Regional Assessment of Deep Water Seabed Geohazards for Oil Spill Prevention

A deep water (100 to 1500 m), continental slope-focused field program was carried out over four years, covering the eastern, central and finally, the western Beaufort Sea regions during survey expeditions in 2011, the western Beaufort in 2012, and 2014. This was supported through the BREA program (Beaufort Regional Environmental Assessment) with funds from AANDC (Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development). Research activities were conducted in collaboration with ArcticNet, the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC), Imperial Oil, and British Petroleum and Chevron Canada. The primary survey platform was CCGS Amundsen. Supplementary datasets from these collaborators contributed to survey concepts and specific targets but are not part of the BREA dataset. An amalgamation of all the continental slope-related data (from and including 2009) are included in the dataset. Data generated through these activities included multibeam (ca. 9500 square km at 50 m resolution) and sub-bottom profiler sonars (nearly 41 000 km) and seabed sediment cores to investigate deep water geohazards through geotechnical, stratigraphic, age-dating, and interpretations of geo-features and processes related to sediment instability. These data continue to be a primary dataset for GSC (Geological Survey of Canada) scientists to enable their present focus on assessment of seabed instability.