Geoscience Australia and the Australian Institute of Marine Science are conducting seabed mapping surveys in northern Australia to generate regional baseline information on seabed environments. The data are being made available to Australia's offshore oil and gas industry to assess the wider significance of planned infrastructure developments designed to bring on regional gas reserves. In 2009 the first of these surveys focused on the Van Diemen Rise, a series of submerged carbonate banks and channels on the tropical, macrotidal northern Australian shelf. Data reveal a relatively complex seabed geomorphology comprising banks, terraces, plains, ridges, and deep/hole/valleys. Banks, terraces and ridges are characterised by partially-cemented coarse carbonate sands supporting species-rich sponge and octacoral communities.The plains and deep/hole/valleys are dominated by muddy fine to medium carbonate sands containing abundant polychaetes and crustaceans. The survey data will be combined with regional datasets to provide a synthesis of seabed environments for the northern Australian shelf. Follow-up surveys are planned for August 2010 and late 2011.

The Marine Science Voyage (2010/11 VMS) to the Mertz Glacier region was a collaborative survey involving scientists from a number of research institutions, working across a number of different projects, with the overall aim of conducting a coordinated and comprehensive study to measure and monitor the impact of the Mertz Glacier calving event on the local and regional environment. The survey took place in January 2011 and enabled the collection of data shortly after the calving event so that physical, chemical and biological changes in response to the new conditions can be monitored over time. As such, data collected on VMS will provide a benchmark for tracking future change in the Mertz Glacier region environment. Geoscience Australia and the Australian Antarctic Division conducted a benthic community survey during the voyage. The purpose of the benthic community survey was to collect high-resolution still images of the sea floor to address three main objectives: 1. to investigate benthic community composition in the area previously covered by the MGT and to the east, an area previously covered by approximately 30 m of fast ice; 2. to investigate benthic community composition (or lack thereof) in areas of known iceberg scours; and 3. to investigate the lateral extent of hydrocoral communities along the shelf break. The survey collected over 1800 images of the sea floor on the continental shelf and slope in the Mertz Glacier region, including in the area previously covered by the Mertz Glacier tongue. There were 75 successful camera deployments and a further 7 stations where images were of poor quality but may still provide useful information. The benthic images will be examined in detail to provide information on benthic community composition and substrate type. The survey has provided a major new set of data which will greatly enhance the understanding of Antarctic marine biodiversity and the relationship between physical conditions and benthic communities.

This resource contains surface sediment data for Bynoe Harbour collected by Geoscience Australia (GA), the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) and Department of Land Resource Management (Northern Territory Government) during the period from 2-29 May 2016 on the RV Solander (survey SOL6432/GA4452). This project was made possible through offset funds provided by INPEX-led Ichthys LNG Project to Northern Territory Government Department of Land Resource Management, and co-investment from Geoscience Australia and Australian Institute of Marine Science. The intent of this four year (2014-2018) program is to improve knowledge of the marine environments in the Darwin and Bynoe Harbour regions by collating and collecting baseline data that enable the creation of thematic habitat maps that underpin marine resource management decisions. The specific objectives of the survey were to: 1. Obtain high resolution geophysical (bathymetry) data for outer Darwin Harbour, including Shoal Bay; 2. Characterise substrates (acoustic backscatter properties, grainsize, sediment chemistry) for outer Darwin Harbour, including Shoal Bay; and 3. Collect tidal data for the survey area. Data acquired during the survey included: multibeam sonar bathymetry and acoustic backscatter; physical samples of seabed sediments, underwater photography and video of grab sample locations and oceanographic information including tidal data and sound velocity profiles. This dataset comprises total chlorin concentrations, chlorin indices and porosity measured on seabed sediments. A detailed account of the survey is provided in Siwabessy, P.J.W., Smit, N., Atkinson, I., Dando, N., Harries, S., Howard, F.J.F., Li, J., Nicholas W.A., Picard, K., Radke, L.C., Tran, M., Williams, D. and Whiteway, T., 2016. Bynoe Harbour Marine Survey 2017: GA4452/SOL6432 Post-survey report. Record 2017/04. Geoscience Australia, Canberra. Thanks to the crew of the RV Solander for help with sample collection, Matt Carey, Craig Wintle and Andrew Hislop from the Observatories and Science Support at Geoscience Australia for technical support and Jodie Smith for reviewing the data. This dataset is published with the permission of the CEO, Geoscience Australia

