EXPLORATION METHOD OF UNDISCOVERED SEA-FLOOR HYDROTHERMAL DEPOSIT AND EXPLORATION SYSTEM OF UNDISCOVERED SEA-FLOOR HYDROTHERMAL DEPOSIT

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To efficiently specify a position of sea-floor hydrothermal deposit present in the seabed.;SOLUTION: A sound tomography device 10 is used for observing change of seawater density based on information of transmission and reception of sound among two or more places of the seabed, a region where the change of seawater density produces is specified using the sound tomography device 10, it is estimated that a hydrothermal plume 42 is present in the region, an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) 30 is moved to the region, the state of sea water is measured using the autonomous underwater vehicle 30, the hydrothermal plume 42 flowing from the sea-floor hydrothermal deposit 40 is detected based on the measurement results, a region where the hydrothermal plume 42 is detected is determined as a position of the sea-floor hydrothermal deposit 40. According to such a method, the sea-floor hydrothermal deposit can be efficiently explored, which allows, for example, the reduction in profit margin costs when metal resources of the sea-floor hydrothermal deposit are used.;COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT