Abstract: Seafloor sediment properties are important to the survey of marine mineral resources and engineering. The Biot-Stoll model can simulate physical properties of sediment differently with distinct parameters. Stoll parameters are the statistical numbers when the Biot-stoll model gives the best forecast, while Schock parameters are some of the model parameters that need to be modified, such as porosity, pore radius, and pore tortuosity of sediments. In this study, we use the Biot-Stoll model and Stoll and Schock parameters to inversely obtain the sound wave velocity of the sediments in the southern South China Sea, and compare them with the measuring values. The results show that the velocity of fast compression wave calculated by the Biot-Stoll model with Stoll parameters has large errors comparing with that measured in laboratory, whose average is 3.962%, while the model-based predication is more consistent with the laboratory data when using the Schock parameters, whose average is - 0.847%. These results suggest that it is more accurate to study the sediments in the SCS using Schock parameters.

Key words: Biot-Stoll model, Stoll parameter, Schock parameter, seafloor sediment, South China Sea, sound velocity