AndreaBozzo/ceres-open-data-index huggingface dataset:
Effects of Abiotic Stressors on Infaunal Burrowing and Associated Sediment Characteristics

Infauna play key roles in nutrient cycling and bioturbation by facilitating exchange across the sediment-water interface, but the effects of environmental stressors on the behavior of infauna are poorly studied compared to epifauna. Here we used laboratory experiments to examine the effects of temperature (15, 21, and 32Â°C), salinity (16, 22, 28, and 34), and food availability (low, moderate, high) on the burrowing activity of the opportunistic deposit-feeding polychaete Capitella sp. 1. We also used pH and O2 fluorosensors to investigate the effects of burrowing on marine sediment chemistry. Worms buried significantly deeper at 21 than at 15Â°C, and they died at 32Â°C. Salinity only marginally affected the area of burrowing activity, with greater area at 35 than at 22. Burrows in highly enriched treatments were significantly more shallow than those in moderate and low food treatments. The fluorosensors showed that the exchange of solutes between the sediment and overlying water was associated with burrowing activity. These results show that changes in environmental conditions affect infaunal burrowing activity, which in turn affects sediment characteristics. We discuss the need to consider infaunal responses to abiotic stress in order to understand community and ecosystem responses to environmental changes associated with climate change, pollution, and eutrophication.

Tags: CERF, Earth Sciences, External Publication, Published_External, Scientific Journal Paper, marine, sedimentology
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Regional gravity survey, central and northern Australia 1959

In May and June 1959 a regional gravity survey was conducted in Northern and Central Australia to provide additional data for a gravity map of Australia. 131 gravity stations were established, mostly in Northern Territory and Queensland. Commercial air transport was used; its advantages and limitations for this application are discussed. This form of transport enabled a large area to be covered rapidly with fairly accurate observed gravity values; however, the accuracy of the anomalies calculated is low, chiefly because of reliance on barometric levelling.

Tags: Earth Sciences, GA Publication, Published_External, Record, gravity
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Port Phillip-Westernport Basin hydrogeological inventory

This Port Phillip-Westernport 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 Port Phillip and Westernport basins are small, shallow sedimentary basins located in south-central Victoria, formed during the Late Cretaceous rifting of Australia and Antarctica. They share similar stratigraphy with nearby basins. The Port Phillip Basin is bounded by the Selwyn and Rowsley Faults to the east and west, while the Heath Hill Fault marks the eastern boundary of the Westernport Basin. Both basins have pre-Cenozoic basement rocks comprising folded and faulted Paleozoic metasedimentary rocks and granites from the Lachlan Fold Belt.

The Port Phillip Basin's stratigraphy includes Maastrichtian to Cenozoic sedimentary units with intercalated volcanic rocks. The main depocentres are the Sorrento Graben, Ballan Graben/Lal Lal Trough, and Parwan Trough. Notable formations are the Yaloak and Werribee formations, with coal-bearing strata and marine sediments.

The Westernport Basin has coastal sediments and volcanic deposits from Paleocene to Holocene. It experienced marine transgressions and regressions due to sea-level fluctuations. Fault movements in the late Pliocene and early Pleistocene formed a fault-bounded depression centered on the Koo Wee Rup Plain. The main units are the Childers Formation, Older Volcanics, Yallock Formation, Sherwood Marl, and Baxter Sandstone.

Both basins have Quaternary sediments, including Pleistocene eolian sand sequences, Holocene alluvial and paludal clays, and fluvial sediments in valleys and palaeovalleys. The Port Phillip Basin contains distinct phases of terrestrial and marine deposition, while the Westernport Basin has Eocene volcanism and marine sediments. These basins are important geological features in the region, with various formations representing millions of years of geological history.

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
The hydrology of the eastern Barkly Tableland. (Progress report, 1962.)

