Geoscience Australia carried out a marine survey on Carnarvon shelf (WA) in 2008 (SOL4769) to map seabed bathymetry and characterise benthic environments through colocated sampling of surface sediments and infauna, observation of benthic habitats using underwater towed video and stills photography, and measurement of ocean tides and wavegenerated currents. Data and samples were acquired using the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) Research Vessel Solander. Bathymetric mapping, sampling and video transects were completed in three survey areas that extended seaward from Ningaloo Reef to the shelf edge, including: Mandu Creek (80 sq km); Point Cloates (281 sq km), and; Gnaraloo (321 sq km). Additional bathymetric mapping (but no sampling or video) was completed between Mandu creek and Point Cloates, covering 277 sq km and north of Mandu Creek, covering 79 sq km. Two oceanographic moorings were deployed in the Point Cloates survey area. The survey also mapped and sampled an area to the northeast of the Muiron Islands covering 52 sq km. cloates_3m is an ArcINFO grid of Point Cloates of Carnarvon Shelf survey area produced from the processed EM3002 bathymetry data using the CARIS HIPS and SIPS software

This service has been created specifically for display in the National Map and the chosen symbology may not suit other mapping applications. The Australian Topographic web map service is seamless national dataset coverage for the whole of Australia. These data are best suited to graphical applications. These data may vary greatly in quality depending on the method of capture and digitising specifications in place at the time of capture. The web map service portrays detailed graphic representation of features that appear on the Earth's surface. These features include the administration boundaries from the Geoscience Australia 250K Topographic Data, including state forest and reserves.

Executive Summary. During 2-20 February 1998 the SNTD consortium of AGSO, USC, MAFRI, MARBOT and CBL conducted a survey to sample the major sediment types of Moreton Bay and the Brisbane River. The work was conducted to complete the SNTD Tasks. This Final Report discusses data from the February survey, and incorporates data collected on previous surveys (where appropriate) to provide this advanced perspective on sediment -water interactions and fluxes of metabolites,(notably nitrogen and phosphorus) across the sediment water interface. All Tasks for SNTD, S2R2 have been completed. Key findings are summarised below. ? A sedimentary and biogenic framework was developed for the Moreton Bay. Several Bio-geozones were identified from the facies mapping. These are ( including the areas of each): (i) Oceanic sands with seagrasses, 596 km2 (ii) Mixed muds and sands, 1009 km2 (iii) sewage impacted mixed muds and sands of western MB, 170 km2 (iv) Mangrove sediments, 62 km2, and (iv) the Upper and Lower Brisbane River sediments, 8.5 km2. Within each of these zones we identified key processes controlling nutrient concentrations and fluxes across the sediment-water interface. ? Oceanic sands with seagrasses. N fixation rates are highest in seagrass sediments. DIN fluxes (ammonia + nitrogen oxides) fluxes from the sediments to overlying waters are low. Coupled sedimentary nitrification and denitrification is active and efficient (>90%), and these sediments appear to be very efficient recyclers of sedimentary N. Sedimentary nitrification and denitrification are probably enhanced by oxygen fluxes through the root systems of seagrasses. P fluxes are low in seagrass sediments. Sulphate reduction is not important. Bioirrigation to shallow depths is evident. ? Ocean sands with seagrasses and `Lyngbya?. N fixation is low and DIN fluxes from sediments to overlying waters are low.

Shallow marine sediment samples (20cm - <4m) were collected from the Petrel Sub-Basin. The samples were analysed for headspace gas and lipid content. Over the survey area, methane (C1) and the wet gases (C1-C5) were typically found to be in low abundance, with all samples containing less than 6 ppm methane and even lower levels of the wet gas components. The C1-C5 hydrocarbons were detected in trace contents (total HC gas 1.58-6.6 ppm). In comparison, the Petrel, Tern and Frigate gas accumulations are dominated by methane (mean C1 91.6 mole %) and lesser quantities of the wet gases (C2-C5 mean 3.6 mole %), with carbon dioxide being present in low abundance (mean CO2 1.8 mole %). The results of the head space gas analysis and biomarker signatures of the extractable organic matter indicate an input of recent organic matter to the marine sediments. Thermogenic hydrocarbons were not detected, implying that in Area 1, gas and oil are not leaking and accumulating in the surface sediments.

