AndreaBozzo/ceres-open-data-index huggingface dataset:
Sediments and Benthic Biota of Bass Strait: an Approach to Benthic Habitat Mapping

The biological data used in this study was collected by Museum Victoria in an extensive survey of the fauna of Bass Strait between 1979 and 1983. Additional sediment sampling and swath mapping of parts of Bass Strait were undertaken on GA Survey 226 and Australian Hydrographic Office Survey HI339, in which Geoscience Australia personnel participated (GA Survey 233). Survey HI339 also collected underwater video footage. 

Biological material from a range of taxonomic groups was identified as a basis for identification and analysis of biological communities. The results indicate that Bass Strait supports a particularly diverse fauna. A high degree of small-scale variation occurs, with even adjacent samples having low similarity. Video footage from sites to the east of Bass Strait corroborates the high degree of faunal diversity over small spatial scales. Analysis of physical variables, derived from data collected on the original survey and supplemented by more recent data, show that longitude and depth are important factors in explaining the biological diversity. Despite this, overall correlation of faunal composition with physical factors is poor, indicating that other environmental variables influence the composition of benthic assemblages, and that different groups of species react to different environmental variables. It is likely that the biota reflect a series of intergrading assemblages rather than a group of discrete and repeatable species associations. 

Sediment facies identified can be correlated with facies from the Otway margin (Boreen et al., 1993) and those mapped previously in Bass Strait (Jones and Davies, 1983). Analysis of sediments taken from sites previously targeted by Jones and Davies (1983) indicate that sampling technique has had little impact on retention of fines. Rather, the lack of fines is a reflection of the high energy environment of much of Bass Strait. Examination of the composition of sand and gravel fractions indicates that extensive bioerosion acts in concert with physical processes to produce carbonate mud. Biogenic content in sediments shows little correlation with living communities, due in part to the abundance of soft-bodied organisms in the biota, as well as the strong imprint of post-depositional processes on sediments.

The biological patterns identified in this study broadly support the divisions of the current Interim Marine and Coastal Regionalisation of Australia (IMCRA Technical Group, 1998) for Bass Strait. However, the biological assemblages are not consistent enough to be mapped. The lack of relationships between biota and sediments over the scale of the study area may reflect the scale of the study area and limitations of the statistical analyses used.

Tags: AU-TAS, AU-VIC, Earth Sciences, GA Publication, Published_External, Record, mapping, marine, marine zone, resource assessment
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
Surface and Sub-surface Geology and the Role of Basement Structure in the Capel-Faust basins, Offshore Eastern Australia

The Capel and Faust basins are part of the northern Lord Howe Rise, offshore eastern Australia. These frontier basins formed during the initial phases of extension leading to the Cretaceous break up of the east Gondwana margin. The basins subsided to their present depths of 1300-2500m in the early Cenozoic. Geoscience Australia is investigating the geology and marine environment of this frontier area as part of the Australian Government's New Oil (2003-2007) and Energy Security (2007-2011) programs. High resolution 2D seismic, gravity, magnetic and multibeam bathymetry data were acquired in 2006-2007 and synthesised to derive 2D and 3D geological information and knowledge of these basins and underlying basement. A clear relationship between surface and sub surface geology was observed. This has contributed to an improved understanding of basin structure, large scale basin architecture, tectonic reactivation along the basin margins, and potential fluid migration pathways. An analysis of seafloor features will also contribute to future marine bioregional
planning in the study area.

Presented at the Australian Earth Sciences Convention (AESC) 4 - 8th July 2010

Tags: Abstract, Earth Sciences, External Publication, Published_External, geophysics, marine, petroleum exploration, seabed, sedimentary basins
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
How Airborne Electromagnetic (AEM) Surveys Work

This animation shows how Airborne Electromagnetic Surveys Work.  It is part of a series of Field Activity Technique Engagement Animations. The target audience are the communities that are impacted by our data acquisition activities. There is no sound or voice over. The 2D animations include a simplified view of what AEM equipment looks like, what the equipment measures and how the survey works.

