AndreaBozzo/ceres-open-data-index huggingface dataset:
Predicting Seabed Mud Content across the Australian Margin: Comparison of Statistical and Mathematical Techniques Using a Simulation Experiment

In this study, we conducted a simulation experiment to identify robust spatial interpolation methods using samples of seabed mud content in the Geoscience Australian Marine Samples database. Due to data noise associated with the samples, criteria are developed and applied for data quality control. Five factors that affect the accuracy of spatial interpolation were considered: 
1) regions; 
2) statistical methods; 
3) sample densities; 
4) searching neighbourhoods; and 
5) sample stratification. 
Bathymetry, distance-to-coast and slope were used as secondary variables. Ten-fold cross-validation was used to assess the prediction accuracy measured using mean absolute error, root mean square error, relative mean absolute error (RMAE) and relative root mean square error. The effects of these factors on the prediction accuracy were analysed using generalised linear models. The prediction accuracy depends on the methods, sample density, sample stratification, search window size, data variation and the study region. No single method performed always superior in all scenarios. Three sub-methods were more accurate than the control (inverse distance squared) in the north and northeast regions respectively; and 12 sub-methods in the southwest region. A combined method, random forest and ordinary kriging (RKrf), is the most robust method based on the accuracy and the visual examination of prediction maps. This method is novel, with a relative mean absolute error (RMAE) up to 17% less than that of the control. The RMAE of the best method is 15% lower in two regions and 30% lower in the remaining region than that of the best methods in the previously published studies, further highlighting the robustness of the methods developed. The outcomes of this study can be applied to the modelling of a wide range of physical properties for improved marine biodiversity prediction. The limitations of this study are discussed. A number of suggestions are provided for further studies.

Tags: AU-EEZ, Earth Sciences, GA Publication, GIS, Published_External, Record, environmental, geoscience, marine, model, numerical modelling
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
SI 1046 Howard Channel (HIPP) Bathymetry Acquisition (20230007S)

The Howard Channel&nbsp;bathymetry survey was acquired for the Australian Hydrographic Office (AHO) during the period 9 Aug 2023 – 13 Sep 2023. This was a contracted survey conducted for the Australian Hydrographic Office by EGS Australia as part of the Hydroscheme Industry Partnership Program. The survey area encompasses an area in Howard Channel. Bathymetry data was acquired using a Kongsberg EM2040C, and processed using CARIS HIPS and SIPS, and QIMERA 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
Seafloor imagery from the Totten seafloor, East Antarctica from NPB14-02

Research was conducted aboard the RVIB Nathaniel B Palmer during NBP14-02 (29 January – 16 March 2014) across a &gt;3000 km2 area. A ‘yoyo’ camera, with downward facing digital still and video cameras mounted within a tubular steel frame, was deployed on a coaxial cable to image the seafloor. Still images have been analysed for seafloor habitats. 

The Ocean Imaging Systems DSC 10000 digital still camera (10.2 megapixel, 20 mm, Nikon D-80 Camera) was contained within a titanium housing. Camera settings were: F-8, Focus 1.9 m, ASA-400. An Ocean Imaging Systems 3831 Strobe (200 W-S) was positioned 1 m from the camera at an angle of 26o from vertical. A Model 494 Bottom Contact Switch triggered the camera and strobe at 2.5 m above the seafloor, imaging ~ 4.8 m2 of seafloor.

Imagery can be viewed and downloaded from the National Computing Infrastructure (NCI) data catalogue THREDDS: https://thredds.nci.org.au/thredds/catalog/fk1/NBP14_02_Sabrina_Shelf/catalog.html

Tags: ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES, HVC_144640, Published_External
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
Seafloor Morphology and Tectonics of the Christmas Island Area, Indian Ocean

Christmas Island lies about 1600 km north-north west of Australia's Northwest Cape and approximately 350 km south of Java in the northern part of the Wharton basin (IndianOcean). Recently Australia declared a 200 mile Fisheries Zone around the island andAGSO was asked to assess seabed morphology, sediment thickness and offshore mineralresources in this area. In February 1992 RAT "Rig Seismic" carried out a detailed survey ofthe region, providing relevant data for the required assessment. Eight seismic profiles wereacquired on this cruise, totalling about 2000 km, and almost twice as much bathymetricdata was recorded. In conjunction with seismic and bathymetic data collected by otherinstitutions, our data provides a good coverage of the area, which enabled us to compile anew bathymetric map and to produce the first sediment thickness map.