The Bureau of Mineral Resources mapped the Ranken and Avon Downs 1:250,000 Sheet areas in 1961. These areas, which make up the north-eastern part of the Georgina Basin, also form the eastern part of the Barkly Tableland  The geology of the two sheet areas is described by Randal and Brown (1962a and b). During the survey, information on 125 bores was obtained and collated to evaluate the underground water resources of the region for its present and future development. Ninety-six (96) bores are currently operating in the region, and they are tapping sub-artesian water from Lower Palaeozoic aquifers between 245 and 635 feet above sea-level.

Tags: Earth Sciences, GA Publication, Published_External, Record, hydrogeology
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Proterozoic microfossils from the Roper Group, Northern Territory, Australia

The Roper Group (minimum age approximately 1300 x 10^6yr) is a shallow water sequence of sandstone, siltstone, and shale, with minor, sub-economic oolitic ironstone. The depositional environments of the Group as a whole, range from fluvial, through deltaic or estuarine, to marine, and a number of different environments of deposition for the ironstones can be recognised. Shales from the McMinn Formation at the top of the Group have yielded an assemblage of microfossils. The microbiota includes algal cells and filaments, large acritarchs and giant filaments of uncertain affinity. A probable life cycle and an example of endospory may indicate that some of the organisms are eukaryotic. The flora is very advanced for its geological age, but this is probably because most other Precambrian microbiotas come from carbonate, stromatolitic environments, where simpler and more conservative forms would have pre-dominated. The microfossils are in a particularly good state of preservation because of the low degree of thermal metamorphism which the sediments have undergone. Geochemical and petrographic studies of the organic matter indicate that its composition and level of organic maturation are appropriate for the generation of oil. The rank of the organic matter is locally increased by proximity to dolerite sills which intrude the Group as a whole.

Tags: Earth Sciences, GA Publication, Journal, NT, Published_External
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Miocene to Pleistocene foraminiferal biostratigraphy of dredge samples from the Marion Plateau, offshore Queensland, Australia

Planktic and larger benthic foraminiferids have been studied in thin section from a suite of dredge samples of two sites on the Marion Plateau, offshore Queensland.  The two sites gave different results. (1) The northern site sampled an Early to Middle Miocene carbonate platform, with shallow-water foraminiferal assemblages. This limestone has solution cavities (developed during periods of subaerial exposure) infilled with Late Miocene shallow-water planktic foraminiferid-bearing sediments. The rock is cross-cut by several generations of mud-filled borings. Some of the fill in these borings could be biostratigraphically dated, with ages ranging from Pliocene to Pleistocene. (2) At the southern site, a Late Miocene carbonate platform was sampled; the only sample recovered was a limestone slab consisting of a late Miocene rhodolith-bearing floatstone with a marine hardground overlain by a condensed section of phosphatic wackestone of Pliocene age. A series of mounds is present down the slope from the Late Miocene platform sampling site; these also were sampled and were found to be of probable Pliocene and probable Pleistocene age (Zones N.18 and N.22).  Water depths for the deposition of the platform phase were shallow, probably less than 50 m, as testified by the presence at the northern site of large benthic foraminiferids, Halimeda , hermatypic corals, and nodular coralline algae. The cavity-fill sediments, probably typical of the overlying sediments, have good planktic foraminiferal faunas, but also include some shallow-water faunal components (Amphistegina) and reworked older faunas (Lepidocyclina). The infilled borings tend to be almost totally composed of planktic foraminiferids, as do some discrete samples.  This faunal evidence indicates that for the northern platform no deposition took place during much of the Middle Miocene and early Late Miocene, probably due to a long period of subaerial exposure. During the Late Miocene, the northern platform slope was flooded and subsided to its present depth by the Pleistocene.  The southern platform was built during the Late Miocene and subsided to its present depth in the Pliocene. Samples from the mounds contain shallow-water assemblages of two ages: one may be of similar Pliocene age as found on the platform sites, and another of probable Pleistocene age.  The presence of hermatypic corals, Halimeda, and larger benthic foraminiferids suggest warm surface water temperatures since the Early Miocene.

