AndreaBozzo/ceres-open-data-index huggingface dataset:
Darwin Harbour Habitat Mapping Program: Predicted seabed sand content

This resource contains a predicted seabed sand content grid for the greater Darwin Harbour region as part of a baseline seabed mapping program of Darwin Harbour and Bynoe Harbour. This project was funded through offset funds provided by an INPEX-led Ichthys LNG Project to the Northern Territory Government's Department of Environment and Natural Resources (NTG-DENR) with co-investment from Geoscience Australia (GA) and the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS). The intent of this program is to improve knowledge of the marine environments in the Darwin and Bynoe Harbour regions by collating and collecting baseline data that enable the creation of thematic habitat maps and information to underpin marine resource management decisions. The predicted seabed sand content grid was derived from a compilation of multiple surveys undertaken by GA, AIMS and NTG-DENR between 2011 and 2017, including GA0333 (Siwabessy et al., 2015), GA0341 (Siwabessy et al., 2015), GA0351/SOL6187 (Siwabessy et al., 2016), GA4452/SOL6432 (Siwabessy et al., 2017), GA0356 (Radke et al., 2017), and GA0358 and GA0359 (Radke et al., 2018), adding to those from a previous survey GA0333 collected by GA, AIMS and NTG-DENR. This dataset provides spatially continuous predictions of seabed %sand (63-2000 µm) content for the Darwin and Bynoe harbour region, northern Australian marine margin. Data are presented in 10 m resolution raster grids format and ascii text file. Predictions are based on 395 samples and seven environmental variables derived from high resolution multibeam sonar bathymetry and backscatter data. Accuracy of predictions is high, with a VEcv = 39% for sand; and the predictive accuracy has been increased by 84.8% for sand in comparison with the commonly used method (i.e., IDW).  Absences in predictions occur in this dataset as a result of non-availability associated with predictive variables. This dataset supersedes previous predictions of sand content for the Darwin and Bynoe harbour region with demonstrated improvements in predictive accuracy.

Tags: Darwin Harbour, EARTH SCIENCES, Habitat Mapping, Predicted seabed sand content, Published_External
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Tectonic and sedimentary history of the Argo Abyssal Plain, eastern Indian Ocean

Bathymetric and seismic reflection profiles totalling about 2800 km, and covering about 110 000 km2 of the Argo Abyssal plain, have been analysed. The early emplacement of oceanic crust and volcanic edifices (Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous) was followed by cooling, and marked subsidence until the Miocene. The principal structural features have been identified as the right-laterally sheared Wombat Graben in the south, the N-S trending Joey Rise in the west, the parallel sediment-filled Joey Graben to its east, a NW-trending eastward tilted and subsided volcanic massif to its east, a NW-trending linear volcanic massif on the old oceanic plate farther east, the deformed and uplifted sediments and basement in the north, and the central basin with 1.2 km thick sediments. The Joey, Wombat and Kivi Grabens are newly identified.  The N- S trending Joey Graben is 400-450 km long, parallel to and east of the Joey Rise, and it is filled with up to 1 km of sediment. Beneath it, the mantle has been identified at depths of 12-15 km and deepening westward. The other two grabens form moats hundreds of metres deep, at the foot of the Australian margin in the south. The right-lateral displacements in the axis of the Wombat Graben reflect the initial shearing and rifting of the thinned crust. The widespread faulting in the basement, and the persistence of some faults upward into sediments as young as early Miocene, indicate that tectonism was marked until then.  The eastern and northern parts of the abyssal plain have been uplifted as they came within the peripheral fore-bulge south of the Sunda Trench.  Five sequences (A-E) overlie the oceanic crust and they have been correlated with the lithology of ODP Site 765 and DSDP Site 261. They probably represent Plio-Pleistocene, upper Miocene-lower Pliocene, middle Miocene, upper Oligocene-lower Miocene and uppermost Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous strata, respectively. The depositional trends in the Mesozoic and Miocene sediments are controlled by basement structure. Isopach maps of the Mesozoic and Cainozoic sediments reveal that their maximum thicknesses are about 0.6-0.8 km and 0.2-0.4 km, respectively, with the bulk of the sediments (calcareous turbidites and claystone) laid down in the Early Cretaceous and the middle Miocene to Pliocene. During the Oligocen e to early Miocene period (37-16 Ma), a remarkable geologic event led to non-deposition or erosion of sediments.

