Anomalies in data taken with acoustic profiling systems often have been int
erpreted as indications of the widespread occurrence of free gas (gaseous s
tate compounds) in the continental margins of the world's oceans. Direct de
monstration of the correlation between seafloor free gas and such acoustic
anomalies has been rare. Interpretations have relied on occasional measurem
ents of gas concentration in recovered seafloor samples, indirect indicator
s of in situ seafloor free gas and presumed analogous dynamic response of b
ubbles in sediments to the response of gas bubbles in water. Here, examples
are provided of the measurement of free gas bubbles under in situ conditio
ns for samples from the floor of Eckernforde Bay on the Baltic coast of Ger
many. The occurrence of this population of sediment gas bubbles has been re
lated to the measured acoustic response of the region's seafloor via model
calculations. Indications of volume scattering of the acoustic energy by bu
bbles in a buried gassy layer are contrasted with evidence of possible gas
bubble returns from a thin surficial gassy zone. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science
Ltd. All rights reserved.