Design and Experimental Study of a Novel Full-ocean-depth Pressure-retaining Sediment Sampler

Abstract

AbstractDeep-sea sediments hold evolutionary records of the oceanic environment, records of great significance for scientific fields investigating marine sedimentary processes, structural evolution, and seabed mineral resource exploration. However, the acquisition of original samples from deep-sea sediments is completely dependent on advanced seabed sediment collection methods and technical equipment. In this paper, a novel sampler is proposed to obtain intact sediment samples at full-ocean-depth. It mainly consists of a sampling device, pressure-retaining device, pressure-compensating device and sample transfer device. The sampler can collect samples at full-ocean-depth (11,000 m) with a maximum core diameter of 54 mm and core length of 350 mm, and samples can be maintained at near in situ pressures during recovery. The sampler can be installed on a remote operated vehicle (ROV) or human occupied vehicle (HOV), and operated with a single mechanical arm to collect pressure-retained samples. The experimental test showed that the novel sampler had good pressure-retaining performance and suitability with a mechanical arm, and can be applied to pressure-retaining sampling of seabed sediments at depth of 11,000 m.