Tags: Earth Sciences, GA Publication, Journal, Published_External, WA, marine
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
AHO Reference Surfaces Torres Strait 0.5m 2023 (20230014R)

The Torres Strait Reference Surfaces bathymetry survey was acquired for the Australian Hydrographic Office (AHO) on 12 Dec 2021. This surface was created from a contracted national reference survey between Goods Island and Goods Island cardinal mark, and Tuesday Island and the Herald Patches QLD, collected for the purpose of calibrating multibeam echosounders.&nbsp;It was conducted for the Australian Hydrographic Office as part of the Hydroscheme Industry Partnership Program, acquired using Kongsberg EM2040D, and processed using QPS Qimera. Seperate grids in 0.5m resolution are provided for the two surveyed sites within this survey area in MSL, LAT and Ellipsoid vertical datum. The dataset was then exported as a 0.5m resolution, 32 bit floating point GeoTIFF grid of the survey area.

This dataset is not to be used for navigational purposes.

Tags: AusSeabed, EARTH SCIENCES, Earth Science | Oceans | Bathymetry/Seafloor Topography | Bathymetry, HVC_144641, Oceans, Published_External, bathymetric grids, bathymetry, marine, multibeam
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Visualising coastal seabed characteristics: using VRML models to present three dimensional spatial data via the Web

Geoscience Australia has produced free Web-viewable 3D models of coastal data, for sharing data and information with project partners and coastal zone stakeholders. The models integrate a range of spatial data (including DEMs, multibeam bathymetry, sediment samples, benthic habitats and satellite imagery) within an easy to use interface. The models use the open source and ISO standard Virtual Reality Modelling Language (VRML) file format. The model described in this paper is for the Keppel Bay and Fitzroy River area in Queensland, Australia. These 3D VRML models are a good method for integrating coastal data, for better interpretation, and are easily transferred to end users via the Web.

Tags: 3D model, AU-QLD, Earth Sciences, External Publication, Published_External, Scientific Journal Paper, bathymetry, coasts, marine, seabed, web mapping
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Landscape mapping informing Antarctic Specially Protected Area management

Antarctic Specially Protected Area (ASPA) No. 143 Marine Plain in East Antarctica is valued for its “outstanding fossil fauna and rare geological features” (ATCM XXXVI 2013) but scientific evidence to guide its protection is sparse. The fragile Sørsdal Formation contains diverse marine vertebrate and invertebrate fauna, preserving a unique record of Antarctic environmental conditions in the Pliocene (Quilty et al. 2000). Strict permitting and access conditions are in place for the ASPA but evidence-based guidance for decision makers on how to assess the risks to the values of the ASPA is minimal. 



We will present the results of geological mapping, aerial imagery collection, and field observations from Marine Plain to consider the impact of foot traffic and helicopter access to the ASPA and provide options for future monitoring and management. Surficial geology of the broader Vestfold Hills (a 400 km2 ice-free region in East Antarctica) was mapped at 1:2000 scale using aerial photos, satellite imagery, a digital elevation model, and field observations (McLennan et al. 2021, McLennan et al. 2022). From this regional-scale mapping, we show that the glacial sediments draping bedrock hills in Marine Plain are typical of the Vestfold Hills region and do not represent the vulnerable Sørsdal Formation or the thermokarst features considered unique to the ASPA. Polygons outlining recommended landing areas for helicopters in the Marine Plain ASPA were derived using a buffer around the Sørsdal Formation, lakes, away from the edge of steep bedrock slopes, and higher that the limit of Pliocene marine inundation. Our results show how foundational datasets like landform and geomorphology mapping can provide robust evidence to support informed ASPA management. 



