Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The sound velocity and bulk properties of sediments in the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea of China

  • Published:
Acta Oceanologica Sinica Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In order to investigate the correlation between a sound velocity and sediment bulk properties and explore the influence of frequency dependence of the sound velocity on the prediction of the sediment properties by the sound velocity, a compressional wave velocity is measured at frequencies of 25–250 kHz on marine sediment samples collected from the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea in laboratory, together with the geotechnical parameters of sediments. The results indicate that the sound velocity ranges from 1.232 to 1.721 km/s for the collected sediment samples with a significant dispersion within the series measuring frequency. Poorly sorted sediments are highly dispersive nearly with a positive linear relationship. The porosity shows a better negative logarithmic correlation with the sound velocity compared with other geotechnical parameters. Generally, the sound velocity increases with the increasing of the average particle size, sand content, wet and dry bulk densities, and decreasing of the clay content, and water content. An important point should be demonstrated that the higher correlation can be obtained when the measuring frequency is low within the frequency ranges from 25 to 250 kHz since the inhomogeneity of sediment properties has a more remarkably influence on the laboratory sound velocity measurement at the high frequency.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Best A I, Gunn D E. 1999. Calibration of marine sediment core loggers for quantitative acoustic impedance studies. Marine Geology, 160(1–2): 137–146

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Best A I, Huggett Q J, Harris A J K. 2001. Comparison of in situ and laboratory acoustic measurements on Lough Hyne marine sediments. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 110(2): 695–709

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brandes H G, Silva A J, Sadd M H. 2001. Physical and acoustic measurements on cohesionless sediments from the northwest Florida Sand Sheet. Geophysical Research Letter, 28(5): 823–826

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Briggs K B, Richardson M D. 1997. Small-scale fluctuations in acoustic and physical properties in surficial carbonate sediments and their relationship to bioturbation. Geo-Marine Letters, 17(4): 306–315

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Briggs K B, Richardson M D, Young D K. 1985. Variability in geoacoustic and related properties of surface sediments from the Venezuela Basin, Caribbean Sea. Marine Geology, 68(1–4): 73–106

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buckingham M J, Richardson M D. 2002. On tone-burst measurements of sound speed and attenuation in sandy marine sediments. IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering, 27(3): 429–453

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dahl P H, Zhang Renhe, Miller J H, et al. 2004. Overview of results from the Asian seas international acoustics experiment in the East China Sea. IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering, 29(4): 920–928

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fu Shuangsheng, Tao Chunhui, Prasad M, et al. 2004. Acoustic properties of coral sands, Waikiki, Hawaii. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 115(5): 2013–2020

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gorgas T J, Wilkens R H, Fu S S, et al. 2002. In situ acoustic and laboratory ultrasonic sound speed and attenuation measured in heterogeneous soft seabed sediments: Eel River shelf, California. Marine Geology, 182(1): 103–119

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton E L. 1970. Sound velocity and related properties of marine sediments, North Pacific. Journal of Geophysical Research, 75(23): 4423–4446

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton E L, Bachman R T. 1982. Sound velocity and related properties of marine sediments. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of American, 72(6): 1891–1904

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Han Tongcheng, Liu Baohua, Kan Guangming, et al. 2012. Joint elastic-electrical properties of sediments in the Yellow Sea. Science China: Earth Sciences, 55(1): 143–148

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hines P C, Osler J C, Scrutton J G E, et al. 2010. Time-of-flight measurements of acoustic wave speed in a sandy sediment at 0.6-20 kHz. IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering, 35(3): 502–515

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jackson D R, Richardson M D. 2014. High-Frequency Sea Floor Acoustics (in Chinese). Translated by Liu Baohua, Kan Guangming, Li Guanbao. Beijing: China Ocean Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Kan Guangming, Liu Baohua, Zhao Yuexia, et al. 2011. Self-contained in situ sediment acoustic measurement system based on hydraulic driving penetration. High Technology Letters, 17(3): 311–316

    Google Scholar 

  • Kan Guangming, Su Yuanfeng, Li Guanbao, et al. 2013. Correlation between in-situ sound speeds and physical parameters of seafloor sediments in the middle area of the southern Yellow Sea. Haiyang Xuebao (in Chinese), 35(3): 166–171

    Google Scholar 

  • Kim D C, Sung J Y, Park S C, et al. 2001. Physical and acoustic properties of shelf sediments, the South Sea of Korea. Marine Geology, 179(1–2): 39–50

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kim G Y, Kim D C, Yoo D G, et al. 2011. Physical and geoacoustic properties of surface sediment sediments off eastern Geoje Island, South Sea of Korea. Quaternary International, 230(1–2): 21–33

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liang Yuanbo, Lu Bo. 1983. Acoustic-physical parameters of sea floor sediments of a low velocity continental shelf area. Tropical Oceanology (in Chinese), 2(3): 191–201