Tags: AEM, AusAEM, EARTH SCIENCES, EFTF - Exploring For The Future, ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES, GEOCHEMISTRY, Geoscience Knowledge Sharing, Published_External, air access, airborne survey, conductivity, electromagnetic survey, geophysical survey, helicopter, land access, light aircraft, marine access, resistivity, stakeholder engagement
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
Relative sea-level records preserved in Holocene beach-ridge strandplains – An example from tropical northeastern Australia

Northeastern Queensland is a far-field site from ice caps formed during the Last Glacial. However, the region has experienced glacio-hydroisostatically driven coastal elevation change during the Holocene that generated a distinctive relative sea-level record. We tested whether this subtle vertical movement of the coast is recorded in the morphology and stratigraphy of the beach-ridge strandplain at Cowley Beach, which comprises a series of 36 prominent and several subdued or truncated beach ridges. Previous studies have shown that the strandplain records the long-term progradation of the coast, with the ridges comprising coarse-medium sand that was deposited during both fairweather (foreshore and berm facies) and tropical cyclone events (erosional unconformities; storm-surge deposits) over the past approximately 7 ka. We utilised a fine-scale digital elevation model of the strandplain to examine beach ridge morphology and to compare the elevation pattern with published Holocene sea-level data for the region. The overall elevation pattern of the strandplain surface is consistent with the regional sea-level history, that includes a highstand at around 6 ka BP generated by isostatic uplift, and the elevation of the berm facies matches well robust coral sea-level indicator data. We also modelled the strandplain topographic patterns that would result under stable and continually rising Holocene sea-levels. The frequencies of elevation classes across the strandplain are normally distributed when the strandplain is deposited during a period of stable sea level, and negatively skewed with a continually rising sea level, consistent with the expected patterns. The results indicate the sensitivity of the elevation of the top of the berm facies preserved in beach ridges to subtle changes in sea level (tens of cm over a thousand years). Our results further underline the utility of beach-ridge strandplains, a globally distributed coastal landform, for building relatively detailed regional records of sea level during the Holocene at sites currently lacking this information.

Citation:. Brendan P. Brooke, Zhi Huang, William A. Nicholas, Thomas S.N. Oliver, Toru Tamura, Colin D. Woodroffe, Scott L. Nichol, Relative sea-level records preserved in Holocene beach-ridge strandplains – An example from tropical northeastern Australia, Marine Geology, Volume 411, 2019, Pages 107-118, ISSN 0025-3227, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.margeo.2019.02.005.

Tags: Beach ridges, Coastal LiDAR, EARTH SCIENCES, Glacio-hydroisostatic effect, Holocene sea level, Published_External, Strandplain morphology
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
SSCN SEGMENT 2-B Great Australian Bight Marine Park Bathymetry Acquisition (20240013S)

This dataset is part of a broader survey carried out by EGS onboard the survey vessel RV Bold Explorer (RV BE) during the  SUBCO Subsea Cable Network (SSCN) cable route survey. 

The area is confined to the data within the Great Australian Bight Marine Park. The Survey team and client representative joined the RV Bold Explorer on 17th April 2024 at Fremantle Port,  Australia. Following the embarkation of the survey team, equipment testing and commissioning was carried out. Calibration and verification of the DGPS positioning system and survey gyros onboard RV BE were performed while the vessel was alongside at Fremantle Port, Australia between 17th April and 18th April 2024. 

Prior to departure, tow sensors and hull-mounted sensors were wet tested. All systems were found to be operational. The RV Bold Explorer departed Fremantle Port, Australia and transited to the first site on 19th April 2024. The offshore calibration of shallow water multibeam echosounder (MBES) and USBL were performed on 19th April 2024 while the  calibration of deep water MBES was carried out on 20th April 2024.

The SSCN Segment 2-B survey comprised an investigation of bathymetry, seabed features and shallow geology along the proposed route. A subsequent geotechnical sampling programme was also executed.