ATCM XXXIV, 2013. Measure 9. Antarctic Specially Protected Area No 143 (Marine Plain, Mule Peninsula, Vestfold Hills, Princess Elizabeth Land): Revised Management Plan

McLennan S. M., Haiblen A. M. &amp; Smith J. 2021 Surficial geology of the Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica. First ed. Canberra, Australia: Geoscience Australia. https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/145535

McLennan S. M., Haiblen, A.M. &amp; Smith, J. 2022 Surficial geology of the Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica, GIS dataset. Canberra, Australia: Geoscience Australia. https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/145536

Quilty P. G., Lirio J. M. &amp; Jillett D. 2000 Stratigraphy of the Pliocene Sørsdal Formation, Marine Plain, Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica, <em>Antarctic Science</em>, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 205-216.

Presented at the SCAR Open Science Conference 2024

Tags: Antarctic Geoscience, Antarctica, Geomorphology and earth surface processes, Published_External, area protection, geomorphology
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Australia's Maritime Jurisdiction North of 25Â°176S

Map showing all of Australia's Maritime Jurisdiction north of approx 25Â°S .  This includes areas around Cocos (Keeling) Islands and areas west of Christmas Island as well as those contiguous to the continent in the north. 

Included as one of the now 28 constituent maps of the "Australia's Maritime Jurisdiction Map Series" (GeoCat 71789).

Depicting Australia's extended continental shelf approved by the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf in April 2008, treaties and various maritime zones.  Background bathymetry image is derived from a combination of the 2009 9 arc second bathymetry and topographic grid by Geoscience Australia and a grid by W.H.F. Smith and D.T. Sandwell, 1997. Background land imagery derived from Blue Marble, NASA's Earth Observatory.

3277mm x 1050mm (for 42" plotter) sized .pdf downloadable from the web.

Tags: AU-EEZ, Administrative Boundary, Earth Sciences, Published_External, Thematic Map, administrative boundaries, bathymetry, continental shelf, marine, marine jurisdiction
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Successive marine heatwaves cause significant coral bleaching impacts during a fast phase transition from El Niño to La Niña

The frequency and intensity of marine heatwaves resulting in thermal bleaching events have increased over recent decades leading to catastrophic losses of reef-building corals in many regions. Successive annual bleaching events are also becoming more frequent, limiting the capacity of susceptible coral species to recover. Following an unusual fast phase transition of the record-breaking 2009–2010 warm pool El Niño event in the Central Pacific to a strong La Niña event the following year, high-latitude coral reef assemblages around Lord Howe Island were exposed to unprecedented successive thermal anomalies causing severe bleaching. Coral health surveys completed between March 2010 and September 2012 quantified the response and resilience of approximately 42,000 coral colonies from different taxa to the successive bleaching events. Changes in benthic community composition before, during and after the thermal stress events were also assessed. In March 2010, severe coral bleaching ranged between 99% at some shallow lagoon sites to 17% at deeper reef slope sites. Significant coral tissue mortality was evident during March and May 2010, with increased pigmentation and colour returning to surviving colonies by September 2010, indicating recovery of symbiotic function in living coral colonies. Pocillopora, Stylophora, Porites and Montipora species were the most affected taxa, with minimal mortality observed in merulinid and Acropora species. During the second thermal anomaly in 2011, significant bleaching occurred in susceptible coral taxa, demonstrating limited resilience and acclimation capacity of these high-latitude corals to future-ocean warming. Repeated bleaching stress resulted in a shift at some sites from a coral-dominated reef assemblage to one comprising a higher cover of macroalgae and other invertebrate taxa. These findings demonstrate that future-ocean warming and extreme heatwave events are likely to lead to significant shifts in reef assemblages and potential local extinction of some dominant but vulnerable reef-building corals at this world heritage listed site.