Tags: Earth Sciences, GA Publication, Journal, Published_External, QLD, marine
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Free-air anomaly and gravity maps of Australia - in colour, 1:25,000,000

On the following pages are a Free-air Anomaly Map of Australia and a Gravity Map of Australia (showing Bouguer anomalies on land and free-air anomalies at sea), both at a scale of 1:25 million. The Free-air Anomaly map is a smaller version of an unpublished map prepared as an overlay to the 1:2.5 million 1976 Geological Map of Australia; its projection is Simple Conic. The Gravity Map is a smaller version of the 1:5 million 1976 Gravity Map of Australia; its projection is Lambert Conformal. Both maps were prepared from the same data bank as the 1:5 million Gravity Map of Australia with the addition of some marine observations by the "Gulf Rex" which fill a large gap at the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef. Details of the sources of data, reduction of observations, accuracy of the anomalies, and techniques used for smoothing and contouring are contained in Anfiloff et al. (this issue). The maps were drawn by P. Moffat and A.J. Maxwell of BMRs Geophysical Drawing Office and printed by the Division of National Mapping, Department of National Resources.

Tags: AUS, Earth Sciences, GA Publication, Journal, Published_External
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Application of a new genetic classification and semi-automated geomorphic mapping approach in the Perth submarine canyon, Australia

The acquisition of high resolution marine geophysical data has intensified in recent years (e.g. multibeam echo-sounding, sub-bottom profiling). This progress provides the opportunity to classify and map the seafloor in greater detail, using new methods that preserve the links between processes and morphology. Geoscience Australia has developed a new genetic classification approach, nested within the Harris et al (2014) global seafloor mapping framework. The approach divides parent units into sub-features based on established classification schemes and feature descriptors defined by Bradwell et al. (2016: http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/), the International Hydrographic Organization (https://www.iho.int) and the Coastal Marine and Ecological Classification Standard (https://www.cmecscatalog.org). 

Owing to the ecological significance of submarine canyon systems in particular, much recent attention has focused on defining their variation in form and process, whereby they can be classified using a range of topographic metrics, fluvial dis/connection and shelf-incising status. The Perth Canyon is incised into the continental slope and shelf of southwest Australia, covering an area of &gt;1500 km2 and extending from 4700 m water depth to the shelf break in 170 m. The canyon sits within a Marine Protected Area, incorporating a Marine National Park and Habitat Protection Zone in recognition of its benthic and pelagic biodiversity values. However, detailed information of the spatial patterns of the seabed habitats that influence this biodiversity is lacking. Here we use 20 m resolution bathymetry and acoustic backscatter data acquired in 2015 by the Schmidt Ocean Institute plus sub-bottom datasets and sediment samples collected Geoscience Australia in 2005 to apply the new geomorphic classification system to the Perth Canyon. This poster will present results of the geomorphic feature mapping of the canyon and its application to better defining potential benthic habitats.

Presented at the 2017 American Geophysical Union (AGU), Fall Meeting

Tags: EARTH SCIENCES, Submarine canyon, biodiversity, classification, marine geomorphology
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Ocean-floor volcanism in the Lachlan Fold Belt: new evidence from the Wyalong area, New South Wales

Geochemical data indicate that a recently recognised sequence of Ordovician volcanic rocks (the Narragudgil Volcanics) south of Wyalong (NSW) accumulated in an oceanic environment, either
in a mid-ocean ridge (MORB) or back-arc basin (BAB) setting. These volcanics occur in the same package of highly magnetic rocks with a complex magnetic signature as the Gidginbung Volcanics, host to the Temora gold deposit. They were previously considered to be part of the Gidginbung Volcanics, although Warren et al. (1995: Cootamundra 1:250 000 Sheet Explanatory Notes, Geological Survey of New South Wales) noted the presence of rocks in this area as having "...affinities
to the older Jindalee Group with which they may be correlatable.

