Abstract
Brief and impulsive signals of uncertain origin appear regularly on records from Ocean Bottom Seismographs (OBS) of several institutions. These signals have been recorded on nearly all deployments of the Texas OBS, including sites at depths greater than 7000 m. At some sites, they account for over 90% of the events recorded. They are of short duration (usually 0.5–4.0 s) and have a characteristic frequency (usually in the range of 4–18 Hz) that differs from site to site. When networks of OBS instruments are deployed, the signals are not recorded simultaneously by different instruments. Neither the frequency content nor the distribution of durations of these signals is similar to what is observed for known earthquake events.
We present evidence suggesting that the signals are of biological origin, perhaps caused by animals touching the OBS units. (1) The distribution of these signals on instruments deployed at depths shallower than 1000 m shows a 24 h periodicity, while there is a 24 h periodic pattern on instruments deployed at sites deeper than 1000 m (where there is no visible light). (2) The frequency of occurrence of signals is similar to the vertical distribution of biomass in the oceans, i.e., they appear most frequently on OBS instruments deployed at very shallow depths. (3) Biological material has been found attached to several OBS units upon recovery.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Busby, R. F.: 1976, Manned Submersibles, Office of the Oceanographer of the Navy, Washington, D.C.
Chen, A. T., Frohlich, C., and Latham, G. V.: 1981, ‘The Seismicity of the Forearc Marginal Wedge (Accretiorary Prism)’, submitted to J. Geophys. Res.
Dayton, P. K. and Hessier, R. R.: 1972, ‘Role of Biological Disturbance in Maintaining Diversity in the Deep Sea’, Deep Sea Re. 19, 199–200.
Ewing, J. and Ewing, M.: 1961, ‘A Telemetering Ocean Bottom Seismograph’, J. Geophys. Res. 66, 3863–3878.
Francis, T. J. G., and Porter, I. T.: 1971, ‘A Statistical Study of Mid-Atlantic Ridge Earthquakers’, Geophys. J. Roy Astr. Soc. 24, 31–50.
Francis, T. J. G., and Porter, I. T.: 1973, ‘Median Valley Seismology: The Mid-Atlantic Ridge near 45°N’, Geophys. J. Roy. Astr. Soc. 34, 279–311.
Frohlich, C., Billington, S., Engdahl, E. R., and Malahoff, A.: 1980, ‘The Detection and Location of Earthquakes in the Central Aleutian Subduction Zone Using Land and Ocean Bottom Seismograph Stations’, submitted to J. Geophys. Res.
Frohlich, C., Caldwell, J. G., Mallahoff, A., Latham, G. V., and Lawton, J.: 1980, ‘Ocean Bottom Seismograph Measurements in the Central Aleutians’, Nature 286, 144–145.
Frohlich, C. and Dumas, D.: 1980, ‘The Seismicity of the Gulf of Mexico’, Eos. Trans. AGU, 61, 288.
Grassle, J. F., Sanders, H. L., Hessler, R. R., Rowe, G. T., and McLellan, T.: 1975. ‘Pattern and Zonation: A Study of the Bathyal Megafauna Using the Research Submersible Alvin’, Deep Sea Res. 22, 457–481.
Hasselmann, K.: 1963. ‘A Statistical Analysis of the Generation of Microseisms’, Rev. Geophys. Space Phys. 1, 177–209.
Haubrich, R. and McCamy, K.: 1969. ‘Microseisms: Coastal and Pelagic Sources’, Rev. Geophys. Space Phys 7, 539–572.
Hessler, R. R. and Jumars, P. R.: 1974. ‘Abyssal Community Analysis from Replicate Box Cores in the Central North Pacific’. Deep Sea Res. 21, 185–209.
Idyll, C. P.: 1971, Abyss. The Deep Sea and the Creatures That Live in it, Thomas Y. Crowell Co., New York.
Isaacs, J. D. and Schwartzlose, R. A.: 1975, ‘Active Animals of the Deep Sea Floor’, Sci. Am. 223. 84–91.
