Seabed environments and shallow geology of the Leveque Shelf, Browse Basin, Western Australia - Oxygen uptake and CO2 release from seabed sediments based on core incubation experiments.  

Authors / CoAuthors

Radke, L.C. | Atkinson, I. | Carey, M. | Trafford, J.

Abstract

Geoscience Australia undertook a marine survey of the Leveque Shelf (survey number SOL5754/GA0340), a sub-basin of the Browse Basin, in May 2013. This survey provides seabed and shallow geological information to support an assessment of the CO2 storage potential of the Browse sedimentary basin. The basin, located on the Northwest Shelf, Western Australia, was previously identified by the Carbon Storage Taskforce (2009) as potentially suitable for CO2 storage. The survey was undertaken under the Australian Government's National CO2 Infrastructure Plan (NCIP) to help identify sites suitable for the long term storage of CO2 within reasonable distances of major sources of CO2 emissions. The principal aim of the Leveque Shelf marine survey was to look for evidence of any past or current gas or fluid seepage at the seabed, and to determine whether these features are related to structures (e.g. faults) in the Leveque Shelf area that may extend to the seabed. The survey also mapped seabed habitats and biota to provide information on communities and biophysical features that may be associated with seepage. This research, combined with deeper geological studies undertaken concurrently, addresses key questions on the potential for containment of CO2 in the basin's proposed CO2 storage unit, i.e. the basal sedimentary section (Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous), and the regional integrity of the Jamieson Formation (the seal unit overlying the main reservoir). This dataset comprises total chlorin concentrations and chlorin indices from the upper 2cm of seabed sediments.

Product Type

dataset

eCat Id

78819

Contact for the resource

Digital Object Identifier

http://dx.doi.org/10.4225/25/54B8630FD68C9

Keywords

• Marine Data

( Theme )

• marine environmental baselines

( Theme )

• continental shelf

( Theme )

• seabed

( Theme )

• geochemistry

( Theme )

• marine

• AU-WA

Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC)

• Marine Geoscience

• Published_External

Publication Date

2014-01-01T00:00:00

Creation Date

Security Constraints

Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem    

Classification - unclassified

Legal Constraints

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence    

Access - license

Use - license

Status

Purpose

Maintenance Information

asNeeded

Topic Category

oceans

Series Information

Lineage

Two 4.5cm diameter cores of surface sediment overlain by 0.118L of local seawater were incubated in the dark for ~4 hours at ~26oC after a ~3 hour pre-incubation period. Dissolved oxygen levels were measured at ~30 minute intervals. Samples for DIC analysis were taken at the start and finish of the incubation. Blank cores (local seawater only) accompanied all incubations. Dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) were determined using a DIC analyser and infrared-based CO2 detector. (Geoscience Australia). CO2/O2 production/consumption rates were calculated by concentration differences (T=1 minus T=0) over the incubation period. Accuracy of the O2 measurments was +/- 0.1 mg/L. The %RSD of the precision/accuracies of the dissolved inorganic carbon analyses were 0.14 and 0.5% respectively. Thanks to the crew of the RV Solander for help with sample collection and to R. Falkner for the provision of DIC analyses.

Parent Information

Extents

[-16.1, -15.45, 121.1, 121.75]

Reference System

Spatial Resolution

Service Information

Associations

Downloads and Links

Link to Data package - Seabed environments and shallow geology of the Leveque Shelf  

Download the spreadsheet (xlsx)  

Source Information

Unknown