Boundary of seabed and exclusive economic zone under Article 3 of the Treaty between the Government of Australia and the Government of the Republic of Indonesia Establishing an Exclusive Economic Zone Boundary and Certain Seabed Boundaries (1997) Diagram AU/INDON-16 Refer previous GeoCat 65638 Treaty text and coordinates can be found at: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/dfat/treaties/notinforce/1997/4.html Note that this is a signed text but has not yet entered into force

Modern estuaries are part of a continuum of coastal depositional environments within which the variation in geomorphology is closely related to the dominant one of three main processes affecting sedimentation, viz waves, tides or rivers. The present location of the coast is controlled by the sea level rise brought about by the release of water from continental ice sheets following the glacial maximum around 20,000 years ago. The current form of the coast is partly inherited from the shape of the precedent land surface flooded by the rising sea, which is then modified by a combination of ongoing local erosion and/or deposition of sediment transported by rivers from the adjacent land mass, and then redistributed by the locally dominant marine process. Once sea level stabilised around 6-7,000 years ago, sediment was able to progressively infill the topographically lower areas. In some cases, where the rate of sedimentation is relatively high, infill of coastal indentations may have been completed, and the coastal is now prograding seaward. Elsewhere, where sedimentation rates are lower, or waves and tides are able to effectively move sediment away from the point of river entry, infill may have only partially proceeded, and the coast has been modified into characteristic forms. Where waves dominate over tides, features made from coarse-grained sediments such as barriers, beaches and bars, form parallel to the general trend of the coast. These establish less-energetic environments isolated from the full force of the ocean, where fine-grained sediments can accumulate. Where tidal forces are relatively dominant, the coarser-grained bars tend to orient at right angles to the coast, and fine-grained sediments accumulate in the intertidal areas as mud flats, and marshes.

Geoscience Australia and the National Oceans Office carried out a joint venture project to produce a consistent, high-quality 9 arc second (0.0025° or ~250m at the equator) bathymetric data grid of those parts of the Australian water column jurisdiction lying between 92E & 172E and 8S & 60S. As well as the waters adjacent to the continent of Australia and Tasmania, the area selected also covers the area of water column jurisdiction surrounding Macquarie Island, and the Australian Territories of Norfolk Island, Christmas Island, and Cocos (Keeling) Islands. The area selected does not include Australia's marine jurisdiction off of the Territory of Heard and McDonald Islands and the Australian Antarctic Territory. This report provides a list of the datasets and procedures used to produce a grid of 9 arc second cell dimensions. The underlying data from which this grid is derived can only support this resolution in areas where direct bathymetric observations are sufficiently dense (eg. where swath bathymetry data or digitised chart data exist). In areas where only track-line data exist, the grid resolution is high along-line but low perpendicular to lines. In areas where no sounding data are available, the grid is based on interpolated or indirectly observed bathymetry, and these data can only support a resolution of 2 arc minutes (2 nautical miles or ~3.7 km). The grid covers an area of approximately 41 million square kilometres. Its dimensions are 32003 x 20803 cells resulting in a file size slightly in excess of 1.3 Gb of 2-bytes integer numbers representing the bathymetric values. The grid synthesises approximately 1.7 billion observed data points. This grid is not suitable for use as an aid to navigation, or to replace any products produced by the Australian Hydrographic Service.

Boundary of seabed and exclusive economic zone under Article 3 of the Treaty between the Government of Australia and the Government of the Republic of Indonesia Establishing an Exclusive Economic Zone Boundary and Certain Seabed Boundaries (1997) Diagram AU/INDON-15 Refer to GeoCat 73153 Treaty text and coordinates can be found at: http:/www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/dfat/ treaties/notinforce/1997/4.html Note that this is a signed text but has not yet entered into force

Water Column Jurisdiction under Article 8 of the Treaty between Australia and the Government of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste on Certain Maritime Arrangements in the Timor Sea (2006) Diagram AU/TL-05 Refer Geocat 73172 Treaty text can be found at: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/dfat/treaties/ATS/2007/12.html

This paper reports the discovery of extensive mid Eocene bryozoan reef complexes along the paleo-shelf edge of the Great Australian Bight (GAB). The complexes form the earliest carbonate deposit in the GAB, which is the largest Cenozoic cool-water carbonate province on Earth. The bryozoan reef mounds, previously misidentified as volcanic bodies, were deposited parallel to the shelf margin for more than 500 km along strike. Individual reef-mound complexes are 60-150 km long, up to 15 km wide and up to 200 m thick, dwarfing all previously described examples. Superimposed on the distal margin of an underlying Paleocene to mid-Eocene siliciclastic delta complex, the reef-mounds provide a critical insight into changing paleoenvironments of the Australo-Antarctic Gulf (AAG) around 43 Ma, coinciding with global and continent-wide climatic and tectonic events. The rapid growth and demise of reef-mound building bryozoans raises new questions regarding the interplay of Southern Ocean opening, ocean currents and biosphere interactions.