Latham, G. V., Donoho, P., Griffiths, K., Roberts, A., and Ibrahim, A. K.: 1978, ‘The Texas Occan-bottom Seismograph’, Proc. 10th Offshore Technol. Conf., Houston, Texas, 1467–1476.
Lawton, J., Frohlich, C., Latham, G. V., and Pulpan, H.: 1981. ‘Earthquake Activity at the Kodiak Continental Shelf. Alaska, Determined by Land and Ocean Bottom Seismograph Networks’, submitted to Bull. Seismol. Soc. Amer.
Lewis, B. T. R. and Garmany, J. D.: 1980, ‘Instrumental Waveform Distortion on Ocean Bottom Seismometers’, in Lopez Island Ocean Bottom Seismometer Intercomparison Experiment—Final Report. Hawaii Institute of Geophysics, Honolulu.
Marshall, N. B.: 1971, Exploration in the Life of Fishes. Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge, Mass.
Phillips, J. D. and McCowan, D. W.: 1978. ‘Ocean Bottom Scismometers for Research: A Reassessment’, Lincoln Laboratory Technical Note 1978-40, Lexington, Massachusetts.
Rind, D.: 1980, ‘Microseisms at Palisades, 3. Microseisms and Microbaroms’, J. Geophys. Res. 85, 4854–4862.
Rind, D. and Donn, W.: 1978. ‘Microseisms at Palisades, I. Source Location and Propogation’, J. Geophys. Res. 83, 1109–1209.
Sebeok, T.: 1979. Animal Communication, Second ed., Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Indiana.
Solomon, S. C., Mattaboni, P. J., and Hester, R. L.: 1977, ‘Microseismicity near the Indian Ocean Triple Junction’, Geophys. Res. Lett 4, 597–600.
Steinmetz, R. L., Donoho, P. L., Murff, J. D., and Latham, G. V.: 1979. ‘Soil Coupling of a Strong Motion Ocean Bottom Seismometer’, Proc. 11th Annual Offshore Technol. Conf., Houston, Texas, 2235–2249.
Steinmetz, R. L., Murff, J. D., Latham, G. V., Roberts, A., Donoho, P., Babb, L., and Eichel, T.: 1981. ‘Seismic Instrumentation of the Kodiak Shelf’, Marine Geotech. 4, 193–221.
Sutton, G., Duennebier, F. K., and Iwatake, B.: 1980a. ‘Coupling of Ocean Bottom Seismometers to Soft Bottoms’, in Lopez Island Ocean Bottom Seismometer Intercomparison Experiment — Final Report. Hawaii Institute of Geophysics, Honolulu.
Sutton, G., Ewing, J., Lewis, B. T. F., Ewing, J., Duennebier, F. K., Iwatake, B., Tuthill, J. D., and others: 1980b. Lopez Island Ocean Bottom Seismometer Intercomparison Experiment—Final Report, Hawaii Institute of Geophysics, Honolulu.
Tavolga, W. N. (ed.): 1964. Marine Bio-Acoustics, Vol. 1. Pergamon Press, Oxford.
Walton Smith, F. G. and Alldridge, N. A. (ed.): 1974. CRC Handbook of Marine Science, Vol. II. CRC Press.
Zelikovitz, S. J. and Prothero, W. A.: 1980. ‘The Vertical Response of an Ocean Bottom Seismometer: Analysis of the Lopez Island Vertical Transient Test’. in Lopez Island Ocean Bottom Seismometer Intercomparison Experiment — Final Report, Hawaii Institute of Geophysics, Honolulu.
Zenkovitch, L.: 1963, Biology of the Seas of the U.S.S.R., Interscience Publishers, New York.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
University of Texas Institute for Geophysics contribution number 468.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Buskirk, R.E., Frohlich, C., Latham, G.V. et al. Evidence that biological activity affects Ocean Bottom Seismograph recordings. Marine Geophysical Researches 5, 189–205 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00163479
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00163479