Management of the marine environment in Australia's Exclusive Economic Zone is addressed by an Oceans Policy that was put forward by the government in 1998. The policy is being implemented through Regional Marine Plans, including the development of a network of representative Marine Protected Areas. The southeast region of Australia has been the first part of the Exclusive Economic Zone to undergo regional marine planning (in 2003) and Marine Protected Area development processes are currently in progress. This article can be found in Geological Association of Canada

This dataset provides the spatially continuous data of seabed mud content (sediment fraction < 63 µm) 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.

Several gravity cores from the west (3), south (3) and east (5) Australian continental margin have been sampled and analysed for magnetic susceptibility, percent calcium carbonate, Fe203, Al203 and Si02 (% wt) and other trace element contents. Thecores sampled from the west Australian continental margin were from the Exmouth Plateau, and the Carnarvon Terrace. Sampling from the south Australian continental margin was from the west Ceduna Terrace and the Eyre Terrace and the cores sampled from the east Australian continental margin were collected offshore Evans Head. 8180 isotope data on planktonic foraminifera have been used to provide a chronological control on those cores collected from the western margin, to determine sediment accumulation rates and identify Late Quaternary isotopic stages, includingthe last glacial maximum (LGM) and the last interglacial (LIG). These same data are not available from other areas surveyed although sedimentation rates of about 1cm/kyr have been estimated from 14C data from the eastern continental margin sediments offshore Evans Head. The down-core total magnetic susceptibility profiles generally show similar patterns within each survey area. The magnetic susceptibility profiles for those cores from thewestern margin (Exmouth Plateau and Carnarvon Terrace) show relatively high valuesin the Holocene and around the LIG, and relatively low values during the LGM. Patterns of down-core variations in magnetic susceptibility could also be recognised in gravity cores from the eastern margin offshore Evans Head. Here, magnetic susceptibilities were relatively high around the LIG (similar to the western margin), but magnetic susceptibility were low in Holocene sediments, perhaps because of diagenetic remobilisation of iron in the core-tops. In general no distinct patterns are recognisable in the down-core magnetic susceptibility profiles from the southern margin. The down-core profiles of calcium carbonate from the west Australian continental margin show high values during the LGM, and minima in the Holocene and also during the LIG.Similarly, the down-core profile of calcium carbonate shows minimum values during the inferred LIG in eastern margin cores, although this interpretation is based on an approximate sedimentation rate. In general, total magnetic susceptibility is correlated with Al203, Si02 and Fe203, concentrations in sediments, indicating a control on magnetic susceptibility by terrigenous material contents. Calcium carbonate was found tobe a diluent for magnetic susceptibility in these continental margin sediments.

A statistical assessment of wave, tide, and river power was carried out using a database of 721 Australian clastic coastal depositional environments to test whether their geomorphology could be predicted from numerical values. The geomorphic classification of each environment (wave- and tide-dominated deltas, wave- and tide-dominated estuaries, lagoons, strand plains, and tidal flats) was established independently from remotely sensed imagery. To our knowledge, such a systematic numerical analysis has not been previously attempted for any region on earth.

Diagram produced for the Bureau of Meteorology, in October 2007, showing the area of the eastern Indian Ocean between northwestern Australia and Indonesia with Exclusive Economic Zones of Australia as they would be modified by the Perth Treaty and the 200 nautical mile line from Indonesia. Modified in February 2008 to include Australia's Continental Shelf Claim and a proposed BOM Tsunameter position. Not for sale or distribution For internal use of BOM - Confidential.

