Authors / CoAuthors
Nichol, S.L.
Abstract
This resource contains sediment data for the Oceanic Shoals Commonwealth Marine Reserve (CMR) in the Timor Sea collected by Geoscience Australia during September and October 2012 on RV Solander (survey GA0339/SOL5650). Seabed sediment samples were collected from four survey areas by either a Smith McIntyre grab or box corer at 62 stations, divided between Area 1 (n=22), Area 2 (n=17), Area 3 (n=21) and Area 4 (n=2). The Oceanic Shoals Commonwealth Marine Reserve survey was undertaken as an activity within the Australian Government's National Environmental Research Program Marine Biodiversity Hub and was the key component of Research Theme 4 - Regional Biodiversity Discovery to Support Marine Bioregional Plans. Hub partners involved in the survey included the Australian Institute of Marine Science, Geoscience Australia, the University of Western Australia, Museum Victoria and the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory. Data acquired during the survey included: multibeam sonar bathymetry and acoustic backscatter; sub-bottom acoustic profiles; physical samples of seabed sediments, infauna and epibenthic biota; towed underwater video and still camera observations of seabed habitats; baited video observations of demersal and pelagic fish, and; oceanographic measurements of the water column from CTD (conductivity, temperature, depth) casts and from deployment of sea surface drifters. Further information on the survey is available in the post-survey report published as Geoscience Australia Record 2013/38 (Nichol et al. 2013).
Product Type
dataset
eCat Id
79005
Contact for the resource
Custodian
Owner
Custodian
Cnr Jerrabomberra Ave and Hindmarsh Dr GPO Box 378
Canberra
ACT
2601
Australia
Digital Object Identifier
Keywords
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- Marine Data
- ( Theme )
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- seabed
- ( Theme )
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- sedimentology
- ( Theme )
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- marine biodiversity
- ( Theme )
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- marine environmental baselines
- ( Theme )
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- NERP Marine Biodiversity Hub
- ( Theme )
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- marine
- ( Theme )
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- NERP
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- AU-WA
- Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC)
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- Marine Geoscience
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- Published_External
Publication Date
2014-01-01T00:00:00
Creation Date
Security Constraints
Legal Constraints
Status
Purpose
Maintenance Information
biannually
Topic Category
environment
Series Information
Lineage
Sediment grabs typically recovered about 0.1 cubic metres of undisturbed sediment from which a 250- 500 g sub-sample was taken to a depth of ~5 cm. Sub-samples were described from visual inspection, noting grain size, sorting, composition and Munsell colour then stored in plastic bags and refrigerated. In the laboratory, samples were used for grain size analysis and measurement of carbonate content on separate splits. Grain size measurement was undertaken by wet sieving to determine mud (<63 microns), sand (63-2000 microns) and gravel (>2000 microns) fractions as percentage of dry weight. A separate sub-sample (~1g) was used for laser diffraction measurement of the mud and sand fractions using a Malvern Mastersizer 2000, with results expressed as percentage of the total particle volume based on an average of three measurements on each sample. Summary statistics include arithmetic mean, standard deviation, skewness and kurtosis. Carbonate content was measured on the bulk fraction, sand fraction and mud fraction by acid digestion and measurement of resultant pressure, following Muller and Gastner (1979). The carbonate content of the gravel fraction was determined by visual assessment. Sediment data for the Oceanic Shoals Survey are a first generation product derived from the physical samples. No transformation of the data has been undertaken.
Parent Information
Extents
[-12.23, -11.3, 126.9, 127.46]
Reference System
Spatial Resolution
Service Information
Associations
Source Information
NERP Marine Biodiversity Hub