AndreaBozzo/ceres-open-data-index huggingface dataset:
Sedimentological Signatures of the Sub-Amery Ice Shelf Circulation

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

Tags: AQ, Antarctic data, Earth Sciences, External Publication, Published_External, Scientific Journal Paper, marine, sedimentology
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
5028 Block 1 (Southwest) Grid of uranium ground concentration with NASVD and standard reductions applied

The radiometric, or gamma-ray spectrometric method, measures the natural variations in the gamma-rays detected near the Earth's surface as the result of the natural radioactive decay of potassium (K), uranium (U) and thorium (Th). 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 radiometric uranium grid has a cell size of  degrees (approximately 20m) and shows uranium element concentration of the Narryer in units of parts per million (or ppm). The data used to produce this grid was acquired in 2024 by the WA Government, and consisted of 415090 line-kilometres of data at 100m line spacing and 50m terrain clearance.

Tags: Australia, EARTH SCIENCES, Earth sciences, GADDS2.0, NASVD, NCI, Published_External, U, WA, airborne digital data, gamma-ray, geophysical survey, geophysics, grid, rad, radiometrics, raster, spectrometry, survey 5028, uranium
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Marine fossils from the Upper Jurassic and the Lower Cretaceous of Dampier Peninsula, Western Australia

In several publications which have appeared during the last few years mention was made of Upper Jurassic (Kimmeridgian and Tithonian) and Lower Cretaceous (Neocomian and Aptian) marine fossils from Dampier Land, a peninsula which lies between the townships of Derby and Broome in the north of Western Australia. The fossils were listed in detail or otherwise mentioned in more or less preliminary stratigraphical descriptions of the area in papers by Brunnschweiler (1951a, 1951 b, 1954, 1957), Guppy (1953), Guppy, Lindner, Rattigan, &amp; Casey (1958), and Fairbridge (1953). A great deal of geological work has been carried out since those preliminary exploration activities, chiefly by the staff of the West Australian Petroleum Pty Ltd (WAPET). The currently accepted stratigraphical picture has recently been presented by McWhae, Playford, Lindner, Glenister, &amp; Balme (1958), and the reader is referred to this paper for the overall situation and the relationships of the formations mentioned in the present descriptions of the fossils. The occurrence of Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous formations in this region has been known for many years, but only in recent years have the nature and extent of the sequences become known in reasonable detail. The only description of Upper Jurassic fossils of this area is found in a short paper by Teichert (1940a). Unfortunately several of the fossil specimens described hereafter were lost in the fire in the Canberra offices of the Bureau of Mineral Resources in April, 1953. The illustrations on plates I and II had to be made up from discoloured and singed photographs, the negatives of which did not survive the fire. Mostly," open" nomenclature is applied even where an obviously new form is in evidence; for new species can only be established where satisfactory type material is still available. The main purpose of this paper is to substantiate earlier statements by showing what fossils have been found, even though this can only be done with the help of photographs which luckily escaped destruction by the fire. Much of the work for this paper was done before mid-1954, when the writer was still a member of the staff of the Bureau of Mineral Resources, and engaged in work on the stratigraphy and palaeontology of the Australian Mesozoic.

Tags: AU-WA, Bulletin, Earth Sciences, GA Publication, Published_External, geology, palaeontology
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Review of Ten Key Ecological Features (KEFs) in the Northwest Marine Region

The Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (DEWHA) has identified as key ecological features (KEFs) numerous geomorphic features or regionally important species or habitats in the northwest marine region. This process supports the department's establishment of the development of Marine Bioregional Plans and a National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas (NRSMPA). A total of ten KEFs are included in this study of which seven lie in the deep-sea where information on biodiversity and ecosystems is scarce. The ten KEFs are: Wallaby Saddle, Cuvier Abyssal Plain, Cape Range Canyons, Exmouth Plateau, Argo Abyssal Plain, Bowers and Oates Canyons, Scott Plateau, Scott Reef, the Holocene Coastline, and Glomar Shoals. Geoscience Australia was engaged to investigate habitat heterogeneity of these KEFs utilising its existing expertise in habitat mapping and surrogacy.

