Abstract
The present paper describes a submarine survey using the acoustic discrimination system QTC VIEW (Series V) as an exploratory tool to adjust final route alignment of a new pipeline. By using acoustic sound survey as an exploratory tool described in this paper to adjust final route alignment of a new pipeline to minimize the environmental impact caused and ultimately to avoid any mitigation measures. The transmission pipeline extended from the shore line of Abu-Qir Bay, on the Mediterranean Sea in Egypt, out to 70 nautical miles at sea (60 m water depth). Four main surface sediment types were defined in the study area, namely fine sand, silty sand, silt and clay. Results of the acoustic classification revealed four acoustic classes. The first acoustic class corresponded to fine sand, absence of shell debris and very poor habitats characteristics. The second acoustic class is predominant in the study area and corresponds to the region occupied by silt. It is also characterized by intermediate diversity of macrobenthic invertebrate community which is mainly characterized by polychaeta. The third acoustic class is characterized by silt to silty clay. It is characterized by a high diversity of macrobenthic invertebrate community which is mainly polychaeta with an intermediate diversity of gastropoda and bivalvia. The final acoustic class is characterized by clay and high occurrence of shell debris of gastropoda, bivalvia and polychaeta.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
AbdelFatah L (2006) Levels of tin in core sediments along the Alexandria Coast, Egypt. Chem Ecol 22:479–488
Abdel-Moati MA (2001) Long-term impact of landbased activities on the coastal waters of Alexandria, Egypt. In: Proceedings of the fifth international conference on the Mediterranean coastal environment, MEDCOAST 01, E. 23, pp 463–474
Aboul-Naga WM, EL-Sayed MA, Deghedy EM (2002) Leachable and residual lead, nickel and cadmium in the sediments of Abu Qir Bay, Alexandria, Egypt. Bull Natl Inst Oceanogr Fish 28:307–317
Anderson JI (2007) Acoustic seabed classification of marine physical and biological landscapes. ICES Co-op Res Rep 2:286
Anderson PG, Fraikin CG, Chandler TJ (1998) Natural gas pipeline crossing of a coldwater stream: impacts and recovery. In: Proceedings of the international pipeline conference
Anderson JT, Gregory RS, Collins WT (2002) Acoustic classification of marine habitates in Coastal New-Foundland. ICES J Mar Sci 59:156–167
Caughey D, Prager B, Klymak J (1994) Sea bottom classification from echo sounding data. Quester tangental coroporation, vol 3S1. Marine Technology Center, British Columbia, p 35
Collins WT, McConnaughey RA (1998) Acoustic classification of the sea floor to address essential fish habitat and marine protected area requirements. Canadian Hydrographic Conference, April 21
Collins W, Hinsen J, Kirsling R (2002) Acoustic seabed classification for the identification of sensitive very shallow water habitat, converging currents. Science, culture and policy at the coast. In: The eighteenth international conference of the coastal society, Galveston Island, Texas, 19th May 2002
Deshmukh I (1986) Ecology and tropical biology. Palo Alto, Blackwell, p 387
Ehrhold A, Hamon D, Guillaumont B (2006) The Rebent monitoring network, a spatially integrated, acoustic approach to surveying nearshore macrobenthic habitats application to the Bay of Concarneau (South Brittany, France). ICES J Mar Sci 63:1604–1615
El Raey M, Fouda Y, Nasr S (1997) GIS assessment of the vulnerability of Rosetta area, Egypt in impacts of sea rise. Environ Monit 47(1):59–77
Ellingsen KE, Gray JS, Bjornbom E (2002) Acoustic classification of seabed habitats using the QTC VIEW system. ICES J Mar Sci 59:825–835
EL-Nemr A, Said TO, Khaled A (2007) The distribution and sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in surface sediments along the Egyptian Mediterranean Coast. Environ Monit Assess 124:343–359
Fahmy MA, Abo Elkhair EM (2007) The role of sediment pore waters in the fertility of Rosetta estuary of river Nile, Egypt. Medcost 3:22
Fishar MR, EL-Haweet A (2005) Diversity and distribution of macrobenthos and fishes in Abu Qir Bay, Alexandria, Egypt. In: Proceedings of the international conference. Florence, Italy, 10–14 November, Firence University Press, Florence, Italy
Folk RL (1974) Petrology and sedimentary rocks. Hemphill, Austin, p 170
Freitas R, Rodrigues AM, Quintino V (2003a) Benthic biotopes remote sensing using acoustics. J Exp Mar Bio Ecol 285:339–353
Freitas R, Silva S, Quintino V, Rodrigues AM, Rhynas K, Collins WT (2003b) Acoustic seabed classification of marine habitats: studies in the western coastal-shelf area of Portugal. ICES J Mar Sci 60:599–608
