AndreaBozzo/ceres-open-data-index huggingface dataset:
New Quartz SAR-OSL Ages from the Stranded Beach Dune Sequence in South-east South Australia

A sequence of stranded coastal barriers in south-east South Australia preserves a record of sea-level variations over the past 800 ka. Huntley et al. (Quat. Sci. Rev. 12 (1993a) 1; Quat. Sci. Rev. 13 (1994a) 201) attempted to test thermoluminescence (TL) dating methods and found good agreement between quartz TL ages with independent ages for these dunes. We investigate the accuracy of the single-aliquot regenerative-dose (SAR) procedure (Radiat. Meas. 32 (2000) 57) over an extended age range of 0-250 ka, by comparing SAR-OSL ages determined on quartz extracts from these dunes with the existing chronology. We show that Robe II range is 60 ka, and that Robe III is 100 ka old. Not surprisingly, the OSL ages increase monotonically from the Robe II range to the West Naracoorte range. For the younger dunes (&lt;240 ka), the SAR-OSL ages agree with the expected ages within 1 errors, whereas for the older dunes the SAR ages are consistent with independent ages within 2 error limits. We consider these results to be very promising, and lend support to the large number of quartz SAR-OSL ages being presented in the literature, where such comparisons with independent chronology are not usually possible.

Tags: AU-SA, Earth Sciences, External Publication, Published_External, Scientific Journal Paper, boundaries, coasts, marine
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
Eucla Basin hydrogeological inventory

This Eucla 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 Eucla Basin, located along Australia's southern margin, covers an extensive area of approximately 1,150,000 square kilometres, housing the world's largest grouping of onshore Cenozoic marine sediments. It stretches over 2000 km from east to west and has four main subdivisions: Scaddan Embayment, Esperance Shelf, Nullarbor Shelf, and Yalata Sub-basin offshore. The basin extends about 350 km inland from the modern southern Australian coastline and terminates around 200 km offshore where it meets sediments of the Australian-Antarctic Basin. 

The sedimentary succession is largely consistent throughout the entire basin. In the west, it overlaps with the Yilgarn Craton and Albany-Fraser Orogen, while in the east, the Gawler Craton and Officer Basin separate it from the Musgrave Province. The basin contains mainly Cenozoic sediments, with thicker sequences in the east due to sediment movement and regional elevation differences. The onshore Eucla Basin hosts an unfaulted sheet of sediment deposited over a south-sloping shelf during several marine transgressions. The basal units rest on a prominent unconformity above the Bight Basin, indicating a break in deposition during the separation of Australia and Antarctica. The sedimentary sequence comprises various units such as the Hampton Sandstone, Pidinga Formation, and Werillup Formation, followed by the Wilson Bluff Limestone, Abrakurrie Limestone, Nullarbor Limestone, and Roe Calcarenite. 

The basin's geological history is marked by significant events such as marine transgressions during the Eocene, leading to the deposition of extensive limestone formations. The Miocene saw slight tilting of the basin, exposing the Nullarbor Plain to the atmosphere and limiting further sediment deposition. During the late Miocene to Pliocene, barrier and lagoonal transgressions contributed to the formation of the Roe Calcarenite. The Pliocene period witnessed intense karstification and the development of ferricrete and silcrete, resulting in the unique modern-day topography of the region.

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: Australian Ocean Data Network
50m Multibeam Dataset of Australia 2018

This dataset contains all multibeam bathymetry data held by Geoscience Australia as of June 2018. It was compiled from data holdings lying within the offshore area of Australia, including international waters, and gridded at 50m. Source information can be found in the associated vector product, AusSeabed Bathymetry Holdings (https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/116321). This dataset is accessible via clip, zip &amp; ship enabled web mapping service on Geoscience Australia’s Marine data portal, http://marine.ga.gov.au. In future, this product will be delivered dynamically through the AusSeabed portal (in development).

This dataset is not to be used for navigational purposes.

