Seafloor micro-roughness, benthic macro-fauna, and sediment substrate: A study of their interrelationship using high-frequency echo-sounding systems

Abstract

The spatial variability of sediment geoacoustic inversion results, derived from dual-frequency single-beam (SBES) and multi-beam echosounder system (MBES) operable at 33/210 kHz and 95 kHz, respectively, have been analyzed to demonstrate the interrelationship among the sediment texture and benthic macro-fauna abundance The correlationship among the derived acoustical and biological parameters was identified from the spatial map generated using ArcGIS and validated by applying Principal component analyses (PCA) Distinct interclass separation of the sediment provinces is revealed by the spatial variability in the computed inversion results, demonstrating a strong correlation with the backscatter and biologically active faunal functional group assemblages on the seafloor The results obtained are indicative of bioturbation by benthic animals, resulting in variability in the data that should be taken into account to optimize the model-data matching procedure during inversion.