Frietas R, Sampaio L, Rodrigues AM, Quintino V (2005) Sea-bottom classification across a shallow-water bar channel and near-shore shelf, using single-beam acoustics. J Estuar Coast Shelf Sci 65(4):607–772
Freitas R, Rodrigues AM, Morris E, Llorens JL, Quintino V (2008) Single beam acoustic ground discrimination of shallow water habitats: 50 kHz or 200 kHz frequency survey. Estuar Coast Shelf Sci 78:613–622
Frihy OE, Kh Dewidar, ElRaey M (1996) Evaluation of coastal problems at Alexandria, Egypt. Ocean Coast Manag 30:281–295
Greater Golden Horseshoe Area Conservation Authorities (GGHACAs) (2006) Erosion and sediment control guidelines for urban construction, vol 4, pp 10–26
Hamilton LJ, Mulhearn PJ, Poeckert R (1999) Comparison of RoxAnn and QTC-View acoustic bottom classification system performance for the Cairns area, Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Cont Shelf Res 19:1577–1597
Hewit JE, Thrush SF, Legendre P, Funnel GA, Ellis J, Morrison M (2004) Mapping of marine soft sediment communities, integrated sampling for ecological interpretation. Ecol Appl 14:1203–1216
Hutin E, Simrad Y, Archambault P (2005) Acoustic detection of a scallop bed from a single beam echosounder in the St Lawrence. ICES J Mar Sci 62:966–983
Kenny AJ, Cato I, Desprez M, Fader G, Schuttenhelm RTE, Side J (2003) An overview of seabed-mapping technologies in the context of marine habitat classification. ICES J Mar Sci 60:411–418
Kostylev VE, Courtney RC, Robert G, Todd B (2003) Stock evaluation of giant scallop using high-resolution acoustic for seabed mapping. Fish Res 60(2–3):479–492
Legendre P, Ellingsen KE, Bjorbom E, Casgrain P (2002) Acoustic seabed classification: improved statistical method. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 59:1085–1089
Nasr S, ELRaey M, ELShenawy M, Okbah M, Abulsoeud A, El-Hattab, M, Abdel Khalik M (2004) Assessment of water quality of Abu Qir Bay along the Mediterranean coast of Egypt. Paper submitted to EARSEL symposium at Dubrovnik, 2004
Preston JM (2004) Resampling sonar echo time series primarily for seabed sediment classification. United States Patent and Trademark Office, Patent Number US 6:801.474 B2-12
Preston J, Inouchi Y, Shioya F (2006) Acoustic classification of submerged aquatic vegetation. In: Jesus SM, Rodríguez OC (eds) Proceedings of the eighth european conference on underwater acoustics, ECUA 2006, CINTAL, Carvoeiro, Portugal, 6, 2006
Quintino V, Freitas R, Mamede R, Ricardo F, Rodrigues AM, Mota J, Ruzafa P, Marcos C (2010) Remote sensing of underwater vegetation using single-beam acoustics. ICES J Mar Sci 67(3):594–605
Riegl BM, Purkis SJ (2005) Detection of shallow subtidal corals from IKONOS satellite and QTC View (50, 200 kHz) single-beam sonar data (Arabian Gulf; Dubai, UAE). Remote Sensing Environ 95(1):96–114
Riegl BM, Moyer RP, Morris LJ, Virnstein RW, Purkis SJ (2005) Distribution and seasonal biomass of drift macroalgae in the Indian River Lagoon (Florida, USA) estimated with acoustic seafloor classification (QTCView, Echoplus). J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 326:89–104
Riegl BM, Halfar J, Purkis SJ, Godinez-Orta L (2007) Sedimentary facies of the eastern Pacific’s northernmost reef-like setting (Cabo Pulmo, Mexico). J Mar Geol 236(1–2):61–77
Self RFL, AHearn P, Jumars PA, Jackson DR, Richardson MD, Briggs KB (2001) Effects of macrofauna on acoustic backscatter from the seabed: field manipulations in West Sound, Orcas Island, Washington, USA. J Mar Res 59:991–1020
Smith GF, Bruce DG, Roach EB (2001) Remote acoustic habitat assessment techniques used to characterize the quality and extent of oyster bottom in the Chesapeake Bay. J Mar Geodesy 24:171–189
Stanley DJ, Warne AG (1998) Nile Delta in its destruction phase. J Coastal Res 14:794–825
Stanley DJ, Goddio F, Schnepp G (2004) Submergence of ancient greek cities off Egypt’s Nile Delta-acautionary tale. GSA Today 4:10
Wienberg C, Bartholomä A (2005) Acoustic seabed classification in a coastal environment (outer Weser estuary, German Bight)–a new approach to monitor dredging and dredge spoil disposal. Cont Shelf Sci 25:1143–1156
Young RJ, MacKie GL (1990) Effect of oil pipeline construction on the benthic macroinvertebrate community structure of Hodgson Creek. Can J Zool 69:2154–2160
Zakaria HY (2007) Zooplankton abundance and biomass in the coastal waters of Alexandria, Egypt. Medcost 1:23–31
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to express my appreciation to Prof. Dr. M. B. Awad for support and help with this study. Moreover, we thank Prof. Dr M Rycroft and the referee for their efforts.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hamouda, A.Z., Abdel-Salam, K.M. Estuarine Habitat Assessment for Construction of a Submarine Transmission Line. Surv Geophys 31, 449–463 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10712-010-9099-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10712-010-9099-6