Tags: AU-NSW, Earth Sciences, GA Publication, Published_External, Research Newslttr Paper, geology, marine
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Potential impacts of marine seismic surveys on fish & invertebrates

The extent to which low-frequency sound from marine seismic surveys impacts marine fauna is a subject of growing concern. The predominant frequency range of seismic airgun emissions is within the hearing range of cetaceans, reptiles, and fishes, and it can also elicit a neurological response in some invertebrates. Offshore seismic surveys have long been considered to be disruptive to fisheries, but comparatively few studies target commercially important species in realistic exposure scenarios. One of the main challenges in underwater sound impact studies is the meaningful translation of laboratory results to the field. Underwater sound properties are affected by the sound source, as well as characteristics of the water column, substrate, and biological communities. The experimental set-up is also critical to accurate response measurement, and design features of holding tanks can lead to misinterpretation of results, particularly related to behaviour. It may be tempting to simplify laboratory results to show effect or no effect, where results should instead be interpreted in the context of realistic exposure scenarios and field conditions.

The current project was developed in response to stakeholder concerns from the fisheries industry about an April seismic survey in the Gippsland Basin, in addition to a broader need to acquire baseline data that may be used to quantify potential impacts of seismic operations on marine organisms. The study involves six components: 1) sound modelling, 2) sound monitoring using moored hydrophones, 3) benthic community assessment using an AUV, 4) bivalve assessment using dredging 5) fish avoidance behaviour using acoustic tagging, and 6) analysis of fisheries catch data as related to seismic surveys. In this presentation, we describe these components and critically review our current understanding of low-frequency sound impact on marine fish and invertebrates.

Tags: Abstract, Earth Sciences, External Publication, Published_External, marine
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
The geology of the Sau River and environs, New Guinea

An area of approximately 800 square miles in the Western Highlands of New Guinea was mapped during a reconnaissance geological survey in 1959. Non-metamorphic Jurassic fine-grained marine sediments and Lower Cretaceous volcanics are faulted against an Eocene to Pliocene sequence of marine sediments and volcanics; these rocks are openly folded along northwest trending axes and dislocated by two major north-west trending faults. Pleistocene basic volcanics and alluvial deposits are the youngest rocks. A large basic pluton which intrudes Miocene and older rocks is the source of gold, platinum, and minor copper mineralisation.

Tags: Earth Sciences, GA Publication, PG, Published_External, Record, geology
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Sorell Basin - Tasmania petroleum prospectivity bulletin

This Bulletin covers the offshore region west of Tasmania. The western margin of Tasmania, an area of 100,000 sq km contains a thick cover of Late Mesozoic and Tertiary sediments. Most of this sedimentary wedge lies within the Sorell Basin, an extensional passive margin basin that formed as part of the Southern Rift System in the Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous. 
See Section 2 - Regional Geology for discussion of the regional geology and development of the western margin. 
Section 7 - Environmental Features discusses the marine environment and climatic and tidal effects on the western margin. The Sorell Basin Petroleum Prospectivity Package concentrates mainly on the northern part of the basin containing the King Island and Strahan Sub-basins. It is primarily in these two sub-basins that there is sufficient well and seismic data to assess the prospectivity of the Sorell Basin. 
See Section 6 - Prospectivity for the discussion of the basin's prospectivity.

Tags: AU-TAS, Bulletin, Earth Sciences, GA Publication, Published_External, geology, geophysics, petroleum exploration
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Paleocene-Eocene biostratigraphy and palaeoenvironment of East Antarctica: new data from the Mac. Robertson Shelf and western parts of Prydz Bay