Tags: AU-WA, Earth Sciences, GA Publication, Published_External, Record, environmental, marine
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Origins of groundwater salinity near Tresco, northwest Victoria

Core samples and groundwater from bores at Tresco, northern Victoria, in the southern margin of the Murray Basin, have been analysed for palynology and chemistry. An aquifer immediately above the Blanchetown Clay was initially filled with fresh water that became reducing, acidic and rich in dissolved CO, in the early Pleistocene.  Later, between 400,000 and 18,000 years B.P., the aquifer was invaded by a series of concentrated NaCI water pulses. These originated from brine pools below salt playa lakes on the ground surface above the aquifer.  This saline invasion significantly changed the chemical evolution path of the groundwater. A marine explanation for the observed salinity patterns is not possible.

Tags: Earth Sciences, GA Publication, Journal, Published_External, VIC
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Shark Bay Satellite-Derived Bathymetry Acquisition (20210029C)

The Shark Bay Bathymetry was derived form a time series of multispectral satellite data from the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite sensor, acquired between January 2017 and December 2020. This dataset was produced by the University of Western Australia to support student research projects. The dataset encompasses the Shark Bay in Western Australia. These critical geospatial data layers provide the essential environmental baseline information for the long-term monitoring and management. Mapping the shallow water zone is of importance both from an environmental and socioeconomic perspective. Bathymetry data was processed following the workflow of Lebrec et al. (2021) [https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-5191-2021]. This dataset is not to be used for navigational purposes. This dataset is published with the permission of the CEO, Geoscience Australia.

Tags: AusSeabed, Australia-wide geoscience data, EARTH SCIENCES, Earth Science | Oceans | Bathymetry/Seafloor Topography | Bathymetry, HVC_144641, Oceans, Offshore Mapping, Published_External, Resourcing Australia’s Prosperity, Satellite-Derived Bathymetry, bathymetric grids, bathymetry, satellite-derived bathymetry (SDB)
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Migration of foraminifera in Territory times in Australia

The distribution of marine Tertiary rocks in Australia is restricted to the western and southern coastal areas of the continent. The rocks represented are of Paleocene, Eocene, Miocene and Pliocene ages. Considerable material has been collected in stratigraphic sequence from many Tertiary localities in recent years and the detailed examination of the foraminiferal content of the rocks has yielded many startling discoveries.

Tags: AU, Earth Sciences, GA Publication, Published_External, Record, palaeontology
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Seabed Mud Content Across the Australian Continental EEZ, 2011

This dataset provides the spatially continuous data of seabed mud content (sediment fraction &lt; 63 Âµm) expressed as a weight percentage ranging from 0 to 100%, presented in 0.01 decimal degree resolution raster format. 

The dataset covers the Australian continental EEZ, including seabed surrounding Tasmania. It does not include areas surrounding Macquarie Island, and the Australian Territories of Norfolk Island, Christmas Island, and Cocos (Keeling) Islands or Australia's marine jurisdiction off of the Territory of Heard and McDonald Islands and the Australian Antarctic Territory.

This dataset supersedes previous predictions of sediment mud content for the Australian Margin with demonstrated improvements in accuracy. Accuracy of predictions varies based on density of underlying data and level of seabed complexity. Artefacts occur in this dataset as a result of insufficient samples in relevant regions. This dataset is intended for use at national and regional scales. The dataset may not be appropriate for use at local scales in areas where sample density is insufficient to detect local variation in sediment properties. To obtain the most accurate interpretation of sediment distribution in these areas, it is recommended that additional samples be collected and interpolations updated.

Tags: AU-EEZ, Earth Sciences, GIS Dataset, National, National dataset, Published_External, geoscience, mapping, marine, marine jurisdiction, seabed, sedimentology
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Seabed environments and shallow geology of the Leveque Shelf, Browse Basin, Western Australia: seabed sediment laser measured grainsize data