Tags: AusSeabed, HVC_146413, Published_External, bathymetry, depth, marine, multibeam
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
Manganese nodules from the Tasman Sea off Sydney

Two manganese nodules were recently recovered by HMAS Kimbla from a water depth of 4300 m, in a northeast-trending trough about 250 nautical miles southeast of Sydney (155Â° 35E. 36Â° 15S). They were associated with greenish gray calcareous mud laid down below the lysocline, but above the carbonate compensation depth. The nodules are subspherical and about 10 cm in diameter, and have a high clay content, a low Mn:Fe ratio, and low contents of Ni (0.25%), Cu (0.17%) and Co (0.06%).

Tags: AUS, Earth Sciences, GA Publication, Journal, Published_External, marine
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
Seabed morphology and geomorphology of Flinders Reefs within the Coral Sea Marine Park, north-eastern Australia, Version 1 WFS

This OGC Web Feature Service (WFS) contains geospatial seabed morphology and geomorphology information for Flinders Reefs within the Coral Sea Marine Park and are intended for use by marine park managers, regulators, the general public and other stakeholders. This web service uses the data product published in McNeil et al. (2023); eCat Record 147998.

Tags: Geomorphology, Geomorphology and Earth Surface Processes, Mapping, Morphology, Parks Australia, Published_External, Seabed, Spatial, WFS, web service
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
Australia's Maritime Jurisdiction around Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Christmas Island

Map showing Australia's Maritime Jurisdiction around the around Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Christmas Island.
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.
A0 sized .pdf downloadable from the web.

Tags: Administrative Boundary, CC, CX, Earth Sciences, Published_External, Thematic Map, administrative boundaries, bathymetry, continental shelf, marine, marine jurisdiction
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
The Fitzroy Contaminants Project - A Study of the Nutrient and Fine-sediment Dynamics of the Fitzroy Estuary and Keppel Bay

The Fitzroy catchment is the largest Queensland catchment discharging to the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) lagoon. Sediments and nutrients together with anthropogenic pollutants originating upstream in the catchment are discharged from the Fitzroy River via the Fitzroy Estuary (FE) and ultimately into Keppel Bay (KB). The estuary and the bay act as natural chemical reactors where the materials delivered undergo chemical and physical transformations before some are deposited and stored in the growing deltaic and beach areas, with the remainder transported eastward to the southern zone of the GBR lagoon.

Tags: AU-QLD, Earth Sciences, External Publication, Published_External, Report, coasts, geochemistry, geomorphology, marine, sedimentology
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
Rift Evolution in the Capel and Faust Basins, Offshore Eastern Australia, and Implications for Regional Petroleum Prospectivity

The Capel and Faust basins are located on the northern Lord Howe Rise between eastern Australia and New Caledonia in water depths of 1300-2500 m. Under the Australian Government's New Petroleum (2003-2007) and Offshore Energy Security (2007-2011) programs, Geoscience Australia acquired new geological data including high quality 2D seismic data, high resolution multibeam bathymetry, gravity and magnetic data, and rock dredge samples. These data have been analysed and synthesised for a geological and petroleum prospectivity assessment of the area. Prior to this phase of data collection, geoscientific data was limited to regional seismic profiles acquired during the 1970s to 1990s, shiptrack potential field and bathymetric data, and one DSDP drill hole.

The interpretation of new data has improved definition of depocentres previously indicated by regional
satellite gravity data. The largest depocentres are approximately 150 km long and 40 km wide. Seismic data suggest that the basin fill attains a maximum total thickness of over 6 km and consists of two syn rift and one sag megasequence packages, overlying a pre rift basement. The basement includes an older (?Mesozoic) sedimentary succession and a possible rift precursor volcanic succession. The early syn rift megasequence (Syn rift 1) is inferred to be dominated by Early Cretaceous (or older) volcanics and volcaniclastic sediments. It may also include coaly and lacustrine sediments. The late syn rift megasequence (Syn rift 2) is likely to be dominated by Late Cretaceous non marine clastic sediments, with localised volcanics and coal. The upper part of this megasequence was deposited under increasingly marine influence and is likely to include deltaic and shoreline sandstones. The post rift megasequence is essentially a Late Cretaceous to Recent deepeningupward marine succession that becomes increasingly calcareous and fine grained.

