AndreaBozzo/ceres-open-data-index huggingface dataset:
Seafloor bathymetry and biodiversity of Elizabeth and Middleton Reefs, Lord Howe Marine Park

This flythrough highlights shallow and mesophotic seabed environments of Elizabeth and Middleton Reefs, located within the Lord Howe Marine Park. These reefs are unique because they are the southern-most platform reefs in the world and host a diverse range of tropical, sub-tropical and temperate marine species. High-resolution multibeam bathymetry data and seafloor imagery used in this flythrough was acquired by the Marine Biodiversity Hub, during the period 31 January to 6 February 2020 on board the Australian Maritime College vessel, TV Bluefin. Participating agencies included Geoscience Australia, the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (University of Tasmania), the Australian Centre for Field Robotics (University of Sydney) through their involvement with the Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS), NSW Department of Primary Industries and Parks Australia. The specific aim of the survey was to fill knowledge gaps on the distribution, extent and structure of seabed habitats and associated sessile and mobile fauna in the lagoon and mesophotic shelves of Elizabeth (Recreational Use Zone) and Middleton (National Park Zone) Reefs, using a suite of national standard survey tools and best practice sampling procedures. Data acquisition for the project included seabed mapping using multibeam sonar (Kongsberg EM 2040C HD, 300 kHz), seabed imagery acquisition by Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV Sirius and AUV Nimbus), sediment samples, and imagery of demersal fish communities by stereo-baited remote underwater videos (stereo-BRUVs). 

This work was undertaken by the Marine Biodiversity Hub, a collaborative partnership supported through funding from the Australian Government’s National Environmental Science Program (NESP), and Parks Australia. AUV data was sourced from Australia’s Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS) – IMOS is enabled by the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS). It is operated by a consortium of institutions as an unincorporated joint venture, with the University of Tasmania as Lead Agent. 

This multimedia product is published with the permission of the CEO, Geoscience Australia.

Tags: Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV), Bathymetry, Bathymetry Grid, EARTH SCIENCES, ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES, Elizabeth and Middleton Reefs, Mesophotic Coral Ecosystem, Multibeam, Published_External
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
National Gravity Compilation 2019 CSCBA 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 CSCBA 1VD image is an image derived from the complete spherical cap Bouguer anomaly grid for the 2019 Australian National Gravity Grids A series. These gravity data were acquired under the project No. 202008. The grid used to create this image has a cell size of 0.00417 degrees (approximately 435m). This gravity anomaly grid is derived from ground observations stored in the Australian National Gravity Database (ANGD) as at September 2019, supplemented with 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, and marine data were used to generate this grid. The ground gravity data used in the national gravity grids 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 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. Terrain corrections to gravity were calculated using both offshore bathymetry and onshore topography data. The image shows the first vertical derivative of the complete Bouguer anomalies over Australia and its continental margins. A first vertical derivative was calculated by applying a fast Fourier transform (FFT) process to the complete spherical cap Bouguer anomaly grid of the 2019 Australian National Gravity Grids A series.

Tags: 1vd, A series, Australia, Bouguer, EARTH SCIENCES, Earth sciences, GADDS2.0, NCI, None, Published_External, complete, digital data, geophysical survey, geophysics, grav, gravity, ground, image, marine, raster, spherical cap, survey 202008
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
Australia's buoyancy inherited from Gondwanaland

In company with the other components and continental successors of the Neoproterozoic to Mesozoic Gondwanaland supercontinent, Phanerozoic Australia has a buoyant cratonic platform characterised by non-marine facies, in contrast to the marine facies of the components of depressed Laurasia.  As a supercontinent, Gondwanaland lasted much longer than Laurasia, and was therefore hotter from its more effective insulation of internal heat.  Moreover, the Pan-African orogenic cycle, confined to Gondwanaland, augmented the heat supply, and I postulate that Pan-African heat generated a permanently buoyant lower crust by mafic underplating.  A crustal layer in the Australian Proterozoic shield with subhorizontal reflectors and velocity (Vp) &gt; 7.5 km s-1 is interpreted as the product of mafic underplating beneath latest Neoproterozoic flood basalt.  The Pan-African terrane in East Africa also contains evidence of mafic underplating, and most of Gondwanaland (but not Laurasia) was affected by terminal Pan-African (0.5 Ga) uplift and cooling. In equivalent Late Cretaceous and Late Ordovician stages of the 400 m.y. Pangean supercycle, the Australian (and possibly the South American) platform deviated from the global norm by rising faster than eustatic sea level. In Australia, plate boundary events - steeper subduction, mafic underplating of a lower plate along a divergent back-arc boundary - explain uplift in the east, but not that in the west, which relaxed to its natural buoyant state.

