Patent ID: 8547781

Claim:
Apparatus for interrogating a seabed, comprising: a penetrator ( 20 ) and means ( 70 , 72 ) for installing a part of said penetrator in a vertical hole ( 66 ) in said seabed, said penetrator having a penetrator vertical axis that passes through said vertical hole; a frame ( 28 ) mounted on said penetrator; a plurality of acoustic transducers ( 44 , 46 ) mounted on said frame at locations spaced from said vertical axis, to lie over said seabed, said plurality of transducers being capable of generating acoustic waves towards said seabed and being capable of detecting echoes of acoustic waves that were directed at the seabed; a motor driven mechanism ( 68 , 70 , 72 ) for rotating said frame about said penetrator vertical axis to move said transducers over each of a plurality of primarily horizontally-spaced locations on said seabed.