Map showing Australias Maritime Jurisdiction post UN recommendation in April 2008 Map produced for Dfat for inclusion in IOR-SRC website. Developed from Geocat 68133 (2008)

Australia is increasingly recognised as a global hotspot for sponge biodiversity, with sponges playing key roles in habitat provision, water quality, bioerosion, and biodiscovery. Despite the intense focus on marine resource management in northern Australia, there is a large knowledge gap about sponge communities in this region. This study focuses on shelf environments of the Timor Sea, in particular the Van Diemen Rise and Londonderry Rise which are characterised by extensive carbonate terraces, banks and reefs, separated by soft sediment plains and deeply incised valleys. These carbonate terraces and banks are recognised as a Key Ecological Feature (KEF) in the marine region plans for northern Australia (North and Northwest Marine Regions) and are in part incorporated into the Oceanic Shoals Commonwealth Marine Reserve. To support the management of this marine reserve and its associated KEF, we use new datasets to investigate regional patterns in sponge assemblages and their relationships to seabed geomorphology. To do this, we use sponge assemblage data and multibeam-derived variables (depth, backscatter, slope, geomorphic feature) from seven survey areas located on the Van Diemen Rise (four sites) and Londonderry Rise (three sites), spanning approximately 320 km in an east-west direction. The dataset was collected during three collaborative surveys undertaken in 2009, 2010 and 2012 by Geoscience Australia, the Australian Institute of Marine Science and the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory as part of the Australian Government's Offshore Energy Security Initiative and the National Environmental Research Program Marine Biodiversity Hub. All surveys returned geophysical, biological, geochemical, and sedimentological data. Benthic biota were collected with a benthic sled across a range of geomorphic features (bank, terrace, ridge, plain, valley) identified from high-resolution multibeam sonar. Sponges were then taxonomically identified to 350 species, with the species accumulation curve indicating there may be over 900 sponge species in the region. Sponge assemblages were different between the Van Diemen Rise and Londonderry Rise, as well as between individual banks in the same area, indicating that different suites of species occurred at regional (east-west) and local (between banks) scales. Relationships between sponges and other multibeam-derived variables are more complex and warrant further research. The current study will help: i) facilitate integrated marine management by providing a baseline species inventory; ii) support the listing of carbonate banks of the Timor Sea shelf as a Key Ecological Feature, and; iii) inform future monitoring of marine protected area performance, particularly for areas of complex seabed geomorphology.

This short compilation is a 3D Bathymetric flythrough starting from Exmouth to Fremantle and through the Perth Canyon. Also showing the Houtman, Mentell, Wallaby Plateau, canyons and new volcanoes. This short compilation movie will be incorporated into a PowerPoint presentation to be shown at IUGG 2011. It is in 4:3 format. The 3D flythrough footage was originally created for 08-3476 movie - South West Marine Margin, March 2010.

Paleogeographic reconstructions of the conjugate Australian and Antarctic rifted continental margins based on geological versus plate tectonic considerations are rarely, if ever, fully compatible. Possible exceptions include a recently published plate tectonic reconstruction combining ocean floor fabrics and magnetic anomalies with revised rotational poles for successive extensional events in the region that coincidently brings about a match between the Kalinjala Mylonite Zone in South Australia and Mertz Shear Zone in Antarctica (Whittaker et al., 2007). A match between these two crustal-scale shear zones has been previously proposed on isotopic and geological grounds (Di Vincenzo et al., 2007; Goodge and Fanning, 2010). However, whereas the Mertz Shear Zone marks the western limits of ca. 500 Ma magmatic activity in Antarctica (Delamerian-Ross Orogen), the Kalinjala Mylonite Zone lies well to the west of this magmatic front and is bounded either side by rocks of the Mesoarchean-Mesoproterozoic Gawler craton. An alternative geological match for the Mertz Shear Zone in Australia is the hitherto unrecognised Coorong Shear Zone in South Australia (Fig. 1), tracts of which have been intruded by gabbro and granite of Delamerian-Ross age and west of which such rocks are either completely absent or greatly reduced in volume. The north-south-trending Coorong Shear Zone lies directly along strike from the (Spencer-) George V Fracture Zone and is clearly visible in aeromagnetic images and offshore deep seismic reflection data as a steep to subvertical crustal-penetrating basement structure across which there is an abrupt change in the orientation of magnetic fabrics and sedimentary basin fault geometries. An equally conspicuous change of direction is evident in ocean floor fabrics immediately offshore, inviting speculation that the along-strike George V Fracture Zone originated through reactivation of the older Coorong Shear Zone and shares the same orientation as the original basement structure. Correlation of this basement structure with the Mertz Shear Zone leads to a reconstruction of the Australian and Antarctic continental margins in which Antarctica and the entrained Mertz Shear Zone are located farther east than some recent restorations allow (Fig. 1). These restorations commonly fail to take into account an episode of NE-SW to NNE-SSW-directed extension preserved in the sedimentary and seismic record of the neighbouring Otway Basin and which is intermediate in age between initial NW-SE directed rifting in the Bight Basin and later N-S rifting that affected all of the continental margin and produced most of the ocean floor fabrics, including all of the major oceanic fracture zones. The Coorong basement structure was briefly reactivated as a sinistral strike-slip fault during this phase of NE-SW extension, but failed to evolve into a continental transform fault as was the case farther east off the southwest coast of Tasmania. There, an analogous pre-existing north-south-trending basement structure identified as the Avoca-Sorell Shear Zone was optimally oriented for reactivation as a strike-slip faulting during north-south rifting (Gibson et al., 2011). This reactivated structure is continuous along strike with the Tasman Fracture Zone and shares many similarities with the Coorong Shear Zone, separating not only basement domains with opposing magnetic fabrics but sedimentary rift basins with differently oriented sets of normal faults. Together, these two basement structures constitute an important first order constraint on palaeogeographic reconstructions of the Australian and Antarctic margins, and serve as a critical test of future palaeogeographic reconstructions based on ocean floor fabrics and plate tectonic considerations.

