Geoscience Australia Survey 234, Post-cruise Report: Cross-shelf Sediment Transport in the Torres Strait - Gulf of Papua Region. RV Franklin Cruise 01/02, January - February 2004

The RV Franklin sailed from Brisbane on 17th January 2002 and returned to Cairns on 9th February, 2002. The cruise discovered that a zone of strong tidal currents at the northern end of the Great Barrier Reef prevents the southward advance of sediment that would otherwise bury the coral reefs.

The Fly River, located in close proximity to the northern end of the Great Barrier Reef, discharges about 120 million tonnes/yr of sediment. This sediment does not penetrate as far south into the reef area as might be expected because, over glacial-interglacial cycles of sea level change, the southward-prograding deposits are eroded by tidal currents.

Deployment of an instrumented current meter and suspended sediment measurement frame on the seabed, offshore from the Fly River Delta, recorded a net sediment advection southwards. Sediment transport was greatest following a northerly wind event, which caused high bottom stress and increased turbidity levels.

Swath sonar mapping and underwater video equipment were used to map a series of channels up to 220 m deep extending from eastern Torres Strait across the northern end of the Great Barrier Reef. Channels in the north are clearly relict fluvial channels, exhibiting lateral accretion surfaces and incised channels that intersect and truncate underlying strata. Over-deepened channels in the south, however, appear to have formed by tidal current scour. They exhibit closed bathymetric contours at both ends and are floored with well-sorted carbonate gravely sand. Oceanographic observations indicate that the channels provide a conduit onto the shelf for up-welled Coral Sea water. The deepest channels form isolated depressions, and possibly were the sites of lakes during the last ice age. Preliminary modelling indicates that the strongest tidal currents occur when sea level is about 40m below present, suggesting that the channels are Pleistocene or older in age and of relict origin.

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Identification info

Date (Publication)
2002-01-01T00:00:00
Citation identifier
Geoscience Australia Persistent Identifier/https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/41836

Cited responsible party
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Publisher

Geoscience Australia

 Canberra
Author

Harris, P.T.

 1
Author

Heap, A.D.

 2
Author

Passlow, V.

 3
Author

Hughes, M.

 4
Author

Porter-Smith, R.

 5
Author

Beaman, R.J.

 6
Author

Hemer, M.

 7
Author

Daniell, J.

 8
Author

Buchanan, C.

 9
Author

Watson, T.

 10
Author

Collins, D.

 11
Author

Bleakley, N.

 12
Author

Andersen, O.

 13
Name

Record

Issue identification

2002/026

ISBN

0642467579

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EGD
Owner

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Custodian

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

 Voice
Topic category
  • Geoscientific information

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N
S
E
W


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Unknown

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Product data repository: Various Formats

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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

  • marine survey

Theme

  • marine

Keywords

  • AU-QLD

Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC)

  • Earth Sciences

Keywords

  • Published_External

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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence

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CC-BY

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4.0

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http://creativecommons.org/licenses/

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License

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Title

Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem

Edition date
2018-11-01T00:00:00
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https://www.protectivesecurity.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx

Classification
Unclassified
Language
English
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UTF8

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Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

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OnLine resource

Download the Record (pdf)

Download the Record (pdf)

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  • pdf

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Unknown

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Non geographic dataset
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GA Publication

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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-b760-7506-e044-00144fdd4fa6

Title

GeoNetwork UUID

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

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

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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/41836

Metadata linkage

https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/a05f7892-b760-7506-e044-00144fdd4fa6

Date info (Revision)
2018-04-20T06:08:48
Date info (Creation)
2002-12-02T00:00:00

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

 
 

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N
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W


Keywords

bathymetry marine marine survey

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