<b>Citation:</b> Steven J. Dalton, Andrew G. Carroll, Eugenia Sampayo, George Roff, Peter L. Harrison, Kristina Entwistle, Zhi Huang, Anya Salih, Sandra L. Diamond, Successive marine heatwaves cause disproportionate coral bleaching during a fast phase transition from El Niño to La Niña, <i>Science of The Total Environment, Volume 715, 2020, 136951, ISSN 0048-9697, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.136951.</i>

Tags: Coral bleaching, EARTH SCIENCES, El Nino, La Nina, Published_External, marine heatwaves
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Marine Sediments (MARS) Database

The MARine Sediment (MARS) database contains detailed information on seabed sediment characteristics for samples collected from Australia's marine jurisdiction, including the Australian Antarctic Territory. It is an important scientific resource that includes sediment properties from seabed and sub-seabed samples spanning coastal, continental shelf and deep sea locations. Analytical properties include grain size, carbonate content, mineralogy, geochemical properties and age determinations. MARS currently holds approximately 100,000 sample records and new data are being added as they become available.

Please contact us at ausseabed@ga.gov.au if you wish to contribute marine sediment data to the MARS database.

Tags: AU-EEZ, DC2020, Database, Earth Sciences, HVC_144639, National dataset, Oracle Database, Published_External, data, marine, marine survey, sedimentology
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Geographe Marine Park Bathymetry - 5m Resolution Grid

Australia has established a network of 58 marine parks within Commonwealth waters covering a total of 3.3 million square kilometres, or 40 per cent of our exclusive economic zone (excluding Australian Antarctic Territory). These parks span a range of settings, from near coastal and shelf habitats to abyssal plains. Parks Australia manages the park network through management plans that came into effect for all parks on 1 July 2018. Geoscience Australia is contributing to their management by collating and interpreting existing environmental data, and through the collection of new marine data. “Eco-narrative” documents are being developed for those parks, where sufficient information is available, delivering collations and interpretations of seafloor geomorphology, oceanography and ecology. Many of these interpretations rely on bathymetric grids and their derived products, including those in this data release. 
Bathymetry grids: 
The bathymetry of the marine parks was created by compiling and processing Geoscience Australia’s bathymetry data holding gridded at the optimum resolution depending of the vessel’s sonar system. 
The bathymetry of the park is illustrated by a panchromatic geotiff image, developed by combining the bathymetric data with a hillshade image. 
 Morphological Surfaces: 
Geoscience Australia has developed a new marine seafloor classification scheme, which uses the two-part seafloor mapping morphology approach of Dove et al (2016). This new scheme is semi-hierarchical and the first step divides the slope of the seafloor into three Morphological Surface categories (Plain, &lt;2°; Slope, 2-10°; Escarpment, &gt;10°). 
Dove, D., Bradwell, T., Carter, G., Cotterill, C., Gafeira, J., Green, S., Krabbendam, M., Mellet, C., Stevenson, A., Stewart, H., Westhead, K., Scott, G., Guinan, J., Judge, M. Monteys, X., Elvenes, S., Baeten, N., Dolan, M., Thorsnes, T., Bjarnadóttir, L., Ottesen, D. (2016). Seabed geomorphology: a twopart classification system. British Geological Survey, Open Report OR/16/001. 13 pages. 
This research is supported by the National Environmental Science Program (NESP) Marine Biodiversity Hub through Project D1.

This dataset is not to be used for navigational purposes.

Tags: AusSeabed, HVC_144641, Marine Biodiversity Hub, National Environmental Science Program, Published_External, bathymetry, bathymetry grid, marine, marine data
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Interactions between Physical, Chemical, Biological, and Sedimentological Processes in Australia's shelf seas

Australia is an island continenet extending from tropical to midlatitude waters with an Exclusive Economic Zone of some 8.6 million square kilometres. Its regional seas are exposed to climatological conditions ranging from the westerly Roaring Forties winds in the south, to monsoon and tropical cyclone conditions in the north. It also encompasses regions of extreme biodiversity, with 80 percent of southern temperate species endemic to the region.

The focus of marine research in Australia is becoming more interdisciplinary in response to factors such as the national government's recent Oceans Policy, which emphasises sustainable development and ecological based management. However, historically there have been relatevely few major interdisciplinary studies in Australian waters.

