The phenomenon of sound transmissions through marine sediments is of
extreme interest to both the United States civilian and Navy research
communities. Both communities have conducted research within the field
of this phenomenon approaching it from different perspectives. The
academic research community has approached it as a technique for
studying sedimentary and crustal structures of the ocean basins. The
Navy research community has approached it as an additional variable in
the predictability of sound trans- mission through oceanic waters. In
order to join these diverse talents, with the principal aim of bringing
into sharp focus the state-of-the-science in the problems relating to
the behavior of sound in marine sediments, the Office of Naval Research
organized and sponsored an invited symposium on this subject. The papers
published in this volume are the results of this symposium and mark the
frontiers in the state-of-the-art. The symposia series were based on
five research areas identified by ONR as being particularly suitable for
critical review and for the appraisal of future research trends. These
areas include: 1. Physics of Sound in Marine Sediments, 2. Physical and
Engineering Properties of Deep-Sea Sediments, 3. The Role of Bottom
Currents in Sea Floor Geological Processes, 4. Nephelometry and the
Optical Properties of the Ocean I'laters, S. Natural Gases in Marine
Sediments and Their Mode of Distribution. These five areas also form
some of the research priorities of the ONR program in Marine Geology and
Geophysics.