In May 2013, Geoscience Australia, in collaboration with the Australian Institute of Marine Science, undertook a marine survey of the Leveque Shelf (survey number SOL5754/GA0340), a sub-basin of the Browse Basin. This survey provides seabed and shallow geological information to support an assessment of the CO2 storage potential of the Browse sedimentary basin. The basin, located on the Northwest Shelf, Western Australia, was previously identified by the Carbon Storage Taskforce (2009) as potentially suitable for CO2 storage. The survey was undertaken under the Australian Government's National CO2 Infrastructure Plan (NCIP) to help identify sites suitable for the long term storage of CO2 within reasonable distances of major sources of CO2 emissions. The principal aim of the Leveque Shelf marine survey was to look for evidence of any past or current gas or fluid seepage at the seabed, and to determine whether these features are related to structures (e.g. faults) in the Leveque Shelf area that may extend to the seabed. The survey also mapped seabed habitats and biota to provide information on communities and biophysical features that may be associated with seepage. This research, combined with deeper geological studies undertaken concurrently, addresses key questions on the potential for containment of CO2 in the basin's proposed CO2 storage unit, i.e. the basal sedimentary section (Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous), and the regional integrity of the Heyward Formation (the seal unit overlying the main reservoir). The survey collected one hundred and eleven seabed sediment samples that were analysed for their grain size, textural composition and carbonate content. This dataset includes the results of grain size analysis measured by laser diffractometer.

Tags: CCS, Continental Shelf, Data, Published_External, Surface Processes, Thematic Data, W A, geoscience, marine environmental baselines, marine survey, sedimentology
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
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: Geoscience Australia Data
Reef growth, southern Great Barrier Reef - preliminary results

The reefs of the Capricorn-Bunker Group in the southern Great Barrier Reef were the focus of a Bureau of Mineral Resources survey in September-October 1976. Subaerial and submarine exploration of seven reefs was conducted (Figure 1). The objectives of the expedition were: 1. To define the depth, shape and origin of the surface on which the present reefs rest. 2. To determine the effects of the present-day hydrologic regime on the growth of the reefs. 3. To define the time framework of modern growth. 4. To study the physical and chemical changes involved in the reef lithification processes. 5. To estimate the potential for metal accumulation of reef sediments and to determine the time of removal and deposition of metals in the carbonate sequence. The M. V. Escape was chartered from Gladstone to provide the platform for field studies. Shallow seismic refraction, echo profiling, underwater investigations using SCUBA, underwater coring, current, wave and water monitoring studies, and sediment sampling of lagoons were the principal field operations. Eighty-eight shallow seismic refraction traverses, each 120 m in length, were conducted using a Huntec FS-3 facsimile seismograph with a hammer or detonator sound source, and two subminiature land geophones or one pressure-sensitive hydrophone. The profiles cover windward and leeward algal ridges, cays, and in one case a lagoon and a lagoonal patch reef (One Tree Reef). This paper records field data and observations with the major emphasis placed on data relating to the morphologic growth of reefs. No attempt is made at this stage to present evidence relating to lithification or to processes and products of metal accumulation.

Tags: Earth Sciences, GA Publication, Journal, Published_External, QLD, marine
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Bynoe Harbour Habitat Mapping Survey 2016: Results of sediment oxygen demand experiments

This resource contains surface sediment data for Bynoe Harbour collected by Geoscience Australia (GA), the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) and Department of Land Resource Management (Northern Territory Government) during the period from 2-29 May 2016 on the RV Solander (survey SOL6432/GA4452). This project was made possible through offset funds provided by INPEX-led Ichthys LNG Project to Northern Territory Government Department of Land Resource Management, and co-investment from Geoscience Australia and Australian Institute of Marine Science. The intent of this four year (2014-2018) program is to improve knowledge of the marine environments in the Darwin and Bynoe Harbour regions by collating and collecting baseline data that enable the creation of thematic habitat maps that underpin marine resource management decisions. The specific objectives of the survey were to: 1. Obtain high resolution geophysical (bathymetry) data for outer Darwin Harbour, including Shoal Bay; 2. Characterise substrates (acoustic backscatter properties, grainsize, sediment chemistry) for outer Darwin Harbour, including Shoal Bay; and 3. Collect tidal data for the survey area. Data acquired during the survey included: multibeam sonar bathymetry and acoustic backscatter; physical samples of seabed sediments, underwater photography and video of grab sample locations and oceanographic information including tidal data and sound velocity profiles. 

This dataset comprises the results of sediment oxygen demand experiments undertaken on seabed sediments. 