This dataset is not to be used for navigational purposes.

Tags: AusSeabed, Australia-wide geoscience data, EARTH SCIENCES, HVC_144641, Multibeam, Oceans, Offshore Mapping, Published_External, Resourcing Australia's Prosperity, bathymetry, marine
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
The Mesozoic strata of Bauhinia Downs 1:250 000 sheet area

Mesozoic strata of the Bauhinia Downs 1:250,000 Sheet area were examined during the 1960 field season when observations were made on lithology and palaeogeography, and Lower Cretaceous fossils were collected at fourteen localities. Results of field observations have been recorded in Skwarko (1961a, b) and these, together with results of detailed examinations of fossils and the close dating of strata provide material for the present paper. Of the fourteen assemblages of fossils listed from the Bauhinia Downs 1:250,000 Sheet area seven are marine, six non-marine and one inconclusive. They range in age from Neocomian to Aptian.

Tags: AU-NT, Earth Sciences, GA Publication, Published_External, Record, geology
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
Marine geology of the northwest Australian continental shelf

This Bulletin presents the results of a geological reconnaissance of the northwest Australian continental shelf by the Bureau of Mineral Resources carried out during two 3-month cruises, one in late 1967 and the second in late 1968. In compilation of the results some use has also been made of the shallow seismic reflection profiles and echograms collected during a marine geophysical survey of the Northwest Shelf by Ray Geophysical Division of Mandrel Industries Inc. under contract to the BMR in 1968. The other main sources of data used are the published and unpublished soundings compiled by the RAN Hydrographic Office, and the sea-bed sediment notations on Australian and British Admiralty Charts. The brief description of the offshore structural framework and Phanerozoic sedimentation is almost entirely based on the subsidized petroleum exploration work of BOC of Australia Ltd and associated companies; it does not include results obtained after 1971. The region surveyed extends from Barrow Island in the south to beyond Scott Reef, a distance of 1200 km (Fig. 1). It covers the Rowley Shelf and the southern part of the Sahul Shelf, as defined by Fairbridge (1953); in popular usage all this wide area is now referred to as the Northwest Shelf, and this term is preferred here.  The basic objectives of the survey were to describe the sediments of the continental shelf and upper slope and to map their distribution, and to elucidate the late Cainozoic geological history of the continental margin from the study of surface morphology and shallow structures. The Northwest Shelf was chosen because of its position on the west side of the continent, and because the limited data available on ocean water chemistry and circulation patterns indicated that some potential for deposits of phosphate existed. Although sediments enriched with phosphorus were encountered locally, no material approaching economic grade was recovered.

Tags: AU, Bulletin, Earth Sciences, GA Publication, Published_External, geology, marine, marine survey
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
Rates of Shoreline Progradation During the Last 1,700 Years at Beachmere, Southeastern Queensland, Australia, Based on Optical Ages of Beach Ridges

The morphology and chronostratigraphy of seven beach ridges at Beachmere, southeastern Queensland, Australia, provide a record of changes in shoreline accretion and relative sea level over the last 1,700 years. Optical dating of beds of pebbly sand that form the inner 7th ridge reveals that 1,700 -140 yrs ago relative sea level at the site was approximately 1 m higher than at present. During the subsequent 600 yrs, the coast prograded at ~ 0.16 m yr-1 until ridge 6 was emplaced 1,140 ?80 yrs ago; this increased to a rate of ~0.40 m yr-1 as ridges 5 (optical age: 860 ?70 yrs) to 1 (140 - 50 yrs) were emplaced. A relatively wide (~200 m) intertidal to supratidal flat between ridges 4 (690 - 60 yrs) and 3 (190 ?40 yrs) marks a change from well-defined and regularly spaced ridges, 7 - 4 (~ 95 m apart), to lower amplitude closely spaced ridges, 3 ? 1 (&lt; 33 m apart). Ridges 3 ? 1 have Optical ages that overlap within their 1 ? uncertainty and probably represent a rapid phase of shoreline accretion related to an increase in sediment supply associated with European settlement. The optical age of ridge 1 (140 ? 50 yrs), which sits immediately behind the modern beach, provides a maximum age for the onset of the modern erosional regime at the site.

