Authors / CoAuthors
Nicholas, W.A. | Nichol, S.
Abstract
<div>Geoscience Australia maintains a national collection of marine geological samples and analytical data from across the Australian region. Digital records of these datasets are held within the Marine Sediment Database (MARS), available as an online resource of c. 2.6 million entries. Here we have extracted data from MARS to collate sediment properties for over 15,000 seabed samples for use as a standalone dataset. Analytical data includes textural composition (mud, sand, gravel), summary statistics for particle size distributions, textural class and calcium carbonate values (where available). Information on sample water depth, location and marine survey is also provided. The sample set spans the coast, continental shelf, slope and deep ocean locations across the Australian marine region (covering the extent of the AusBathyTopo 250m 2023 grid). This dataset has utility for a broad range of purposes including seabed characterisation, sediment transport modelling, habitat characterisation, seabed engineering studies and fundamental geological and sedimentological research.</div><div><br></div><div>Additional metadata of this dataset are provided in the word document accompanied with the dataset. The metadata document describes the attribute table, the sediment carbonate classification and the sediment facies.</div>
Product Type
dataset
eCat Id
147981
Contact for the resource
Point of contact
Cnr Jerrabomberra Ave and Hindmarsh Dr GPO Box 378
Canberra
ACT
2601
Australia
Point of contact
Resource provider
Digital Object Identifier
Keywords
-
- marine
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- seabed
-
- mud
-
- sand
-
- gravel
-
- grainsize
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- HVC_144639
- theme.ANZRC Fields of Research.rdf
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- Sedimentology
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- Published_External
Publication Date
2024-07-26T00:25:30
Creation Date
Security Constraints
Legal Constraints
Status
completed
Purpose
To provide a standardised continental-scale seabed sediment dataset that can be used for seabed characterisation, sediment transport modelling, habitat mapping, seabed engineering studies and fundamental geological and sedimentological research.
Maintenance Information
notPlanned
Topic Category
geoscientificInformation
Series Information
Lineage
<div>These data represent a subset of information from 278 marine surveys undertaken within the Australian region between the 1960s and early 2020s. Data were extracted from the Marine Sediments (MARS) database, cleaned and processed as follows using Python 3.8:</div><div>1. Select Grainsize, mud, sand gravel % and bulk CaCO3%</div><div>2. Transpose columns to create row based and sample number indexed data tables</div><div>3. Ensure all rows of data have unique sample numbers and coordinates</div><div>4. Extract water depths from the AusBathyTopo 250m (Australia) 2023 Grid for all samples for consistency in measurement method</div><div>5. Clean the data to ensure only seabed samples with appropriate location, lineage and depths limits are used</div><div>6. Once clean, separate the 4 data types into files for calculation and classification based on (i) laser diffraction particle size, (ii) sieve and laser particle size, (iii) mud sand gravel values and (iv) CaCO3 content</div><div>7. For each sample using the laser particle size distribution data, and Folk and Ward (1954) logarithmic graphical method calculate Mean particle size (Mz), Median particle size (d50), Standard Deviation, Kurtosis, Skewness, Clay%, Silt% and Sand%</div><div>9. Classify Clay Silt Sand texture, Classify Mean size Class (Wentworth)</div><div>10. Classify Sediment texture based on the relative proportions of Mud, Sand and Gravel</div><div>11. Classify Sediment composition based on the CaCO3%</div><div>12. For each sample using the combined sieve and laser particle size distribution data Calculate Mean particle size (Mz), Median particle size (d50), StDev, Kurtosis, Skewness, Clay%, Silt% and Sand%.</div><div>13. Merge all into a single file</div><div>14. Using the calculated statistics and classifications characterise the seabed using the Facies concept</div>
Parent Information
Extents
[-60, -8, 92, 172]
Reference System
WGS 84 / geographic 2D (EPSG: 4326)
Spatial Resolution
Service Information
Associations
Association Type - wasInformedBy
A continental-scale seabed sediment particle size, texture and carbonate dataset for the Australian region - Journal Paper
eCat Identifier - 147979,
UUID - df2aac13-3450-49cb-ac1c-47ad501d1904
Association Type - wasDerivedFrom
Marine Sediments (MARS) Database
eCat Identifier - 69869,
UUID - a05f7892-eef2-7506-e044-00144fdd4fa6
Downloads and Links
Source Information