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

Tags: Abstract, Earth Sciences, External Publication, Published_External, continental margins, marine, petroleum geology, sedimentary basins, stratigraphy, structural geology
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
SI 1003 Van Diemen Gulf (North-West Inshore Route), NT (HIPP) Bathymetry Acquisition (20210027S)

The Van Diemen Gulf (North-West Inshore Route) bathymetry survey was acquired for the Australian Hydrographic Office (AHO) onboard the MV Offshore Guardian and the MV Speical Order during the period 26 Jun 2021 – 5 Oct 2021. This was a contracted survey conducted for the Australian Hydrographic Office by Guardian Geomatics as part of the Hydroscheme Industry Partnership Program. The survey area encompases an area in Van Diemen Gulf (North-West Inshore Route), NT. Bathymetry data was acquired using a Kongsberg EM2040-07 MKII, and processed using  CARIS HIPS and SIPS processing software. The dataset was then exported as a 30m 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, multibeam
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
Summary Of Data And Results Otway Basin, South Australia Geltwood Beach No. 1 Well Of Beach Petroleum No Liability

Geltwood Beach No. 1 Well was located on the Geltwood Anticline, approximately 7 1/2 miles south-west of Millicent in the Otway Basin, in the south-eastern part of South Australia. The well was drilled by Drilling Contractors (Australia) pty Ltd for Beach Petroleum No Liability, to a total depth of 12,300 feet. Drilling commenced on 22nd August, 1963, and was completed on lOth November, 1963. A full programme of logging, testing, and coring was undertaken.

After passing through 45 feet of Recent calcareous sand, the well penetrated 1860 feet of Miocene to Eocene marine and paralic sediments, and 1760 feet of (?) Palaeocene to Upper Cretaceous sands and grits. Below 3680 feet, a monotonous sequence of Upper to Lower Cretaceous sediments of the Merino Group were encountered and continued to total depth at 12,300 feet.

Geltwood Beach No. 1 Well was drilled to test the hydrocarbon potential of Lower Tertiary and Upper Cretaceous sediments on a probable closed structure in an area where strandings of bitumen and heavy oil on the beaches were thought to indicate SUbmarine seepages. Evidence from wells at Mount Salt and Beachport indicated that Geltwood Beach No. 1 was near the edge of probable wedge-out of Middle to Upper Cretaceous and (?) Palaeocene marine sediments overlying Lower Cretaceous beds. Traces of gas were recorded at intervals from 4500 feet to total depth, but five drillstem tests yielded only slightly gascut salty water and drilling mud. The well was plugged and abandoned as a dry hole.

The stratigraphic drilling operation at Geltwood Beach No. 1 was subsidized under the Petroleum Search Subsidy Act 1959-1961, from surface to total depth.

Tags: AU-SA, Earth Sciences, GA Publication, Other Publication, Published_External, petroleum exploration
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
The Maastrichtian and early Tertiary record of the Great Australian Bight Basin and its onshore equivalents on the Australian southern margin: a nannofossil study

Samples dredged during BMR Survey 66 by KV, Rig Seismic in the central Great Australian Bight Basin are examined and their calcareous nannofossils are recorded. The Maastrichtian, Eocene and Oligocene assemblages are compared with those known from the onshore southern Australian sequence, allowing a better understanding of the history of the southern margin of Australia.  The Maastrichtian assemblages, the first found in southern Australia, probably represent a marine ingression encompassing three discernible phases.  The Eocene record includes assemblages older than any from onshore and is also older than the base of the Eocene section on the Naturaliste Plateau.  An offset parallelism with the onshore record is evident: in the offshore (Great Australian Bight) sequence, early Eocene ingressions preceded a middle Eocene transgression, while in the onshore Otway Basin (to the east) middle Eocene ingressions preceded a late Eocene transgression.  In both sequences there are earlier Tertiary ingressions which were suited for calcareous foraminiferids but apparently not coccolith-forming nannoplankton.  The previously reported excursion of the low-latitude Sphenolithus ciperoensis into southern Australia in the Oligocene is confirmed, being a result of a short warm episode, Surface waters along the southern margin of Australia were warmer in the west than in the east during much of the Eocene and Oligocene, This is attributed to a warm intermittent proto-Leeuwin Current, beginning in the middle Eocene, which brought warm surface waters from northwestern Australia into southern Australia.  Dilution of the currents effects on the surface waters of southern Australia would be expected in an easterly direction.  Nannofossil evidence, supported by palynological and lithological data, suggests that the seafloor in the Great Australian Bight Basin has subsided considerably since the Late Cretaceous.  The onset of the increase in rate of subsidence in the middle Eocene (as reflected by the nannofossil assemblages) marked the end of a stage of very slow subsidence initiated at about 90 Ma ago.  The assemblages provide strong evidence for a marked fall in sea level during the latest late Eocene, at a rate considerably higher than that of subsidence, resulting in shoaling well into the Oligocene.

