An attenuation profile of young uppermost oceanic crust was obtained using ocean bottom seismometers and explosive sources detonated near the ocean bottom. The quality factor (Q) increased from 6 at the sea floor to 50 at a depth of 500 m. The mechanisms of high attenuation obtained in this experiments was inferred by examining several attenuation mechanisms such as frictional dissipation, viscous shear flow, liquid squirt mechanism and scattering by small pores and large cracks. Comparison of the attenuation value in this experiment and those from other experiments was also used to clarify the mechanism of the high attenuation. Of those mechanisms mentioned above, frictional dissipation, viscous shear flow and scattering do not seem to be the cause of the high attenuation in the uppermost oceanic crust where many small pores and large scale cracks are developed. The most viable mechanism in the young uppermost oceanic crust seems to be liquid squirt mechanism.

• Heeok Jung