Tags: Earth Sciences, GA Publication, Journal, Published_External
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
Videos from SS0608 (Lord Howe Rise)

The Lord Howe Rise survey (SS0608, GA survey #2461) was conducted on the Southern Surveyor in collaboration with the University of Wollongong between 16 and 29 April 2008. The survey was operated as part of the Surrogates Program of the CERF Marine Biodiversity Hub. The objective was to collect high-quality, accurately co-located data to enable the robust testing of a range of physical parameters as surrogates of patterns of benthic biodiversity. A video transect was undertaken at a single station (station 9) in 35 m water depth (31.58Â°S, 159.04Â°E to 31.59Â°S, 159.03Â°E). Video footage was recorded to mini DV tapes and copied to digital format.

Tags: Earth Sciences, HVC_144640, Multimedia, Published_External, marine
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
Subsidence and thermal history modelling:new insights into hydrocarbon expulsion from multiple petroleum systems in the Browse Basin

Subsidence and thermal history analysis of 31wells and 25 depocentre sites has been undertaken to examine the generation and expulsion history of Jurassic and Early Cretaceous petroleum systems in the Browse Basin. The models incorporate new palaeo-bathymetric estimates of the deepwater post-Valanginian to Early Tertiary succession based on seismic geometries and detailed benthic foraminiferal data, as well as new kerogen kinetic data for multiple potential source units.

The models suggest multiple effective source units for gas expulsion in the basin, whereas effective oil charge is largely restricted to the Heywood Graben in the northeast, and the rift section in the deepwater Serringapatam Sub-basin. Significant quantities of oil are modelled to have been expelled from Jurassic sediments (Plover and Lower Vulcan formations) in the Heywood Graben during the Tertiary and Late Tertiary, respectively. These charges are likely to have sourced the thick palaeo-oil columns interpreted at Heywood-1 and Crux-1.

Modelled oil expulsion in the deepwater Seringapatam Sub-basin is highly sensitive to the organic richness and quality of interpreted Jurassic rift sediments. Provided these units contain good quality source rocks comparable to those within Jurassic rifts elsewhere on the North West Shelf, then significant quantities of oil and gas are modelled to have been expelled from this graben during the Late Tertiary. Evidence of such an oil charge may be provided by thin zones of elevated GOI data in Jurassic reservoirs at North Scott Reef-1, Scott Reef-2A and Brecknock-1, all located on a major anticlinal trend inboard of the Seringapatam graben.

Regional models of the recently identified, oil-prone, Early Cretaceous (Echuca Shoals Formation) petroleum system suggest that these rocks have not expelled significant volumes of oil. However, organic-rich sediments within this succession occur as thin transgressive sheets deposited in response to fluctuating sea level on a gently inclined ramp margin, and thus higher-resolution sequence stratigraphic models are required to more accurately assess their local expulsion history. Local effective oil charge from these sources is confirmed by the Cornea, Gwydion-1 and Caswell-2 accumulations.

The expulsion models highlight the importance of Late Tertiary carbonate clinoforms in controlling the generation and expulsion history of effective source rocks in the Browse Basin. The rapid progradation of these carbonates is likely to cause an outward-migrating compaction wave that forces expelled fluids and hydrocarbons to outboard areas. This mechanism may apply elsewhere on the North West Shelf where carbonate clinoforms are similarly well developed, and could provide new exploration opportunities in outboard areas.

Tags: AU-WA, Conference Paper, Earth Sciences, External Publication, Published_External, hydrocarbons, marine, petroleum geology
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
Australia's Maritime Jurisdiction off the Australian Antarctic Territory

Map showing Australia's Maritime Jurisdiction off the Australian Antarctic Territory.
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, treaties 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.
3400mm x 1050mm (for 42" plotter) sized .pdf downloadable from the web.

