Example of a plate showing a seismic profile from the PEGUY campaign in area of interest No. 6 (top) and its interpretation (extract from report RP-73266-FR - Paquet et al., 2024).
© BRGM
The need
In French Guiana, planning documents have, since the 2000s, pointed out a lack of scientific knowledge of the potential for offshore marine aggregate resources in this region. This need for an inventory was reiterated in 2012 in the report on the revision of the quarry plan for the département. It is in this context that the water and biodiversity directorate (DEB - Direction de l'Eau et de la Biodiversité) wished to support the work carried out by BRGM and the Université Bretagne Sud (UBS) to analyse the seismic data acquired during two exploratory campaigns on the continental shelf of French Guiana carried out in 2021 (Gensac, 2021; Paquet, 2021). This survey to acquire knowledge about the availability of the resource is included in the strategic document for French Guiana's maritime basin, officially approved on 18 January 2024.
The results
The work of interpreting and exploiting the results was carried out jointly by BRGM and UBS in 2023:
- Interpretation of the newly acquired seismic data, cross-matched with existing data on the continental shelf, has confirmed that there are sedimentary bodies (dunes, palaeovalleys) whose seismic characteristics are compatible with the presence of sands;
- 9 areas of interest were thus identified across the shelf and were the subject of a preliminary multi-criteria classification, making it possible to identify the priority sectors to be targeted for further exploration;
- All the work and results of the study were published in a report coordinated by BRGM (Paquet et al., 2024).
The oceanographic vessel Antéa, part of the French Oceanographic Fleet, during the PEGUY campaign (French Guiana, 2021).
© BRGM - F. Paquet
Using the results
The results of this study are encouraging and confirm that further exploration for marine aggregates on the Guiana shelf is feasible and necessary to better characterise the extraction potential. BRGM and the Université de Bretagne Sud therefore recommend that one or more marine geoscience campaigns be carried out in the future on different sectors of the continental shelf, in order to determine whether it would be appropriate to develop an extractive industry.
The partners
- Université de Bretagne Sud/UMR 6538 LGO
- DGALN / DEB / EARM