Tags: Earth Sciences, GA Publication, Journal, Published_External, SA, WA
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
Quaternary Aminostratigraphy of Eolianite on Lord Howe Island, Southwest Pacific Ocean

Amino acid racemization (AAR) dating of the eolianite on Lord Howe Island is used to correlate several disparate successions and provides a geochronological framework that ranges from Holocene to Middle Pleistocene time. The reliability of the AAR data is assessed by analysing multiple samples from individual lithostratigraphic units, checking the stratigraphic order of the D/L ratios and the consistency of the relative extents of racemization for a suite of seven amino acids. Three aminozones are defined on the basis of the extent of racemization of amino acids in land snails (Placostylus bivaricosus) and 'whole-rock' eolianite samples. Aminozone A includes Placostylus from modern soil horizons (e.g. mean D/L-leucine ratio of 0.03Â±0.01) and whole-rock samples from unconsolidated lagoonal and beach deposits (0.10Â±0.01-0.07Â±0.03). Aminozone B includes Placostylus (0.45Â±0.03) and whole-rock samples from beach (0.48Â±0.01) and dune (0.45Â±0.02-0.30Â±0.02) units of the Neds Beach Formation, deposited during OIS 5. The oldest, Aminozone C, comprises Placostylus recovered from paleosols (0.76Â±0.02) and whole-rock eolianite samples (0.62Â±0.00) from the Searles Point Formation, which indicate the formation was likely deposited over several Oxygen Isotope Stages (OIS), during and prior to OIS 7. These data support independent lithostratigraphic interpretations and are in broad agreement with U/Th ages of speleothems from the Searles Point Formation and corals from the Neds Beach Formation, and with several TL ages of dune units in both formations. The AAR data reveal that eolianite deposition extends over a significantly longer time interval than previously appreciated and indicate that the deposition of the large dune units is linked to periods of relatively high sea level.

Tags: AU-NSW, Earth Sciences, External Publication, Published_External, Scientific Journal Paper, isotopes, marine
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
SI 1042 Lord Mayor Shoal to Pitt Shoals (HIPP) Bathymetry Acquisition (20230021S)

The Lord Mayor Shoal to Pitt Shoals&nbsp;bathymetry survey was acquired for the Australian Hydrographic Office (AHO) during the period 1 Oct 2023 – 30 Nov 2023. This was a contracted survey conducted for the Australian Hydrographic Office as part of the Hydroscheme Industry Partnership Program. The survey area encompasses an area in Lord Mayor Shoal to Pitt Shoals. Bathymetry data was acquired using a Kongsberg EM2040 MKII, and processed using CARIS HIPS and SIPS processing software. The dataset was then exported as a 30m resolution, 32 bit floating point GeoTIFF grid of the survey area.

This dataset is not to be used for navigational purposes.