Tags: AQ, Administrative Boundary, Earth Sciences, Published_External, Thematic Map, administrative boundaries, bathymetry, continental shelf, marine jurisdiction
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
Geomorphology of the Lord Howe Island Shelf and Submarine Volcano SS06-2008 Post-survey Report

The Lord Howe Island survey SS06-2008 in April 2008 aboard the RV Southern Surveyor was a collaboration between the University of Wollongong and Geoscience Australia. The survey was also an activity of the Commonwealth Environment Research Facilities' (CERF) Marine Biodiversity Hub, of which Geoscience Australia is a partner, and will contribute to the revised Plan of Management for the Lord Howe Marine Parks. The objectives of the survey were to map the morphology and benthic environments of the shallow shelf that surrounds Lord Howe Island as well as the deeper flanks of this largely submarine volcano. Of particular interest was the apparent drowned reef structure on the shelf and the spatial distribution of seabed habitats and infauna. The data collected are required to better understand the history of reef growth at Lord Howe Island, which sits at the southernmost limit of reef formation, and links between the physical environment and ecological processes that control the spatial distribution of biodiversity on the shelf. The morphology of the flanks of the submarine volcano was also examined to reveal whether they provide evidence of major erosional and depositional processes acting on the volcano. This report provides a description of the survey activities and the results of the processing and initial analysis of the data and samples collected.

Tags: AU-NSW, CERF, Earth Sciences, GA Publication, Published_External, Record, marine, marine biodiversity, marine park, marine survey, seabed
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
The Lander Trough, southern Wiso Basin, Northern Territory

The Lander Trough forms the east-southeast trending, southern and deeper part of the Wiso Basin, and is flanked on the north by an extensive less deformed area of the Basin. Recent geological mapping, shallow stratigraphic drilling, and a reassessment of geophysical data in the southeastern part of the trough provide additional information on the nature and structure of the rocks it contains. Beneath the Cainozoic superficial material, three sequences of rocks are distinguished. The upper sequence consists of ?Late Palaeozoic Lake Surprise Sandstone; the middle of Cambrian or Ordovician sediments and volcanics; and the lower of Proterozoic rocks. The ?Late Palaeozoic sequence is flat-lying and thin (100-250 m), whereas the Early Palaeozoic sequence forms a wedge which thins to the north and thickens southwards to about 800 m In the deepest part of the trough. The Proterozoic sequence forms the basement to these Palaeozoic sediments of the Wiso Basin. The trough is indicated to be a downwarp in the crust, about 300 km long and 100 km wide, bounded by an overthrust fault system against the Arunta Block on the south. The fault system is considered to be contemporaneous with the post-Devonian Alice Springs Orogeny which affected the NgaIia and Amadeus Basins farther to the south. The presence of a thick (up to 800 m), partly marine sequence of Cambrian and Ordovician sediments upgrades the petroleum potential of the Lander Trough area, as gas has been found in such sediments in the depositionally and structurally similar Amadeus Basin to the south, and the Toko Syncline of the Georgina Basin to the southeast.

Tags: Earth Sciences, GA Publication, Journal, NT, Published_External
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
Andvord Drift: a new type of inner shelf, glacial marine deposystem from the Antarctic Peninsula

Hemipelagic, sediment drift deposits have been discovered and mapped on the Antarctic Peninsula shelf in 300-500 m water depth. The drift located adjacent to Andvord Bay covers 44.5 km2 and exhibits continuous and discontinuous parallel reflections that conform to peaks and valleys in the acoustic basement as observed in deep-tow boomer and sparker seismic records. This style of drift deposit is a common feature of deep oceanic sediments, but is not normally found in continental shelf environments.

Tags: AQ, Antarctic data, Earth Sciences, External Publication, Published_External, Scientific Journal Paper, marine
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
National Gravity Compilation 2019 includes airborne tilt grid

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 includes airborne tilt grid is derived from the 2019 Australian National Gravity Grids B series. These gravity data were acquired under the project No. 202008. The grid has a cell size of 0.00417 degrees (approximately 435m). This gravity anomaly grid is derived from ground observations stored in the Australian National Gravity Database (ANGD) as at September 2019, supplemented with 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. Airborne gravity and gravity gradiometry data were also included to provide better resolution to areas where ground gravity data was not of a suitable quality. Out of the approximately 1.8 million gravity observations, nearly 1.4 million gravity stations in the ANGD together with Airborne Gravity surveys totalling 345,000 line km and 106,000 line km of Airborne Gravity Gradiometry 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 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. Airborne surveys have a line spacing ranging from 0.5 km to 2.5 km. Terrain corrections to gravity were calculated using both offshore bathymetry and onshore topography data. The grid shows the tilt filter of the complete Bouguer anomalies (B series) over Australia and its continental margins.

