5. Consolidation characteristics (soil mechanics 

 test). 



6. Sediment solid constituents. 



a. Minerals. 



b. Biological. 



c. Organic. 



7. Rate of sediment accumulation. 

 8= Sound-speed measurements. 



a. Speed of compressional wave. 



b. Speed of shear wave. 



9. Attenuation of sound (50 c/s to 10 kc/s). 



10. Computations or measurements of elastic 

 properties including compressibility, shear modulus, 

 Young's Modulus, Lame's Constant, Poisson's Ratio. 



11. Bottom-water characteristics including: 

 pressure, temperature, salinity, sound speed, density. 



12. Sediment surface roughness and uniformity 

 on a microscale; animals, rocks and minerals littering 

 sediment surface (as seen by lowered camera, or by eye 

 and camera from submersible); animal- population counts 

 and degree of surface disturbance by bottom dwellers. 



13. Overburden pressures with depth in the 

 sediment. 



14. Temperature gradient within the sediment. 



46 



