GEOMAT - Modelling of Continental Shelf Sediment Mobility in Support of Australia's Regional Marine Planning Process

GEOMA T is a geological-oceanographic computer modelling project which aims to enhance

our understanding of the processes controlling sediment mobilisation on the Australian

continental shelf. This report describes tidal and surface ocean swell-wave models and their

application to studies of shelf sediment mobilisation. The work has been carried out over the

past 2 years by a team of collaborators from AGSO, the University of Tasmania, the

Australian Bureau of Meteorology and Kort & Matrikelstyrelsen, Geodetic Division in

Denmark.

Our models predict that swell wave energy is sufficient to mobilise fine sand (0.1 mm

diameter), on at least one occasion during the year March 1997 to February 1998, over 63.5%

of the Australian continental shelf. The largest and most powerful waves were able to

mobilise fine sand up to a water depth of 148 m in the Great Australian Bight. Tidal currents

are capable of mobilising fine sand at least once per semi-lunar cycle (ie. -2 weeks) over

about 56.4% of the shelf.

Overlaying the wave and tide threshold exceedence maps demonstrates that there are areas on

the shelf where one process dominates, some areas where tides and waves are of relatively

equal importance and still other areas where neither process is significant. We defined 6 shelf

regions of relative wave and tidal energy: zero (no-mobility); waves-only, wave-dominated,

mixed, tide-dominated and tides-only. The relative distribution of these regions varies with

grain size. Inclusion of estimated mean grain size is being undertaken at the present time and

this will enhance the usefulness of the regionalisations.

GEOMA T provides a predictive, process-based understanding of the shelf sedimentary

system. It helps to explain the distribution patterns of surficial sediments and will probably

be useful for mapping biological habitats and communities, although further work is needed

to better define these relationships. GEOMA T provides a useful tool that will assist with

marine environmental management in general, and with the National Ocean's Office regional

marine planning process in particular. It has demonstrated applications to marine engineering

projects where shelf sediment mobilisation is of concern and to regional studies of pollution

dispersal and accumulation.

Simple

Identification info

Date (Publication)
2000-01-01T00:00:00
Citation identifier
Geoscience Australia Persistent Identifier/https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/34373

Cited responsible party
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Publisher

Australian Geological Survey Organisation

 Canberra
Author

Harris, P.T.

 1
Author

Smith, R.

 2
Author

Anderson, O.

 3
Author

Coleman, R.

 4
Author

Greenslade, D.

 5
Name

Record

Issue identification

2000/041

ISBN

0642398607

Point of contact
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Custodian

EGD
Owner

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Custodian

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

 Voice
Topic category
  • Geoscientific information

Extent

N
S
E
W


Maintenance and update frequency
Unknown

Resource format

Title

Product data repository: Various Formats

Website

Data Store directory containing the digital product files

Data Store directory containing one or more files, possibly in a variety of formats, accessible to Geoscience Australia staff only for internal purposes

Keywords

  • GA Publication

  • Record

Theme

  • bathymetry

Theme

  • continental margins

Theme

  • marine

Keywords

  • AU-EEZ

Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC)

  • Earth Sciences

Keywords

  • Published_External

Resource constraints

Title

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence

Alternate title

CC-BY

Edition

4.0

Website

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/

Access constraints
License
Use constraints
License

Resource constraints

Title

Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem

Edition date
2018-11-01T00:00:00
Website

https://www.protectivesecurity.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx

Classification
Unclassified
Language
English
Character encoding
UTF8

Distribution Information

Distributor contact
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Distributor

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

 Voice
OnLine resource

Download the Record (pdf)

Download the Record (pdf)

Distribution format

  • pdf

Resource lineage

Statement

Unknown

Hierarchy level
Non geographic dataset
Other

GA Publication

Description

Source data not available.

Metadata constraints

Title

Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem

Edition date
2018-11-01T00:00:00
Website

https://www.protectivesecurity.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx

Classification
Unclassified

Metadata

Metadata identifier
urn:uuid/a05f7892-b3dc-7506-e044-00144fdd4fa6

Title

GeoNetwork UUID

Language
English
Character encoding
UTF8
Contact
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Point of contact

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

 Voice

Type of resource

Resource scope
Document
Name

GA Record

Alternative metadata reference

Title

Geoscience Australia - short identifier for metadata record with

uuid

Citation identifier
eCatId/34373

Metadata linkage

https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/a05f7892-b3dc-7506-e044-00144fdd4fa6

Date info (Revision)
2018-04-20T06:04:28
Date info (Creation)
2000-07-03T00:00:00

Metadata standard

Title

AU/NZS ISO 19115-1:2014

Metadata standard

Title

ISO 19115-1:2014

Metadata standard

Title

ISO 19115-3

Title

Geoscience Australia Community Metadata Profile of ISO 19115-1:2014

Edition

Version 2.0, September 2018

Citation identifier
https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/122551

 
 

Spatial extent

N
S
E
W


Keywords

bathymetry continental margins marine

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