A study of marine sediments in three major environments of the North Pacific: the continental terrace (shelf and slope), abyssal plain (turbidite), and abyssal hill (pelagic). Laboratory values of the mass physical properties of the sediments (e.g., sound velocity, density, porosity, grain size, and others) are measured and computed and their empirical relationships and environmental differences are discussed.

The general objectives of this investigation were to determine and study those characteristics of the sea floor that affect sound propagation and the prediction of sonar performance; to support underwater acoustics' experiments and theory by furnishing information on the mass physical properties of sediments and rocks in the form of geoacoustic models of the sea floor; and to develop models of the sea floor which include gradients of sound velocity and attenuation, density, and elastic properties. Specifically, the minor objectives were to revise and review earlier work on the relations between frequency and attenuation of compressional (sound) waves in marine sediments and on the relations between attenuation and sediment porosity. The major objectives were to determine and predict variations of the attenuation of sound waves with depth in the sea floor.

The phenomenon of sound transmissions through marine sediments is of extreme interest to both the United States civilian and Navy research communities. Both communities have conducted research within the field of this phenomenon approaching it from different perspectives. The academic research community has approached it as a technique for studying sedimentary and crustal structures of the ocean basins. The Navy research community has approached it as an additional variable in the predictability of sound trans mission through oceanic waters. In order to join these diverse talents, with the principal aim of bringing into sharp focus the state-of-the-science in the problems relating to the behavior of sound in marine sediments, the Office of Naval Research organized and sponsored an invited symposium on this subject. The papers published in this volume are the results of this symposium and mark the frontiers in the state-of-the-art. The symposia series were based on five research areas identified by ONR as being particularly suitable for critical review and for the appraisal of future research trends. These areas include: 1. Physics of Sound in Marine Sediments, 2. Physical and Engineering Properties of Deep-Sea Sediments, 3. The Role of Bottom Currents in Sea Floor Geological Processes, 4. Nephelometry and the Optical Properties of the Ocean I'laters, S. Natural Gases in Marine Sediments and Their Mode of Distribution. These five areas also form some of the research priorities of the ONR program in Marine Geology and Geophysics.

In situ measurements were made of the velocity and attenuation of compressional waves and of velocities of Stoneley waves (from which shear-wave velocities were computed) at six stations in the sea floor off San Diego, California. Water depths ranged from 20 to 1130 meters, and sediment types ranged from medium sand to clayey silt. Sediment densities, porosities, and grain sizes were measured in samples taken at each station. The unique data obtained allowed tentative evaluations of models and equations, and computation of constants, for elastic and viscoelastic saturated, porous media. (Author).