Marine EM Surveys on Coastal Shelf and Transition Zones

Abstract

Seabed EM surveys in shallow water environments have a number of specific particularities. Specifically, there is difficulty with hermetical sealing of EM instruments and the necessity of overcoming electromagnetic noise caused by underwater currents and sea surface disturbances. Another problem is the inability to employ large ocean going vessels in many areas, while the use of small vessels increases the demands on the size and weight of the equipment. There are also certain positive aspects in this, pertaining to the ability to use reliable acoustic communication between the marine EM instrument positioned on the seabed and the sea surface, as well as the use of beacons for identifying the location of the bottom apparatus. In this paper, discussed is a shallow marine EM data acquisition equipment complex that allows efficient use of standard ground EM instruments for carrying out investigations at a sea depth interval of 0-200m. This complex consists of 2x - 4x - 5-channel marine EM systems.