A nationally-consistent wave resource assessment is presented for Australian shelf (<300 m) waters. Wave energy and power were derived from significant wave height and period, and wave direction hindcast using the AusWAM model for the period 1 March 1997 to 29 February 2008 inclusive. The spatial distribution of wave energy and power is available on a 0.1° grid covering 110'156° longitude and 7'46° latitude. Total instantaneous wave energy on the entire Australian shelf is on average 3.47 PJ. Wave power is greatest on the 3,000 km-long southern Australian shelf (Tasmania/Victoria, southern Western Australia and South Australia), where it widely attains a time-average value of 25-35 kW m-1 (90th percentile of 60-78 kW m-1), delivering 800-1100 GJ m-1 of energy in an average year. New South Wales and southern Queensland shelves, with moderate levels of wave power (time-average: 10-20 kW m-1; 90th percentile: 20-30 kW m-1), are also potential sites for electricity generation due to them having a similar reliability in resource delivery to the southern margin. Time-average wave power for most of the northern Australian shelf is <10 kW m-1. Seasonal variations in wave power are consistent with regional weather patterns, which are characterised by winter SE trade winds/summer monsoon in the north and winter temperate storms/summer sea breezes in the south. The nationally-consistent wave resource assessment for Australian shelf waters can be used to inform policy development and site-selection decisions by industry.

A number of physical properties (water content, porosity, wet and dry bulk densities, andgrain size) and the bulk chemical composition (percent calcium carbonate) of several corescollected from the Australian continental shelf and slope have been determined. Thecontinental shelf sediments were collected from water depths <200m in the Torquay Sub-basin and Vulcan Graben. Continental slope sediments were collected from water depthsof between 500 m and >4000 m offshore Evans Head (NSW), the Exmouth Plateau, thePerth Basin and the Ceduna Terrace in The Great Australian Bight. Trends between physical properties and the bulk chemical composition have beencompared and contrasted for continental shelf and slope sediments. Increasing carbonatecontent for sediments from the continental slope are associated with increasing wet bulkdensities. A second order polynomial fit to the data was similar to that found for deep-sea,southeast Pacific cores examined by Lyle and Dymond (1969). In contrast, the continentalshelf sediments show that with increasing carbonate content there is a decrease in wet bulkdensity, although the data are very scattered and the trend is poorly defined. Data from continental shelf sediments show that with increasing proportions of 'fine-grained' (<631.1m) sediment fraction, there is an increase in porosity. Continental slopesediments show no clear relationship between the porosity of the sediments and thepercentage of 'fine-grained' (< 6311m) sediment fraction. For continental shelf sediments, increasing carbonate content is associated with a decreasein the 'fine-grained' (<63 rim) sediment fraction. The continental slope sediments show norelationship between carbonate content and the percent < 63 gm sediment fraction.

Australian estuaries and coastal waterways were classified into six subclasses according to the wave-, tide- and river-energies that shape them, and also according to their overall geomorphology. The geomorphic classification confirmed the energy classification. Within this framework: - 17% were classified as wave-dominated estuaries; - 11% were classified as tide-dominated estuaries; - 10% were classified as wave-dominated deltas; and - 9% were classified as tide-dominated deltas Therefore, only ~28% of Australian coastal waterways are actually estuaries. The remainder are delta's (19%), strandplains (~5%), or tidal creeks (~35%). A seventh subclass others (13%) includes: Drowned River Valleys, Embayments and Coastal Lakes/Lagoons/Creeks. Strandplains and Tidal Creeks are indicative of very low river-energy, and their joint dominance in the data set (~40%) reflects the fact that Australia is a dry continent, with relatively little river runoff by world standards.

Geoscience Australia's GEOMACS model was utilised to produce hindcast hourly time series of bed shear stress on the Australian continental shelf on a 0.1 degree grid covering the period March 1997 to February 2008 (inclusive). The effective depth range of the model output is approximately 20 - 150 m (see 'Data Quality Attribute Accuracy' below). The hindcast data represents the combined contribution to the bed shear stress by waves, tides, wind and density-driven circulation. The stability of the seabed sediment surface, which is controlled by seabed shear stress, is likely to influence benthic community structure and species diversity. There are 8 grids in the dataset: geomacs_excee, geomacs_gmean, geomacs_qua25, geomacs_qua50, geomacs_qua75, geomacs_range, geomacs_ratio, and geomacs_tmean. Please see the metadata for further information.

Map showing all of Australia's Maritime Jurisdiction including external Territories and the AAT. 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. Background bathymetry image is derived from a combination of the 2009 9 arc second bathymetry and topographic grid by Geoscience Australia and a grid by W.H.F. Smith and D.T. Sandwell, 1997. Background land imagery derived from Blue Marble, NASA's Earth Observatory. A0 sized .pdf downloadable from the web.