Among the published bathymetric maps only three cover the Christmas Island area: 1)published by Udintsev (Geophysical Atlas of the Indian Ocean, 1975; 1:5,000 000), 2) byMammerickx et al. (1976, 1:5,000 000) and 3) 1:10,000 000 General BathymetricCompilation (GEBCO) map, published by the International Oceanographic Service (1982).All published bathymetric maps were compiled in the end of the 1970s and the beginningof the 1980s, and all of them were based on processing analog records of water depths andwere drafted manually. Moreover, most of the data for map compilation were collectedusing a sextant, and only a very limited using satellite navigation.

The amount and quality of data collected by the end of the 1970s allowed the production ofthe fairly accurate 1:5,000 000 and 1:10,000 000 maps of the Indian Ocean listed above,however a lot of smaller features, such as individual seamounts, are missing on those maps.Insufficient data coverage led to broad extrapolation of bathymetric trends, sometimesderived purely from magnetic lineation pattern (Fig.1). To the east of Christmas Island thelack of information is particularly evident: all the maps differ in their interpretation of this area.

New high quality data collected by "Rig Seismic", and digital water depths obtained fromthe USA National Geophysical Data Bank (NGDC), were used for compilation of a newrevised version of the bathymetric map on the Christmas Island area in a 1:1,000 000 scale.The new map (to be published in AGSO's Offshore Resources Map Series) contains a lotmore detail on the complex bathymetry of the area, and gives a more realistic picture ofseamount distribution and the structure of the Java Trench and Java's outer-arc ridge. Theamount of added information can be clearly deduced from comparison of Fig.1 and Fig.2.The time scale used in this report is that of McDougall (1974) and Fanoon et al. (1993).

Tags: CX, Earth Sciences, GA Publication, Published_External, Record, marine, marine survey
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
First Discovery of Dolomite and Magnesite in Living Coralline Algae and its Geobiological Implications

Dolomite is a magnesium rich carbonate mineral abundant in ancient coral reef formations [1-3] yet very little is found forming in modern sedimentary environments.  For over 150 years this conundrum has led to various theories being put forward about dolomite formation, however none have solved the so called `Dolomite Problem'[1].   It has generally been considered a  post-depositional diagenetic process [2, 3], despite little experimental success at replicating dolomite formation in normal sea water conditions [4].  Here we show dolomite is in fact forming with living crustose coralline algae Hydrolithon onkodes, a species growing prolifically in coral reefs globally.  Chemical micro-analysis of the coralline skeleton reveals that not only are the cell walls calcitised, but that the cell spaces are typically filled with magnesite, rimmed by dolomite, or both.  Thus there are at least three mineral phases present (magnesium calcite, dolomite and magnesite) rather than one or two (magnesium calcite and brucite) as previously thought[5-7]. Both the magnesium calcite and dolomite phases comprise a continuum of magnesium to calcium compositions, whereas magnesite is near ideal composition.  Using a mass balance approach we quantify potential dolomitisation of the coralline algae and can account for the total amount of dolomite found in a raised Pleistocene reef [2].  Our results are consistent with observed dolomites in coralline-algal rich environments in fossil reefs. This is the first time the presence of dolomite in living coralline algae has been confirmed.

Tags: Earth Sciences, External Publication, Published_External, Scientific Journal Paper, carbonate, geochemistry, marine
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
Kudoa parasite identification, diagnostic development and histopathology in Striped Trumpeter (Latris lineata)

This data represents research conducted as part of a PhD project on Striped Trumpeter (Latris lineata).  Recorded the prevalence of Kudoa neurophila (a myxozoan parasite formerly known as Pentacapsula neurophila) in relation to age for hatchery reared Striped Trumpeter using histology and PCR testing.

