In contrast to the well-studied Sendai and Ishinomaki regions, few geological studies have described tsunami deposits along the Sanriku coast.
Human underwater activities, particularly geological studies that are a routine part of oil exploration, can be extremely noisy.
Recent geological studies suggest that an avalanche of sand released by a brief but heavy rainfall buried the foes alive.
The mission will not be NASA's first effort to do geological studies by smashing robotic probes into distant bodies.
"If you look at the geological studies as to where natural gas is, a lot of it is under public lands in the West.
Beside testing for signs of water and making geological studies, the rover will send back detailed color and infrared pictures of the surface.
Last week, however, Ays¸e Köksal, a vice-president at the Turkish company Petoil, said that her firm already had teams doing geological studies in the region.
"We can say that is a great technical and technological achievement," said Leopold I. Lobkovsky, deputy director of geological studies at the P. P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology here, which provided a research vessel for the expedition.
Changes in the environment too, however, have a key role to play in waking the giant, as growing numbers of geological studies targeting our post-ice age world have disclosed.
Our result is consistent with geological studies.
The geological studies include field and laboratory investigations.
