Archive of Digitized Analog Boomer Seismic Reflection Data Collected during USGS Cruise USFHC in Mississippi Sound and Bay St. Louis, September 1989

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Coastal and Marine Geology Program has actively collected geophysical and sedimentological data in the northern Gulf of Mexico for several decades, including shallow subsurface data in the form of high-resolution seismic reflection profiles (HRSP). Prior to the mid-1990s most HRSP data were collected in analog format as paper rolls of continuous profiles up to 25 meters long. As part of the National Geological and Geophysical Data Preservation Program (NGGDPP, https://datapreservation.usgs.gov/), and in collaboration with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Marine Minerals Program, scientists at the USGS St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center are converting the analog paper records to digital format using a large-format continuous scanner. The scanned images were subsequently processed to fix distortions and crop out blank spaces prior to exporting as industry standard Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG-Y) formatted files.

This data release serves as an archive of HRSP profiles annotated with header information, converted SEG-Y files, navigation data, cruise trackline files, logbooks, as well as annotated/core location maps. The HRSP data were collected using a Huntec boomer seismic system onboard the Research Vessel (R/V) Ecoli. Geophysical surveys were conducted in collaboration with the University of South Florida (USF) between September 13 and 19, 1989. Data were acquired within Bay St. Louis and the adjacent Mississippi Sound offshore of Hancock County, Mississippi. Data collection and processing methods are described in USGS Data Series 1047 (https://doi.org/10.3133/ds1047).