Histology and in situ hybridisation techniques were incorporated into the study of the histopathology of the disease caused by this parasite to elucidate its entry point on the fish host and migratory pathway to terminal stage sporulation.

Tags: 37 378001, Agriculture | Agricultural Aquatic Sciences | Aquaculture, Biosphere | Ecological Dynamics | Parasitism, Latris lineata, Oceans | Marine Biology | Fish
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
Australian petroleum accumulations report. Amadeus Basin, central Australia

Three economic (1 oil and gas/condensate, 1 gas/condensate, and 1 gas) and fourteen uneconomic (6 oil, 7 gas, and 1 oil/gas) petroleum accumulations have been discovered since 1963 in the Amadeus Basin of central Australia.

The petroleum in the Amadeus Basin mainly occupies the structural, fold- related traps within the Upper Proterozoic to Upper Ordovician marine to marginal marine clastic and evaporitic sequences.  It is believed to be of algal/bacterial origin.  The API gravity ranges from 18 to 54o for crude oils, and from 52 to 64o for condensates; gases are dry and wet.

The basin's estimated petroleum resources as at 31 December 1985 comprise 5.74 x 106m3 of oil, 1.53 x 106m3 of natural-gas liquids, and 14.93 x 109m3 of sales gas.

Production from Mereenie (oil) and Palm Valley (gas/condensate) accumulations commenced during 1984.  Up to 31 December 1985 the cumulative production from the basin stood at 156.3 x 103m3 of oil and condensate, and 44.0 x 106m3 of sales gas.  The gas/condensate is transported 146 km to Alice Springs through a 20-cm-diameter pipeline; the oil is transported 269 km to Alice Springs through a 20cm pipeline and from there by rail tankers to Adelaide refinery.  As from February 1987 gas from Palm Valley will also be transported to Darwin via a 1537-km pipeline of 35.3 cm diameter.

Tags: Earth Sciences, GA Publication, Published_External, Report, petroleum exploration, petroleum geology
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
Seamounts, Canyons and Reefs of the Coral Sea Marine Park

This flythrough video highlights deep and mesophotic seabed environments within the Coral Sea Marine Park, offshore northeastern Australia. The mesophotic zone, commonly referred to as the ‘twilight zone’ represents the depth range below the brightly lit shallow waters down to the maximum depth that sunlight can penetrate for photosynthesis to occur (~ 30 to 150 meters beneath the sea surface). The featured Malay and North Flinders Reefs represent mid-ocean platform reefs and Cairns Seamount hosts a thriving coral reef community atop what is likely an extinct volcanic cone. These locations represent a range of benthic communities, which vary with depth and substrate type. Soft-sediments (sands, muds and oozes) dominate the deep seafloor, with evidence of water currents that produce bedforms showing active sediment transport at these depths. The walls and flanks of the platform reefs are very steep, with evidence of slope failure where rocky head walls have collapsed and deposited large blocks and boulders on the seafloor, which provide important habitat for sessile and mobile invertebrates including soft corals and sponges as well as cryptic octopus. 

Typical mesophotic habitats included vast Halimeda algal meadows and rhodolith beds interspersed with soft corals and sponges on soft-sediment. Hard substrates were typically colonised by plate and encrusting hard Scleractinian corals (e.g. Leptoseris and Montipora species), sponges and ascidians. Many large black corals (Antipatharia) and gorgonians (Octocorallia) also featured, with several black coral and carnivorous sponge observations representing new species. The reef community atop Cairns Seamount was highly diverse and included many demersal and pelagic fish species. A high abundance and diversity of gelatinous zooplankton were observed in the deep waters between reefs in the Coral Sea, with several new range extensions recorded.

Bathymetry data and seafloor imagery for this flythrough were collected on RV Falkor, owned and operated by the Schmidt Ocean Institute (SOI), during surveys FK200830 and FK200902 in August and October 2020. These surveys were led by Geoscience Australia and James Cook University. Collaborative research partners included the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo, Queensland University of Technology, Queensland Museum, The University of Sydney, University of Tasmania and the University of Wollongong.