A detailed account of the survey is provided in Siwabessy, P.J.W., Smit, N., Atkinson, I., Dando, N., Harries, S., Howard, F.J.F., Li, J., Nicholas W.A., Picard, K., Radke, L.C., Tran, M., Williams, D. and Whiteway, T., 2016. Bynoe Harbour Marine Survey 2017: GA4452/SOL6432 Post-survey report. Record 2017/04. Geoscience Australia, Canberra. 

Thanks to the crew of the RV Solander for help with sample collection, Matt Carey, Craig Wintle and Andrew Hislop from the Observatories and Science Support at Geoscience Australia for technical support and Jodie Smith for reviewing the data. This dataset is published with the permission of the CEO, Geoscience Australia

Tags: Published_External, baseline information, geochemistry, marine, marine survey, seabed
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Waxy bitumen stranding in southern Australia: a geochemical study of multiple oil families and their likely origins

Reports of bitumen stranding on the ocean beaches of southern Australia date back to the early days of European settlement. Previous investigations have shown that this ‘coastal bitumen’ comprises three categories of stranded petroleum: waxy bitumen, asphaltite and oil slicks. All three varieties are physically and chemically distinct from each other, and bear no geochemical resemblance to any indigenous Australian crude oil. This study focuses on the most common variety, waxy bitumen, which accounted for 90% of the strandings on six South Australian beaches repeatedly surveyed during 1991–1992. Geochemical analysis of 96 individual specimens collected from these survey sites and other beaches in South Australia and western Victoria has shown them to be variously weathered high-wax crude oils of paraffinic to aromatic-intermediate bulk composition. Elemental, isotopic and biomarker differences allow their assignment to at least five oil families with inferred source facies that range from deep freshwater lacustrine through paludal and deltaic to euxinic marine, possibly deposited within different sedimentary basins. Family 1, 2 and 3 waxy bitumens all contain biomarkers derived from the freshwater alga Botryococcus sp. and tropical angiosperms (notably dipterocarps). Similar biomarker assemblages are unknown in Australian sedimentary basins but are common in Cenozoic crude oils and source rocks throughout western Indonesia. Family 4 waxy bitumens lack these biomarkers, but do contain dinosterane and 24-n-propylcholestane, indicative of a marine source affinity, while the carbon isotopic signatures and high pristane/phytane (Pr/Ph) ratios of Family 5 waxy bitumens are consistent with their origin from coal-rich source rocks deposited in fluvial to deltaic sedimentary successions. The majority of these waxy bitumens represent an oceanic influx of non-indigenous, Southeast Asian crude oils carried into the waters of southern Australia by the Leeuwin Current. Although they are likely to originate from natural seepage within the Indonesian Archipelago, it is unknown whether the parent oils emanate from submarine seeps or from inland seepages which are then carried to the sea by rivers. The common practice of tanker cleaning operations in the Java and Banda seas may augment the supply of natural bitumen to the beaches of Australia.

Tags: Bight Basin, Biomarker alkanes, Bremer Basin, Carbon isotopic signatures, Coastal bitumen, Indonesian provenance, Oil families, Otway Basin, Published_External, Waxy bitumen
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data
Timor Sea continental shelf sediments map

Since the publication in 1967 of the monograph on the marine geology of the Timor Sea,1 the Bureau of Mineral Resources has initiated a program of systematic reconnaissance geological surveys of the continental shelf. The results of this work are being published in the BMR Bulletin series accompanied by 1:1 000 000 lithofacies maps of the shelf sediments. Three sheets (Rowley Shoals, W.A.2; Scott Reef, W.A.2 ; and Arafura Sea, N.T.8 ) have been printed by early 1974, and work on two further sheets covering part of the east Australian continental shelf is well advanced. Users of the map should refer to Bulletin 83 (GeoCat # 163) to assist in interpretation. For instance, wide areas of the shelf are non-depositional, or even subject to erosion, and therefore the variations in lithology portrayed are not exclusively the result of variations in the modern depositional regime. Also the map does not distinguish sediments which are relics of earlier regimes from modern ones; however, some information of the distribution of these older sediments can be obtained from Bulletin 83 (GeoCat # 163) and inferred from a study of the gravel content in relation to the bathymetry.

Tags: AU, Bulletin, Earth Sciences, GA Publication, Published_External, continental margins, marine
Organization: Geoscience Australia Data