Side‐scan sonar along the north wall of the Hess Deep Rift: Processing, texture analysis, and geologic ground truth on an oceanic escarpment

Side‐scan sonar data collected along the steep, faulted north wall of the Hess Deep Rift provide images of a cross section of the upper oceanic crust. These data are integrated with ground truth from the submersible Alvin and the Argo II remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to evaluate faulting and mass wasting associated with the opening of the rift and to help trace geologic contacts between widely spaced dives and ROV surveys. Initial shipboard and subsequently processed data show excellent backscatter returns with well‐imaged textures and distinctive patterns corresponding to specific rock units and surficial deposits. Four backscatter textures are widely developed and found to correspond to outcrops of basaltic lavas, outcrops of sheeted dikes and gabbroic rocks, surficial talus and rubble deposits, and pelagic sedimentary material. Using test areas identified by Alvin dives, the side‐scan sonar data were processed to automatically classify the backscatter returns in terms of major rock units. The resultant processed image is used for further manual and computer‐aided classification of the scarp geology. These techniques are evaluated for mapping the geology in rugged terrains similar to the steep walls of Hess Deep Rift.