The first map of the sea bed morphology and sedimentary features within the RMS Titanic search area is proposed from the interpretation of SAR side-scan sonar images. Oownslope sedimentary features such as erosional furrows and crown scarps constitute a 7 km wide instability corridor. A large field (15 km 2) of asymmetrical sediment waves indicating a downslope transport is idenlifted. Current-induced features corresponding to associated sand ribbons and barchan dunes resulting from the Western Boundary Undercurrent action are mapped. The morphology of the Titanic Canyon is also preeised from the SAg images. Finally, the origin ~)f the sea bed features is discussed in an attempt to link each bed form to a sedimentary process.
The RMS Titanic was tragicaly lost after collision with an iceberg during the night of the 14th and sank the 15th of April 1912. A FrenchAmerican team discovered her the 1st of September 1985 lying on the sea floor at a depth of 3800 meters. The two years of preparation are briefly described and followed by the description of the search and survey expedition from July to September 1985. The subsea systems used for this expedition were the towed sonar SAR of IFREMER and the towed optical vehicles ARGO and ANGUS of WHOI (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution). For the first time, SAR and ARGO systems were used intensively in 85. Since then, they have been largely used for scientific missions. New deep sea explorations tools have also been developed since 85 which contribute to push the limits of the knowledge of our subsea environment.
Systematic exploration missions are the predilection domain for unmanned untethered undersea system. EPAULARD operational since 81 was conceived mainly for deep sea nodules exploration.As number of records increases, EPAULARD is pioneering some autonomous vehicles applications in marine biology and geology, in wreck search and inspection.Those missions require a high quality in deep sea systematic photographic imaging and micro-bathymetry on predetermined areas.Potential development of unmanned untethered systems will be confirmed providing that new technologies become mature giving to those systems more autonomy.
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