work plan is the mobilization-demobilization of the various equipment compo- 

 nents. To mobilize the seismic vessel, a port or another appropriate docking 

 facility should be selected which can adequately accommodate the survey ves- 

 sel and also provide accessibility for loading and offloading equipment from 

 motor vehicles. An attempt should also be made to procure a survey vessel 

 with its port of origin near the survey area. This will minimize the cost for 

 vessel mobilization. If the survey will be conducted over a considerable 

 stretch of coastline, an inquiry should be made of the ports within the survey 

 area which can accommodate the survey vessel for overnight berthing. Depend- 

 ing on the progress of the survey, the port should be nearest the survey oper- 

 ations for the next workday to minimize time in getting from port to the 

 survey area. 



When the seismic data collection operations are completed, a port should 

 be selected which will allow demobilization of the seismic survey vessel and 

 mobilization of the coring platform. As with the seismic survey vessel, the 

 coring platform should be procured with its port of origin near the survey 

 area and port of mobilization. During the coring operations most of the work- 

 time is in the running time of the coring platform from one core site to 

 another rather than in actual core collection. Therefore, a platform with a 

 higher running speed (10 knots or 18.3 kilometers per hour or better) would 

 make the operation more cost-effective. Arrangements should also be made for 

 transporting the cores to a laboratory for sampling, analysis, and subsequent 

 storage. 



A tentative daily work schedule should be developed for the field data 

 collection operations. Allowances for adverse weather and equipment downtime 

 should be included in the schedule. The survey should be conducted during op- 

 timum sea-state and weather conditions for the specific area. This information 

 (frequency of storms and wave information) is available from the local office 

 of the National Weather Service. Developing a work schedule not only coordi- 

 nates the data collection but the schedule serves as a useful tool in develop- 

 ing cost estimates and also as a gage for measuring the survey progress.' The 

 number of days required for fieldwork must be estimated in the schedule. Gen- 

 eral guidelines for estimating the number of days required to complete the 

 field data collection based on a 10-hour workday are listed in the Table. 

 This table may also be used to develop U.S. Government cost estimates. 



Appendix B gives an example cost estimate developed for a theoretical sur- 

 vey to be conducted in Lake Erie from the New York-Pennsylvania border west to 

 Toledo, Ohio. The survey requires collecting 700 trackline miles (1,120 

 kilometers) of seismic and side-scan data and 150 cores. The cost estimate is 

 based on a 60-hour workweek and does not include the cost for data reduction, 

 data analysis, and report writing. The completed estimate is a valuable tool 

 for deciding whether to use government plant and manpower or to contract parts 

 or all of the survey to nongovernment companies. 