Abstract: The extent to which fluids may leak from sedimentary basins to the seabed is a critical issue for assessing the potential of a basin for carbon capture and storage. The Petrel Sub-basin, located beneath central and eastern Joseph Bonaparte Gulf in tropical northern Australia, is identified as potentially suitable for the geological storage of CO2 because of its geological characteristics and proximity to offshore gas and petroleum resources. In May 2012, a multidisciplinary marine survey was undertaken to collect data in two targeted areas of the Petrel Sub-basin to facilitate an assessment of CO2 storage potential. Multibeam bathymetry and backscatter mapping (650 km2 over 5,300 line km), combined with acoustic sub-bottom profiling (650 line km) and geomorphological and sediment characterisation of the seabed was undertaken above the CO2 supercritical seal boundary of the sub-basin. Features identified in the high resolution (2 m) bathymetry data include carbonate banks, ridges, pockmark fields and fields of low amplitude hummocks located directly adjacent to banks. Unit and composite pockmarks and clusters of pockmarks are present on plains and adjacent to, and on, carbonate ridges. It is postulated that there are three possible sources for fluids and fluidised gas involved in pockmark formation: deep fluids from the basin, post-Cretaceous intra-formational, layer-bound fluids, and shallow-sourced fluidised gas from the breakdown of organic matter following the Holocene marine transgression of Joseph Bonaparte Gulf.

Benthic sediment sampling of Inner Darwin Harbour (GA0358) and shallow water areas in and around Bynoe Harbour (GA0359) was undertaken between May 29 and June 19, 2017. Partners involved in the surveys included Geoscience Australia (GA), the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources within the Northern Territory Government (NT DENR) (formerly the Department of Land and Resource Management (DLRM)). These surveys form part of a four year (2014-2018) science program aimed at improving knowledge about the marine environments in the regions around Darwin and Bynoe Harbour’s through the collection and collation of baseline data that will enable the creation of thematic habitat maps to underpin marine resource management decisions. This project is being led by the Northern Territory Government and is supported by the INPEX-led Ichthys LNG Project, in collaboration with - and co-investment from GA and AIMS. This dataset comprises total sediment metabolism, carbonate, organic isotope and organic and inorganic element measurements on seabed sediments.

AMB is a dataset depicting the limits of Australia's maritime jurisdiction as set out under UNCLOS and relevant domestic legislation. To this extent, AMB provides a digital representation of the outer limit of the 12 nautical mile territorial sea, the 24 nautical mile contiguous zone, the 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone and Australia's Continental Shelf, as well as, the 3 nautical mile coastal waters. Where Australia has agreements with neighbouring countries these treaty lines are also included in the data. The dataset has been compiled by Geoscience Australia in consultation with other relevant Commonwealth Government agencies including the Attorney-General's Department, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, as well as the Australian Hydrographic Office.