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu Baohua, Han Tongcheng, Kan Guangming, et al. 2013. Correlations between the in situ acoustic properties and geotechnical parameters of sediments in the Yellow Sea, China. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 77: 83–90

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lu Bo, Huang Shaojian, Li Ganxian, et al. 2003. Vertical variations of core sound velocity: evidence of paleooceanographic history since the Pleistocene epoch. Marine Georesources & Geotechnology, 21(2): 63–71

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lu Bo, Liang Yuanbo. 1991. Correlation of sound velocities and physico-mechanical parameters of marine sediments. Tropic Oceanology (in Chinese), 10(3): 96–100

    Google Scholar 

  • Lu Bo, Liang Yuanbo. 1995. Seabed sediments physical-acoustic and elastic propertys of sowe area in South China Sea. Marine Sciences (in Chinese), 3: 42–46

    Google Scholar 

  • Lu Bo, Liu Qiang, Li Ganxian. 2010. Grain and pore factors in acoustic response to seafloor sediments. Marine Georesources & Geotechnology, 28(2): 115–129

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meng Xiangmei, Liu Baohua, Kan Guangming, et al. 2012. An experimental study on acoustic properties and their influencing factors of marine sediment in the southern Yellow Sea. Haiyang Xuebao (in Chinese), 34(6): 74–83

    Google Scholar 

  • Ogushwitz P R. 1985. Applicability of the Biot theory:. suspensions. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 77(2): 441–451

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Orsi T H, Dunn D A. 1990. Sound velocity and related physical properties of fine-grained abyssal sediments from the Brazil Basin (South Atlantic Ocean). The Journal of the Acoustical Society of American, 88(3): 1536–1542

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Orsi T H, Dunn D A. 1991. Correlations between sound velocity and related properties of glacio-marine sediments: Barents Sea. Geo-Marine Letters, 11(2): 79–83

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Richardson M D, Briggs K B. 1996. In situ and laboratory geoacoustic measurements in soft mud and hard-packed sand sediments: implications for high-frequency acoustic propagation and scattering. Geo-Marine Letters, 16(3): 196–203

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Richardson M D, Lavoie D L, Briggs K B. 1997. Geoacoustic and physical properties of carbonate sediments of the lower Florida Keys. Geo-Marine Letters, 17(4): 316–324

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Robb G B N, Best A J, Dix J K, et al. 2007. Measurement of the in situ compressional wave properties of marine sediments. IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering, 32(2): 484–496

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Turgut A, Yamamoto T. 1990. Measurements of acoustic wave velocities and attenuation in marine sediments. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 87(6): 2376–2382

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang Jingqiang, Guo Changsheng, Hou Zhenyu, et al. 2014. Distributions and vertical variation patterns of sound speed of surface sediments in South China Sea. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 89: 46–53

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhu Zuyang, Wang Dong, Zhou Jianping, et al. 2012. Acoustic wave dispersion and attenuation in marine sediment based on partially gas-saturated Biot-Stoll model. Chinese Journal of Geophysics (in Chinese), 55(1): 180–188

    Google Scholar 

  • Zimmer M A, Bibee L D, Richardson M D. 2010. Measurement of the frequency dependence of the sound speed and attenuation of seafloor sands from 1 to 400 kHz. IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering, 35(3): 538–557

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Marine Sedimentology and Environmental Geology of State Oceanic Administration, State Oceanic Administration, Qingdao, 266061, China

    Jiewen Zheng, Guangming Kan, Guanbao Li & Yanliang Pei

  2. First Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, Qingdao, 266061, China

    Jiewen Zheng, Guangming Kan, Guanbao Li & Yanliang Pei

  3. Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266237, China

    Jiewen Zheng, Guangming Kan, Guanbao Li, Yanliang Pei & Xiaolei Liu

  4. National Deep Sea Center, State Oceanic Administration, Qingdao, 266237, China

    Baohua Liu

  5. Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Marine Environment and Geological Engineering, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266100, China

    Xiaolei Liu

Authors
  1. Jiewen Zheng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Baohua Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Guangming Kan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Guanbao Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Yanliang Pei
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Xiaolei Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xiaolei Liu.

Additional information

Foundation item: The National Natural Science Foundation of China under contract Nos 41106061, 41506077, 41330965 and 41402253; the Specialized Research Fund of First Insititute of Oceanography under contract No. GY0215G06; the Public Science and Technology Research Funds Projects of Ocean of State Oceanic Administration under contract No. 201405032.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zheng, J., Liu, B., Kan, G. et al. The sound velocity and bulk properties of sediments in the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea of China. Acta Oceanol. Sin. 35, 76–86 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-016-0906-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-016-0906-x

Key words

Search

Navigation