Tags: Coral Sea, EARTH SCIENCES, Geomorphology and Regolith and Landscape Evolution, Published_External, bathymetry, biota, marine, mesophotic
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
Bathymetry of Bremer Marine Park

Australia has established a network of 58 marine parks within Commonwealth waters covering a total of 3.3 million square kilometres, or 40 per cent of our exclusive economic zone (excluding Australian Antarctic Territory). These parks span a range of settings, from near coastal and shelf habitats to abyssal plains. Parks Australia manages the park network through management plans that came into effect for all parks on 1 July 2018. Geoscience Australia is contributing to their management by collating and interpreting existing environmental data, and through the collection of new data. This includes compiling existing bathymetry datasets for select marine parks. This dataset includes a compilation of multibeam sonar bathymetry (gridded to 100 m spatial resolution) for Bremer Marine Park, in the South-west Marine Park Network. The park incorporates Bremer Canyon and adjacent smaller canyons that incise the continental slope and outer shelf. This research is supported by the National Environmental Science Program (NESP) Marine Biodiversity Hub through Project D1.

This dataset is not to be used for navigational purposes.

Tags: AusSeabed, EARTH SCIENCES, HVC_144641, Marine Biodiversity Hub, National Environmental Science Program, Published_External, bathymetry, bathymetry grid, marine, marine data
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
Geomorphology of the Australian Margin and Adjacent Seafloor

For the first time, the distribution of seafloor geomorphic features has been systematically mapped over much of the Australian margin and adjacent seafloor. Each of 21 feature types was identified using a new, 250 m spatial resolution bathymetry model and supporting literature. The total area mapped was 48.9 million km2 and included the seafloor surrounding the Australian mainland and island territories of Christmas, Cocos (Keeling), Macquarie and Norfolk Islands. Of this total mapped area, the shelf is 41.9 million km2 (21.92%), the slope 44.0 million km2 (44.80%) and the abyssal plain/deep ocean floor 42.8 million km2 (32.20%). The rise covers 97 070 km2 or 1.08% of the mapped area. A total of 6702 individual geomorphic features were mapped. Plateaus have the largest surface area and cover 1.49 million km2 or 16.54%, followed by basins (714 000 km2; 7.98%), and terraces (577 700 km2; 6.44%), with the remaining 14 types each making up 55%. Reefs, which total 4172 individual features (47 900 km2; 0.54%), are the most numerous type of geomorphic feature, principally due to the large number of individual coral reefs of the Great Barrier Reef. The geomorphology of the margin is most complex where marginal plateaus, terraces, trench/troughs and submarine canyons are present. Comparison with global seafloor geomorphology indicates that the Australian margin is relatively under-represented in shelf and rise and over-represented in slope area, a pattern that reflects the mainland being bounded on three sides by rifted continent ocean margins and associated large marginal plateaus. Significantly, marginal plateaus on the Australian margin cover 20% of the total world area of marginal plateaus. The mapped area can be divided into 10 geomorphic regions by quantifying regional differences in diagnostic assemblages of features, and these regions can be used as a starting-point to infer broad-scale seafloor habitat types.

Tags: AU-EEZ, Earth Sciences, External Publication, Published_External, Scientific Journal Paper, bathymetry, continental margins, geomorphology, mapping, marine
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
Geology and Petroleum Potential of the Bremer Sub-basin, Offshore Southwestern Australia

The Bremer Sub-basin, which forms part of the Bight Basin off the southern coast of Western Australia, is a deep-water (100-4000 m water depth) frontier area for petroleum exploration. No wells have been drilled to test the sub-basin's petroleum potential, with company exploration limited to a regional seismic survey by Esso Australia Ltd in 1974. Early studies identified the Bremer Subbasin as a series of Middle Jurassic-Early Cretaceous half graben, which contain potentially prospective structures for trapping hydrocarbons. However, a lack of sub-surface geological data, along with the deep-water setting, discouraged exploration of this area for over 30 years. In 2003, the Bremer Sub-basin was identified as a key frontier area in Geoscience Australia's New Oil Program where new exploration opportunities might occur. Subsequently, Geoscience Australia's Bremer Sub-basin Study commenced in 2004 with an aim to determine if the sub-basin formed under suitable geological conditions to generate and trap large volumes of hydrocarbons.

