Best Practice 27 July 2021

SABP-A-215
Selecting Grab Sample Location in Site Specific Survey
Document Responsibility: Geomatics Standards Committee

Previous Revision: None Next Revision: 27 July 2024

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 Document Responsibility: Geomatics Standards Management Committee SABP-A-215
Issue Date: 27 July 2021
Next Revision: 27 July 2024 Selecting Grab Sample Location in Site Specific Survey

Contents
Summary of Changes (New Document) .....................................................................................3
Scope ....................................................................................................................................4
Conflicts and Deviations ........................................................................................................4
References ............................................................................................................................4
Saudi Aramco References 4
Industry Codes and Standards 4
Terminology ..........................................................................................................................4
Acronyms 4
Definitions 4
Collecting Grab Samples.......................................................................................................5
When to collect grab samples 5
Selecting location of grab samples 5
Document History .......................................................................................................................7

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 Document Responsibility: Geomatics Standards Management Committee SABP-A-215
Issue Date: 27 July 2021
Next Revision: 27 July 2024 Selecting Grab Sample Location in Site Specific Survey

Summary of Changes (New Document)

Paragraph Number
Change Type
Previous Revision
Technical Change(s)
Current Revision (Addition, Modification, Deletion)
(N/A) (27 July 2021)

N/A N/A N/A N/A

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 Document Responsibility: Geomatics Standards Management Committee SABP-A-215
Issue Date: 27 July 2021
Next Revision: 27 July 2024 Selecting Grab Sample Location in Site Specific Survey

Scope
This best practice document provides guidelines on selecting best locations for grab
samples in Site Specific survey to conduct the best ground truthing of the geophysical
record.
Conflicts and Deviations
If there is a conflict between this Best Practice and any Mandatory Saudi Aramco
Engineering Requirements (MSAERs), the mandatory document shall take the
precedence. Other conflicts shall be addressed in writing to the EK&RD Coordinator.
References
Saudi Aramco References
Saudi Aramco Hydrographic Survey Operating Standards (SAHSOS)
Industry Codes and Standards
Guidelines for the conduct of offshore drilling hazard site surveys, International
Association of Oil and Gas producers, report 373-18-1, October 2017.
Terminology
Acronyms
SSS: Side Scan Sonar
MB: Multi-Beam Echosounder
SB: Sub-bottom Profiler
Definitions
Site Specific Survey: Geohazard survey is conducted to obtain infromation about an
offshore site’s seabed and subseabed layers to determine the presence of hazards to
drilling equipment or structure installation.
Grab sample: a sample of the seabed that is obtained by deploying a grabbing device
from the survey vessel to the seabed where it grabs some sediment sample of the
seabed and pulls it back to the ship where it is analyzed.
Ground truthing: corelate geotechnical data with the mapped-out layers in the seismic
record.
Sub-seabed sediments: layers of sediments that were deposited over long periods of
time that forms the seabed and the sedimentary layers beneath it.
Tie-line: Survey line to collect bathymetry and shallow seismic between the survey area
and a nearby borehole.
Pockmarks: Pockmarks are depressions in the seafloor that are either elongated or
circular with a crater and a cone of sediments around them.

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 Document Responsibility: Geomatics Standards Management Committee SABP-A-215
Issue Date: 27 July 2021
Next Revision: 27 July 2024 Selecting Grab Sample Location in Site Specific Survey

Collecting Grab Samples

When to collect grab samples
Grab samples are considered secondary to borehole data so they are only collected when
it is not possible to use boreholes because:
- Borehole location is farther than 2 nautical miles from survey location
- Borehole is obtained from a location with water depth that is significantly deeper
than the survey location
- Tie-line shows that the seabed sediments at the survey location do not correlate
with the sediments at the borehole location.
- A unique feature is present within the survey location that warrants sampling
In such cases grab samples are collected to provide ground truthing.

Figure 1: grab sample of silty and sandy sediments collected from the Arabian Gulf

Figure 2: Van-Veen Type sampler used to collecte samples from the seabed.
Selecting location of grab samples
The main objective of collecting grab samples is to determine the seabed sediment
properties at the proposed location and to analyze the consistency of those properties
over the survey area. It is mandatory to collect a grab sample at the center of the survey
area. Typically, two more grab samples are collected within the survey area however

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 Document Responsibility: Geomatics Standards Management Committee SABP-A-215
Issue Date: 27 July 2021
Next Revision: 27 July 2024 Selecting Grab Sample Location in Site Specific Survey

more grab samples may be collected if there is a lot of diversity in the seabed sediments
or if there are additional areas of interest to collect grab samples from.
The default criteria for selecting the location for additional grab samples
- Typically, if the seabed is sloping grab samples are collected from the
shallowest location within the survey area and from the deepest location.
This provide the best chance to categorize any variation of the seabed
sediments.
- If the seabed is flat with no areas of interest then grab samples can be
collected spread apart and far away from the proposed location.
Tools to determine grab sample locations
- There are many tools at the geophysicist disposal that can be used to
determine areas of interest within the survey area to collect grab samples
from. These tools comprise of:
- MB data: Bathymetry obtained from multibeam echosounder can reveal
the topography of the seabed
- SSS data: can provide the reflective characteristics of the seabed such as
high reflectivity and low reflectivity sediments and also soft and hard
sediment such as clayey or rocky seabed in addition to features on the
seabed such as ridges.
- SB profiler data: this is the best tool to determine the layout of the sub-
seabed sedimentary layers which complement the data provided by the
other mentioned tools by showing the underlying sedimentary layers
structure.
Areas of interest grab sample collection:
- Outcrops: SB profiler data can reveal where deeper sediments are
exposed at the seabed making them a prime target for grab sampling to
study their properties.
- Rocky seabed: SSS and MB echosounder data might reveal that a section
of the seabed is rocky, lithified, in this case it is a good target for grab
sample. Note that unsuccessful grab sample from such area indicate hard
seabed.
- Pockmarks: MB, SSS and SB data can reveal the existence of pockmarks.
Pockmarks can be a prime target for grab samples when they are
suspected of being active in this case gas odor might be detected in the
grab sample. Also, pockmarks with large con area can extrude deeper
sediments and deposit them on the seabed which makes them available
for examination.
- Possible Gas: SB data can reveal location with shallow gas deposits
which is a very important location for grab sample that needs to be

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 Document Responsibility: Geomatics Standards Management Committee SABP-A-215
Issue Date: 27 July 2021
Next Revision: 27 July 2024 Selecting Grab Sample Location in Site Specific Survey

collected to test for gas odor which confirms the presence of gas and also
determine if the location is hazardous for operations or not.
- Reefs: SB and MB data can reveal the presence of reefs. when a reef
feature is suspected within the survey area it is good to obtain a sample
from it to corelate with the seismic record and determine sediments
hardness.
- Gullies: MB can reveal the presence of gullies. Channel like deep areas
that have formed by erosion processes that are either still active or
historic. This area is a good target for grab samples because it is a
depression that can either excavate different sedimentary layers than the
seabed or deposit different sediments than the rest of the site.
- Ridges: MB data can reveal the presence of ridges. Can typically
compromise of harder erosion resistant sediments that can be different
from the rest of the site.
- Mounds: MB data can reveal the presence of mounds. the shallowing in
the seabed depth over mounds can provide variation in seabed
sediments.
Document History
27 July 2021 New Saudi Aramco Best Practice

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