Status quo and prospect in acoustic detection technology for submarine cobalt-rich crust exploration

Cobalt-rich crusts are one of the deep-sea mineral resources with great potential, and have become an important target of exploration in the world. Acoustic detection technology has been widely used to search for cobalt-rich crust resources due to its unique advantages in large-area survey and local continuous fine exploration. The distribution characteristics of cobalt-rich crusts are summarized, the traditional exploration methods are commented, the application status of acoustic detection technologies such as multi-beam system, side-scan sonar, sub-bottom profiler probe are reviewed, and in-situ high-frequency thickness measurement in the exploration of cobalt-rich crusts is introduced. In addition, the status quo in research and development in this regard in China and other countries of the world are compared, and three suggestions on future demand of cobalt-rich crusts exploration are proposed: to develop integrated acoustic detection technology to realize comprehensive measurement of seafloor characteristics, to make comprehensive use of deep-sea submersible to achieve high-precision near seabed exploration, and to deeply integrate the Big Data and artificial intelligence technology to obtain intelligent processing of massive acoustic data.