Tags: AusSeabed, Australia-wide geoscience data, EARTH SCIENCES, Earth Science | Oceans | Bathymetry/Seafloor Topography | Bathymetry, HVC_144641, Multibeam, Oceans, Offshore Mapping, Published_External, Resourcing Australia's Prosperity, bathymetric grids, bathymetry, multibeam
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
Research Cruise Proposal : BMR Cruise 106 : Seabed Morphology and Offshore Resources Around Christmas Island, Indian Ocean : Project 121.32, BMR Offshore Sedimentary Basins Program

Christmas Island is an Australian territory lying south of Java inthe Indian Ocean, at about 10Â°30'S and 105Â°40'E. It lies on oceanic crust of Late Cretaceous age, is moving north at 7cm/year, andis being raised as it climbs the bulge on the southern flank of the Java Trench. The island itself consists of Cainozoic volcanics and limestone, and has been extensively mined for Pliocene phosphate. It covers an area of 140 km2 , and rises 360 m above sea level.

Australia has declared a 200 mile Fisheries Zone around the island, and the aim of this BMR investigation is to assess the seabed morphology, sediment thickness, and offshore mineral resources in a future Exclusive Economic Zone. This information will be of particular value to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, when Australia negotiates a Christmas Island seabed boundary with Indonesia to the north.

Present knowledge indicates that oceanic crust is generally at 5000-6000 m around Christmas Island, and that it is overlain by 100-300m of pelagic sediment which thickens northward toward the Java Trench. A number of volcanic ridges trend generally northeast or north-northeast, and are as shallow as 1200 m below sea level. Christmas Island itself sits on such a ridge. Shallow-water limestones and manganese oxide crusts have been dredged from the ridges. Deepseacoring programs show that pelagic foraminiferal ooze and marl give way to siliceous (diatom-radiolarian) ooze and red clay below 5000 in water depth. Volcanic ash from Indonesia is an additional component of the sediment.

Reconnaissance sampling has shown that manganese nodules are quite common in the deep sea, and that they carry moderate grades of the valuable metals, copper (Cu), nickel (Ni) and cobalt (Co). In a fairly similar geological setting to the west, in the central Indian Ocean, India has pioneer investor status for a nodule mine site of 150,000 square kilometres. At this site the grade of Cu+Ni+Co is about 2.55%,and nodule abundance is 5-7.5% of wet nodules per square metre, figures which suggest that the site has long-term economic potential.

The present project will commence with a 28-day geoscience cruise of R.V. "Rig Seismic" from 7 January to 4 February, 1992. The plan isto acquire about 2500 km of high-resolution reflection seismic and bathymetric data, to define seabed morphology and to allow regional mapping of sediment thickness and facies. The seismic data will beused as the basis of a sampling campaign to investigate sediment type, manganese nodule abundance and metal grade on the deepsea floor, and manganese crust thickness and metal grade on the volcanic ridges. The end result will be a comprehensive review of the geology and mineral resources of the Christmas Island offshore zone.

Tags: CX, Earth Sciences, GA Publication, Published_External, Record, marine, marine survey, morphology
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
Biogeography of the Lord Howe Rise region, Tasman Sea

In this review we aim to synthesise physical and biological information on the Lord Howe Rise (LHR) region to describe its biogeography at a regional scale (100s of kilometres) and assess this in a national and global context. The LHR region is large (1.95 million km2), spans tropical and cool temperate latitudes (18.4oS to 40.3oS), and is topographically complex being formed of large expanses of soft sediment basins and plateaus (i.e. subdued bathymetric features), with scattered seamounts, guyots, knolls, and pinnacles (i.e. raised bathymetric features). Physical factors can vary between these two broad feature types, particularly regarding depth and substrate, although no clear relationship was detected between sediment texture and geomorphic features across the survey area. Biological data from two recent surveys (TAN0713 and NORFANZ) show differences in assemblages and species distribution between raised and subdued bathymetric features and suggest that biological communities are indeed influenced by substrate as well as depth-related variables, with some taxa such as demersal fish showing latitudinal gradients. There are only limited spatially-replicated studies and no time-series data available for most of the LHR region, but paleo-environmental processes and examples from other regions provide some indication of migration, speciation, and endemism in the LHR region.

Tags: AU-NSW, Abstract, Earth Sciences, External Publication, Published_External, geology, geomorphology, habitat, marine, sedimentary basins
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network