There have been over 1-million-line miles of 2D high resolution data collected and interpreted in the GOM OCS. Additional data included SSS mosaics, maps of shallow gas, shallow faulting, and amplitude anomalies to depths of ~3,000 feet. Interpretation of the data is problematic due to inconsistent reporting formats from multiple sources, differing data types, collection techniques, and nomenclature. The geodatabase was designed to consider these difficulties and provide a consistent vernacular and classification schema.