Geotechnical studies

The Department of Marine Geology and Geophysics of the Institute of Oceanography has been performing geophysical and geotechnical surveys mainly focusing on the following activities: (1) determination of the optimum routes for the installation of submarine cables and pipelines; (2) investigation for the safe and sustainable deployment of artificial reefs; (3) assessment of marine aggregate resources; (4) investigation for the safe and sustainable deployment of offshore wind farms; (5) evaluation of submarine groundwater discharges.

In addition, the Department of Marine Geology and Geophysics provides services for (i) the assessment of the live storage capacity and sustainability of artificial freshwater reservoirs affected by sedimentation, using a variety of bathymetric, seismic-reflection profiling and side-scan imagery techniques, (ii) the assessment of the quality of dredged material and long-term monitoring of its offshore placement site and (iii) the investigation of severe coastal erosion issues and provision of the appropriate solutions.

The Department of Marine Geology and Geophysics operates a well-equipped modern laboratory for the measurement and analysis of a series of fundamental geotechnical properties of marine surface and sub-surface sediments, collected with a variety of samplers (gravity cores, box cores, grabs).