Penetrometer system for measuring in situ properties of marine sediment

Increased knowledge about ocean bottom sediments is being sought for many purposes. A free-fall terrestrial penetrometer developed by Sandia Laboratories over the past 14 years is being adapted as a low-cost system to gather such in situ information as sediment shear strength, pore water pressures, densities, heat flow, soil types, penetrability, acoustic properties, etc. Either a hard wire or an acoustic data transmission link connects the instrumentation in the buried penetrometer to a surface recording/telemetry unit. Earlier versions of this system have successfully penetrated to depths up to 16.4 feet (5 m) in Gulf of Mexico sediments.