Tags: Australia, B series, Bouguer, EARTH SCIENCES, Earth sciences, GADDS2.0, NCI, None, Published_External, airborne, complete, digital data, geophysical survey, geophysics, gradiometry, grav, gravity, grid, marine, raster, round, satellite, spherical cap, survey 202008, tilt
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
The ancient Murray River system

It has previously been suggested that an ancient Murray River once extended across the present line of the Mt Lofty Ranges, and emptied into Spencer Gulf.  Evidence available from a comprehensive study of the Murray Basin shows that this is unlikely, at least during the Cainozoic.  Sedimentation patterns reconstructed from several thousand borelogs suggest that a precursor to the modern river existed at least from the Eocene, but that this river emptied into the Murravian Gulf of the Southern Ocean at sites within the Murray Basin during periods of marine flooding, and at sites close to that of the modern mouth at times of lowered sea level. Precursor streams to most major tributaries of the Murray River have also existed since at least the Eocene, and drainage patterns reflect the combined influences of subtle tectonic movement of underlying shallow basement and eustatic overprinting.

Tags: Earth Sciences, GA Publication, Journal, Published_External, SA
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
Certainty and Stability, Australia Maritime Boundaries in a Changing World

Geoscience Australia has the mandated authority for determining the Australia’s maritime jurisdiction and the framework for managing marine resources including supporting marine planning: 


deliver certainty, stability, predictability and visibility to Australia’s international and domestic boundaries


deliver systems that support planning in the maritime jurisdiction


support our neighbours in the region to address global priority issues in collaboration with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT)
This presentation (May 2025) will communicate the benefits and progress associated with the digital transformation of maritime boundaries both within Australia, under Australian-led international programs and global influence.

Tags: Cartography and digital mapping, Jurisdiction, Maritime boundaries, Ocean governance, Published_External
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
Comment on: Williams et al (2009) -Australia's Deep-water Reserve Network: Implications of False Homegeneity for Classifiying Abiotic Surrogates of Biodiversity in ICES Journal of Marine Science, 66: 214-224

Williams et al. (2009) report on new multibeam sonar bathymetry and underwater video data collected from submarine canyons and seamounts on Australia's southeast continental margin to 'investigate the degree to which geomorphic features act as surrogates for benthic megafaunal biodiversity' (p. 214). The authors describe what they view as deficiencies in the design of the Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the southeast region of Australia, in which geomorphology information was employed as a surrogate to infer regional-scale patterns of benthic biodiversity. This comment is designed to support and underscore the importance of evaluating MPA designs and the validity of using abiotic surrogates such as geomorphology to infer biodiversity patterns, and seeks to clarify some of the discrepancies in geomorphic terminologies and approaches used between the original study and the Williams et al. (2009) evaluation. It is our opinion that the MPA design criteria used by the Australian Government are incorrectly reported by Williams et al. (2009). In particular, we emphasise the necessity for consistent terminology and approaches when undertaking comparative analyses of geomorphic features. We show that the MPA selection criteria used by the Australian Government addressed the issues of false homogeneity described by Williams et al. (2009), but that final placement of MPAs was based on additional stakeholder considerations. Finally, we argue that although the Williams et al. (2009) study provides valuable information on biological distributions within seamounts and canyons, the hypothesis that geomorphic features (particularly seamounts and submarine canyons) are surrogates for benthic biodiversity is not tested explicitly by their study.

Tags: AU-NSW, CERF, Earth Sciences, External Publication, Published_External, Scientific Journal Paper, marine
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
Davies Reef Depth From 07 Dec 2009 To 12 Jul 2016

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
MODIS Derived Primary Productivity: Seasonal Hotspots

The dataset indicates the seasonal primary productivity hotspots of ocean surface waters. They are derived from MODIS (aqua) images using NASA's SeaDAS image processing software. The monthly chlorophyll a images between July 2002 and August 2014 are used to identify the primary productivity hotspots of the four austral seasons: winter (June, July, and August), spring (September, October and November), summer (December, January and February) and autumn (March, April and May). The extent of the dataset covers the entire Australian EEZ and surrounding waters (including the southern ocean). The value (between 0 and 1.0) of the dataset represents the likelihood of the location being a primary productivity hotspot.

This research is supported by the National Environmental Science Program (NESP) Marine Biodiversity Hub through Project D1.

Tags: Earth Sciences, MODIS, Marine Biodiversity Hub, National Environmental Science Program, Published_External, primary productivity
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network