Archive of Digitized Analog Boomer and Minisparker Seismic Reflection Data Collected from the Northern Gulf of Mexico: 1981, 1990 and 1991

Abstract

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Coastal and Marine Geology Program has actively collected geophysical and sedimentological data in the northern Gulf of Mexico for several decades, including shallow subsurface data in the form of high-resolution seismic reflection profiles (HRSP). Prior to the mid-1990s most HRSP data were collected in analog format as paper rolls of continuous profiles up to 25 meters long. As part of the National Geological and Geophysical Data Preservation Program (https://datapreservation.usgs.gov/), and in collaboration with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Marine Minerals Program, scientists at the USGS St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center were converting the analog paper records to digital format using a large-format continuous scanner. The image files created by scanning were further processed to fix distortions and crop out blank spaces to create industry standard Society of Exploration Geophysicists date exchange (SEG-Y) format. This data release serves as an archive of HRSP profiles annotated with header information, converted SEG-Y files, navigation data, and cruise trackline shapefiles. The HRSP data were collected using a minisparker/hydrophone system onboard the research vessel Gyre and a Huntec boomer seismic system onboard research vessels (R/V) Carancahua and Kit Jones. Data collection dates and locations varied between surveys: (1) R/V Carancahua (legs 1 and 2) surveys were conducted July 1–15, 1981, within Chandeleur and Mississippi Sounds, (2) the R/V Gyre 81-6 cruise occurred April 9–23, 1981, in the Gulf of Mexico (south of Mississippi and east of Louisiana), (3) R/V Kit Jones 90 (legs 1 and 2) data were acquired from Mississippi Sound and the Gulf of Mexico (south of Mississippi and Alabama) June 21–27, 1990, and (4) R/V Kit Jones 91-2 HRSP data came from Mississippi Sound (south of Alabama) and the Gulf of Mexico (south of Alabama and Florida) from July 10 to 11 and July 21–27, 1991. Data collection and processing methods are described in USGS Data Series 1047.