Tags: AU-QLD, Earth Sciences, External Publication, Published_External, Scientific Journal Paper, erosion, geochronology, marine
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
Using Himawari-8 SST data for the investigation of highly dynamic oceanographic phenomena

The high frequency (10 min) and resolution (~2km) of Himawari-8 data provides an enormous opportunity for the monitoring and investigation of highly dynamic oceanographic phenomena. This presentation aims to demonstrate the value of himawari-8 SST data for studies of the Bonney Coast upwelling, East Australian Current (EAC) and Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) diurnal SST (dSST) variations. During the 2016–17 summer, we identified three distinct upwelling events along the Bonney Coast. Each event surpassed its predecessor in area of influence, minimum temperature and duration. The EAC’s mapped between July 2015 and Sept 2017 showed clear seasonal and intra-seasonal variations. During summer, the EAC and its extension frequently encroached into the coastal areas of northern NSW and eastern Tasmania. A composite analysis based on MJO phases during the summer seasons of 2015–16 and 2016–17 showed that the dSST typically peaked during phases 2 and 3 off the northwest shelf, prior to the onset of the active phases of MJO (phase 4). The analysis indicated that dSST is negatively correlated with the surface wind speed but positively correlated with short-wave latent heat flux. In future, these monitoring and analytical capabilities can be effectively implemented in Geoscience Australia’s Digital Earth Australia platform.

Abstract submitted/presented to 2019 Australian Marine science Association AMSA Conference (https://www.amsa.asn.au/2019-fremantle)

Tags: EARTH SCIENCES, Published_External, Remote Sensing, SST, oceanography
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
Interpretation of Seismic Data, Capel and Faust Basins, Australia's Remote Offshore Eastern Frontier

The Capel and Faust basins are located in a remote part of deepwater offshore eastern Australia. They are largely Cretaceous rifts formed within a 1600 km long ribbon of continental crust (the Lord Howe Rise) that became detached from Australia during the fragmentation of the eastern Gondwana plate margin and the opening of the Tasman Basin. As part of Geoscience Australia (GA)'s ongoing work to identify and evaluate the resource potential of Australia's offshore frontier basins, approximately 6 000 km of industry-standard, 106-fold 2D seismic data was acquired over the Capel and Faust basins during late 2006 and early 2007. These data supplemented earlier, sparse regional seismic data and were complemented by the acquisition of approximately 24 000 km2 of multibeam bathymetry and 11 000 line kilometres of shipboard gravity and magnetic data by GA in late 2007. This record details the interpretation of the seismic data and is intended to complement the release of a digital version of the interpretations in workstation formats (GeoFrame, Kingdom). Scientific conclusions drawn from the seismic interpretations and, very importantly, from an integration of the seismic, potential field and other data sets are beyond the scope of this record and are published in other GA Records, scientific papers and conference proceedings volumes.

Tags: Earth Sciences, GA Publication, Published_External, Record, marine, petroleum geology, sedimentary basins, seismic sections, stratigraphy, structural geology
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
Orpheus Island Turbidity From 17 Oct 2011 To 02 Jan 2014

The 'Wireless Sensor Networks Facility' (formerly known as Facility for The Automated Intelligent Monitoring of Marine Systems (FAIMMS)), part of the Great Barrier Reef Ocean Observing System project (GBROOS), is a facility of the Australian 'Integrated Marine Observing System' (IMOS) project. This data set was collected by the Great Barrier Reef Wireless Sensor Network.

Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
National Gravity Compilation 2019 DGIR 1VD image

Gravity data measure small changes in gravity due to changes in the density of rocks beneath the Earth's surface. 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 National Gravity Compilation 2019 DGIR 1VD image is produced from the 2019 Australian National Gravity Grids A series. These gravity data were acquired under the project No. 202008. The grid represented in this image has a cell size of 0.00417 degrees (approximately 435m). The data are derived from ground observations stored in the Australian National Gravity Database (ANGD) as at September 2019, supplemented by offshore data sourced from v28.1 of the Global Gravity grid developed using data from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego. Out of the approximately 1.8 million gravity observations, nearly 1.4 million gravity stations in the ANGD together with marine data were used to generate this grid. The ground gravity data used in this grid has been acquired by the Commonwealth, State and Territory Governments, the mining and exploration industry, universities and research organisations from the 1940's to the present day. Station spacing for ground observations varies from approximately 11 km down to less than 1 km, with major parts of the continent having station spacing between 2.5 and 7 km. The grid shows the first vertical derivative of the de-trended global isostatic residual anomalies (A series) over Australia and its continental margins. The original DGIR was obtained by subtracting 3 quantities (i.e., the near-field isostatic correction, the far-field isostatic correction, and a first order trend correction) from Complete Bouguer Anomaly data (CBA) of the 2019 Australian National Gravity Grids A series. A first vertical derivative was calculated by applying a fast Fourier transform (FFT) process to the DGIR grid of the 2019 Australian National Gravity Grids to produce the grid represented in this image.

Tags: 1vd, A series, Australia, EARTH SCIENCES, Earth sciences, GADDS2.0, NCI, None, Published_External, de-trended, first vertical derivative, geophysical survey, geophysics, grav, gravity, grid, ground digital data, image, isostatic, marine data, raster, residual, satellite data, survey 202008
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
Sedimentological Signatures of the Sub-Amery Ice Shelf Circulation

Two sediment cores collected from beneath the Amery Ice Shelf, East Antarctica describe the physical sedimentation patterns beneath an existing major embayed ice shelf. Core AM01b was collected from a site of basal freezing, contrasting with core AM02, collected from a site of basal melting. Both cores comprise Holocene siliceous muddy ooze (SMO), however, AM01b also recovered interbedded siliciclastic mud, sand and gravel with inclined bedding in its lower 27 cm. This interval indicates an episode of variable but strong current activity before SMO sedimentation became dominant. 14C ages corrected for old surface ages are consistent with previous dating of marine sediments in Prydz Bay. However, the basal age of AM01b of 28250 Â± 230 14C yr bp probably results from greater contamination by recycled organic matter. Lithology, 14C surface ages, absolute diatom abundance, and the diatom assemblage are used as indicators of sediment transport pathways beneath the ice shelf. The transport pathways suggested from these indicators do not correspond to previous models of the basal melt/freeze pattern. This indicates that the overturning baroclinic circulation beneath the Amery Ice Shelf (near-bed inflow-surface outflow) is a more important influence on basal melt/freeze and sediment distributions than the barotropic circulation that produces inflow in the east and outflow in the west of the ice front. Localized topographic (ice draft and bed elevation) variations are likely to play a dominant role in the resulting sub-ice shelf melt and sediment distribution.

Tags: AQ, Antarctic data, Earth Sciences, External Publication, Published_External, Scientific Journal Paper, marine, sedimentology
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
Australia's Maritime Jurisdiction around Tasmania - Lambert projection

Map showing Australia's Maritime Jurisdiction around Tasmania, including South Tasman Rise and Victoria but not Macquarie Ridge. Based on Lambert Conformal Conic Projection.
One of the 27 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, and various maritime zones.  Background bathymetric image is derived from a combination of the 2009 9 arc second bathymetric and topographic grid by GA and a grid by Smith and Sandwell, 1997. Background land imagery derived from Blue Marble, NASA's Earth Observatory.
A0 sized portrait format .pdf downloadable from the web.

Tags: AU-TAS, Administrative Boundary, Earth Sciences, Published_External, Thematic Map, administrative boundaries, bathymetry, continental shelf, marine, marine jurisdiction
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network