The Mac. Robertson Shelf and western Prydz Bay, on the continental shelf of East Antarctica, were the sites of seismic/coring programs in February- March 1995 and 1997, and of an opportunistic sampling in 1993. Seismic data indicate a prograding sequence, about 200 m thick, dominated by clinoforms, in Palaeogene sediment. Core sampling was accompanied by deployment of a conductivity/temperature/depth probe (CTD), bottom camera and bottom-sediment grab. The Palaeogene sediments overlie Jurassic-Cretaceous sediments or Precambrian basement, and are overlain by thin, olive-green Quaternary diatomaceous ooze and sand.  Sampling from the walls and floors of valleys crossing the shelf was on targets defined seismically, and recovered: Weakly lithified black carbonaceous or brown mudstone and siltstone with Paleocene (P4 and Paleocene undifferentiated), Middle Eocene with Globigerinatheka, and other Palaeogene foraminiferid faunas; Paleocene and Eocene pollen, spores and dinoflagellates; Sediments containing a mixture of Palaeogene fossils and Pliocene to Late Pleistocene/ Holocene diatoms and foraminifera; and Evidence of recycling from Permian, Jurassic and Cretaceous sequences.  The Palaeogene sediments from the Neilsen Basin and Iceberg Alley contain glauconite and pyrite (the former often, and the latter rarely, pseudomorphic after radiolaria) and, in places, abundant carbonised wood. Radiolaria, teeth and bone fragments are rare. Foraminifera are rare and very dominantly small and calcareous with very few planktonics.  The rocks appear to be part of a coastal plain sediment sequence, all weakly lithified, which includes red muddy sandstone and the fossil-bearing lithologies. It is not clear if all the fossil material and enclosing sediments are in situ or have been reworked as fragments into later glacial sediments. The faunas all appear to have accumulated in an inner continental shelf, fully marine environment with temperate-climate water temperature, and where sediment input was high compared with biogenic carbonate production. Several depositional models meet these criteria.  Palynology helps define Paleocene and mid-Late Eocene depositional events, the latter marked by the Transantarctic dinocyst flora.  The marine Palaeogene can be related to depositional cycles well documented from other parts of the world.

Tags: AAT, Earth Sciences, GA Publication, Journal, Published_External
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Upper slope processes and seafloor ecosystems on the Sabrina continental slope, East Antarctica

The East Antarctic slope on the Sabrina margin has been shaped by diverse processes related to repeated glaciation. Differences in slope along this margin have driven variations in sedimentation that explain the gully morphology. Areas of lower slope angles have led to rapid sediment deposition during glacial expansion to the shelf edge, and subsequent sediment failure. Gullies in these areas are typically extremely U-shaped, initiate well below the shelf break, are relatively straight and long, and have low incision depths. Areas of higher slope angles enhance the flow of erosive turbidity currents during glaciations associated with the release of sediment-laden basal meltwaters. The meltwater flows create gullies that typically initiate at or near the shelf break, are V-shaped in profiles, have high sinuosity, deep incision depths and a relatively short down slope extent. The short down slope extent reflects a reduced sediment load associated with increased seawater entrainment as the slope becomes more concave in profile. These differences in gully morphology have important habitat implications, associated with differences in the structure and beta-diversity of the seafloor communities. This upper slope region also supports seafloor communities that are distinct from those on the adjacent shelf, highlighting the uniqueness of this environment for biodiversity.

<b>Citation:</b> A.L. Post, P.E. O'Brien, S. Edwards, A.G. Carroll, K. Malakoff, L.K. Armand, Upper slope processes and seafloor ecosystems on the Sabrina continental slope, East Antarctica, <i>Marine Geology</i>, Volume 422, 2020, 106091, ISSN 0025-3227,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.margeo.2019.106091.

Tags: Benthic biota, Biodiversity, Continental margin morphology, ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS, ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND MANAGEMENT, Geomorphology and Regolith and Landscape Evolution, Multibeam bathymetry, Published_External, Southern Ocean
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
5028 Block 3 (Northwest) Grid of the Digital Elevation Model (DEM) derived from the radar altimeter and GNSS.

A Digital Elevation Model (DEM) is a 3D representation of terrain elevation. It is derived from the radar altimeter and GNSS on the Survey aircraft. The GNSS height measurements are geoidal values derived using the Australian Vertical Working Surface (AVWS). This survey was acquired under the project No. 5028 for the Geological Survey of Western Australia (GSWA). The grid has a cell size of  0.000204 degrees (approximately 20m). The data are given in units of meters.

Tags: Australia, DEM, EARTH SCIENCES, Earth sciences, Elevation, GADDS2.0, NCI, Published_External, Western Australia, digital data, geoid, geophysical survey, geophysics, grid, raster, survey 5028, terrain
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data