Imaging the Completely Buried Anomaly using a Small -ship Threedimensional Seismic Survey System

Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM) developed new small-ship 3D seismic survey system for detecting and imaging targets for engineering purposes. By securing the relative locations of receivers with a frame, the 3D seismic survey system EOS3D-Wing (Engineering Ocean Seismic 3 Dimension-Wing), was designed to extend several fixed receiver frames in the cross-line direction. Since it uses a small-ship, the EOS3D-Wing can be used even in shallow sea of 2 meters water depth. KIGAM demonstrated EOS3D-Wing on the shipwreck, entirely buried at 1-1.5 meters below the sea-floor, off the coast of the Mado Island (9 to 15 meters of water depth). By processing data appropriate for the EOS3D-Wing system, KIGAM obtained the corresponding 3D image successfully, which is especially easy to confirm the shape of the ship even with naked eyes and the image is consistent with the estimated shape after divers' groundwork using probes of several months. This shipwreck can not be detected by multi-beam, etc., that can image the 3D shape of sea floor only, because it is completely buried in the sea floor. Therefore, this system can be regarded as an innovative one for small-ship 3D exploration. This small-ship 3D seismic system belongs to scare and high-level technology so that only several cases have been reported until now. It is anticipated that EOS3D-Wing and approach provides ample geological information for coastal management, ocean development, and engineering projects in the future.