Tags: AU-WA, Earth Sciences, GA Publication, Published_External, Record, marine, petroleum geology, sedimentary basins
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
Port Phillip Bay TieLines (Sandringham-St Leonards) Bathymetry 2021 (4894/20210010S)

The Port Phillip Bay bathymetry tielines survey was acquired by Deakin University Marine Mapping lab onboard the Motor Vessel Yolla over one day in 2021 (13/12) using a Kongsberg EM2040c. These data were collected to assess the movement of sediment through time.

Not to be used for navigational purposes

Tags: AusSeabed, Australia-wide geoscience data, Bass Strait (Great Australian Bight), Bathymetry, EARTH SCIENCES, Great Australian Bight, MV Yolla, Marine, Offshore Mapping, Published_External, Resourcing Australia's Prosperity, multi-beam echosounders
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
Stratigraphy and sedimentology of Late Palaeozoic glaciomarine sediments beneath the Murray Basin, and their palaeogeographic and palaeoclimatic significance

Sediments of the Late Palaeozoic Urana Formation in infrabasins beneath the Cainozoic Murray Basin include glaciomarine diamictite, fine-grained sediment, sandstone, and conglomerate facies. The facies assemblage is dominated by paratillites, formed by ice-rafting, and fine-grained sediments with a small ice-rafted component.  Rhythmically bedded siltstone and claystone, sediment gravity-flow diamictites, traction-current deposits, and, possibly, subglacial tillites are also present. Interpretation of the facies indicates that grounded-ice deposits are absent from the glaciomarine sequence over large areas of the basin and has enabled estimation of the likely limits of grounded ice. Palaeontological and sedimentological evidence suggests that these rocks were deposited towards the end of the major Late Palaeozoic glaciation of southeastern Australia.

Tags: Earth Sciences, GA Publication, Journal, NSW, Published_External, SA, VIC, marine
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
Physical and chemical parameters of several oyster growing areas in Tasmania: Simpsons Bay

Physical and chemical parameters at five Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas) growing areas in Tasmania - Pittwater, Pipeclay Lagoon, Little Swanport, Georges Bay and Simpsons Bay - were measured as part of a study to determine the carrying capacity of the areas for oyster farming. The data represented by this record, was collected in Simpsons Bay. This has provided valuable environmental data for these areas. The hydrodynamic regimes at each area except Simpsons Bay were studied, including high and low water volumes, flushing rates, flow rates and depth contours.

Temperature, salinity and concentrations of nitrates, phosphates, silicates and chlorophyll a were measured monthly at several sites in each area. The change in these parameters over different time scales also was examined at two sites in Pittwater and indicated temporal and spatial variability in the environmental parameters measured.

Tags: 23 257001, Chlorophyll a concentration, Crassostrea gigas, Flow rates, Flushing time, High water volume, Low water volume, Nitrate concentration, Nitrate plus nitrite concentration, Nitrite concentration, Phosphate concentration, Salinity, Silicate concentration, Temperate Reef, Temperature
Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network
H.M.A.S. Diamantina Voyage Dm 2/61 Biological Data Overview

This record is an overview entry for biological data collected on Diamantina cruise Dm 2/61. This cruise took place in the Indian Ocean, Timor and Java Seas during 1 May to 12 June 1961, under the leadership of B. Newell. Biological data collected on this cruise include primary production rates; organisms with/without chlorophyll, total particles and occurrence of diatoms and dinoflagellates from phytoplankton stations; pigment samples; and zooplankton biomass. Please note: This metadata record is a preliminary entry derived from information in the cruise report. Individual data types - which may span several cruises - will be indexed separately within this metadata system in due course.

Organization: Australian Ocean Data Network