16 
Part B - Minimum Requirements on geological survey 
4 Objective 
4.1 Geological survey 
Geological survey is used to record the planning area regarding lithological and tectonic 
structures as well as general bedding conditions and assessment of the soil from a geological 
viewpoint. Geophysical profiles must cover the planning area with a regular grid. Changes can 
be made to this if certain circumstances provide sufficient justification to do so (e. g. following 
a channel structure in the subsurface). Alongside geological units, obstacles that have been 
found i.e. wrecks, submarine cables, metal parts and other hazardous objects such as ord 
nance must also be documented if they are not on the navigational chart. 
If differences arise from the findings of the geological survey and the preliminary geotechnical 
investigation during the development and construction phases which render relocation of the 
structures necessary, the new sites must be checked regarding their suitability on the basis of 
additional geophysical records and geotechnical explorations. 
4.2 Inspection 
After construction the area of the seabed around the structures must be monitored for the 
build-up of scours and the cable route corridors must be monitored to ensure that the mini 
mum cover is ensured or that potential uncovering of the cables does not take place. In addi 
tion, the state of safety measures such as e. g. scour protection and gravel dumping should be 
monitored. 
Inspection programmes should be carried out in accordance with the requirements of periodic 
inspections according to Standard Design. 
In the first couple of years after construction of offshore structures, inspection should take 
place once per year as a normal case, namely early in the year (directly after stormy periods). 
The findings should be presented in a inspection report as part of periodic investigations, and 
this should be submitted to the approval authority at the end of the calendar year. 
5 Technical guidelines 
In Tables 3 to 6 the objectives, scope, time frames, methods and presentation of results with 
all required technical details is shown for the respective procedure, and these give an over 
view regarding the minimum requirements of geophysical investigations for geological explo 
ration and inspection.