Tags: AU-EEZ, Earth Sciences, External Publication, Monograph, Published_External, marine, sedimentology
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
5028 Block 2 (Southeast) Grid of uranium ground concentration with NASVD and standard reductions applied

The radiometric, or gamma-ray spectrometric method, measures the natural variations in the gamma-rays detected near the Earth's surface as the result of the natural radioactive decay of potassium (K), uranium (U) and thorium (Th). The data collected are processed via standard methods to ensure the response recorded is that due only to the rocks in the ground. The results produce datasets that can be interpreted to reveal the geological structure of the sub-surface. The processed data is checked for quality by GA geophysicists to ensure that the final data released by GA are fit-for-purpose.
This radiometric uranium grid has a cell size of  degrees (approximately m) and shows uranium element concentration of the Narryer in units of parts per million (or ppm). The data used to produce this grid was acquired in 2024 by the WA Government, and consisted of 415090 line-kilometres of data at 100m line spacing and 50m terrain clearance.

Tags: Australia, EARTH SCIENCES, Earth sciences, GADDS2.0, NASVD, NCI, Published_External, U, WA, airborne digital data, gamma-ray, geophysical survey, geophysics, grid, rad, radiometrics, raster, spectrometry, survey 5028, uranium
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Ord Basin hydrogeological inventory

This Ord Basin dataset contains descriptive attribute information for the areas bounded by the relevant spatial groundwater feature in the associated Hydrogeology Index map. Descriptive topics are grouped into the following themes: Location and administration; Demographics; Physical geography; Surface water; Geology; Hydrogeology; Groundwater; Groundwater management and use; Environment; Land use and industry types; and Scientific stimulus.

The Ord Basin, an intracratonic sedimentary basin, covers about 8000 square kilometres on the border of Western Australia and the Northern Territory. It was once part of the extensive Centralian Superbasin, which deposited sediments across central and northern Australia from the Proterozoic to early Palaeozoic era. The Ord Basin comprises three synclines with up to 2500 m of Cambrian and Devonian sedimentary rocks, separated by major faults and Proterozoic basement highs.

The basin's northern boundary is defined by the Halls Rewards Fault and Proterozoic basement rocks, separating it from the Bonaparte Basin. The western edge overlies rocks of the Paleoproterozoic Halls Creek Orogen, while the eastern margin is separated from the Wiso Basin by volcanic Kalkarindji Province and Proterozoic Birrindudu and Victoria basins. The southern boundary is formed by the Negri Fault and Proterozoic basement highs.

The depositional history of the Ord Basin can be divided into three phases. The early Cambrian witnessed extensive basaltic volcanism, forming the Antrim Plateau Volcanics. Subsequently, the Cambrian marine transgression deposited carbonates and clastic rocks of the Goose Hole Group, including the Elder and Negri Subgroups. The Late Devonian saw the deposition of continental sandstones and conglomerates of the Mahony Group.

Throughout the basin's evolution, tectonic movements and erosional processes shaped its present configuration. The Alice Springs Orogeny (450 to 300 Ma) caused deformation and landscape changes, resulting in the deposition of the Mahony Group. Periodic reactivation of growth faults in the underlying Birrindudu Basin and subsequent erosion contributed to the basin's current structure.

The Ord Basin's three synclines are the Hardman Syncline (southern and largest), the Rosewood Syncline (central), and the Argyle Syncline (northern). The Hardman Syncline holds the full succession of basin strata.

Tags: Basin Analysis, EARTH SCIENCES, ECOLOGY, ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES, Environmental Management, Exploring for the Future, GEOLOGY, Groundwater, Hydrogeology, Land Use and Environmental Planning, National Groundwater Sytems, National Hydrogeological Inventory, PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AND ENVIRONMENTAL GEOSCIENCE, Published_External, Sedimentology, Stratigraphy (incl. Biostratigraphy and Sequence Stratigraphy)
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data