Design and Experimental Study of a Novel Full-Ocean-Depth Pressure-Retaining Sediment Sampler

Deep-sea sediments hold evolutionary records of the oceanic environment-records of great significance for scientific fields investigating marine sedimentary processes, structural evolution, and seabed mineral resource exploration. However, the acquisition of original samples from deep-sea sediments is completely dependent on advanced seabed sediment collection methods and technical equipment. In this paper, a novel sampler is proposed to obtain intact sediment samples at full ocean depth. It mainly consists of a sampling device, pressure-retaining device, pressure-compensating device, and sample transfer device. The sampler can collect samples at full ocean depth (11 000 m) with a maximum core diameter of 54mm and core length of 350 mm, and samples can be maintained at near-in situ pressures during recovery. The sampler can be installed on a remote-operated vehicle or human-occupied vehicle, and it can be operated with a single mechanical arm to collect pressure-retained samples. The experimental test showed that the novel sampler had good pressure-retaining performance and suitability with a mechanical arm, and can be applied to pressure-retaining sampling of seabed sediments at depth of 11 000 m.