A Remotely Controlled Incremental Seafloor Corer.

摘要

A bottom-resting corer has been designed that can be remotely operated from a control console located aboard a support vessel; the corer can obtain relatively undisturbed samples of the complete sediment profile to 50 feet (15 m) in water depths to 6,000 feet (1,830 m). The corer is 10 feet wide by 13 feet long (24 feet wide by 27 feet long with bearing pads extended) by 17 feet high, and weighs 26,500 pounds when submerged in seawater (30,200 pounds in air). It is operated via a combined load/power/telemetry (electromechanical) cable to take core samples from the same hole in the sediment profile in ten increments, each sample of which is 3 inches in diameter and 5 feet long. The corer is completely self-contained, including core barrels and drill pipes necessary for sampling to 50 feet. The corer has not been evaluated at sea. Sufficient land tests have been performed to suggest that the mechanical design is functional. Problems still exist in the system, but most of these appear to be correctable and of a nondevelopmental nature. (Author)