Product catalogue
Geomorphic and habitat mapping of submarine canyons of the Australian continental margin
Submarine canyons influence oceanographic processes, sediment transport, productivity and benthic biodiversity from the continental shelf to the slope and beyond. The relative influence of an individual canyon on these processes will, in part, be determined by its form, shape and position on the continental margin. Based on the latest bathymetry data for the Australian margin, we have mapped 753 submarine canyons and derived a large number of geomorphic metrics based on canyon form, shape and position. In this presentation we highlight key results, which show that these canyon metrics describe a wide variety of canyon form and physical complexity that is consistent with the geological evolution of the Australian margin and the local influence of geological and geomorphological processes. Thus, Australian submarine canyons cluster in the east, southeast, west and southwest where the margin is steepest and continental shelf is narrow. Subsequently, we used 22 environmental variables (including many of the geomorphic metrics) as surrogates to derive estimates of habitat potential for these submarine canyons. Our analysis shows that the high geomorphic and oceanographic diversity of Australian submarine canyons creates a multitude of potential habitat types, notably for benthic infaunal and epifaunal communities. Canyons with particularly high benthic habitat potential are located mainly offshore of the Great Barrier Reef and the New South Wales coast, on the eastern margin of Tasmania and Bass Strait, and on the southern Australian margin. Many of these canyons have complex bottom topography, are likely to have high primary and secondary production, and have less potential for sediment disturbance due to bottom current. Canyons that incise the shelf tend to score higher in habitat potential than those confined to the slope. This habitat potential is exemplified by Perth Canyon, a large shelf-incising canyon on the southwest Australian margin, which we present in this talk as a case study. High-resolution (20m) multibeam sonar data for the canyon reveals the geomorphic complexity characterised by escarpments, transverse ridges, large-scale mass movements and active bedform fields. This geodiversity and the interaction of the Perth Canyon with regional oceanographic currents (the Leeuwin Current and Undercurrent) provide highly diverse habitats for benthic fauna such as deep-sea corals and sponges and a variety of pelagic fauna including cetaceans (e.g., Australian pygmy blue whales, minke whales, sharks and tunas).
Abstract submitted to/presented at the 2018 International Network for Submarine Canyon Investigation and Scientific Exchange (INCISE) Symposium ( https://www.incisenet.org/)
Simple
Identification info
- Date (Creation)
- 2018-09-14T09:00:00
- Date (Publication)
- 2023-11-01T05:47:54
- Citation identifier
- Geoscience Australia Persistent Identifier/https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/122817
- Cited responsible party
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Author Huang, Z.
Author Schlacher, T.A.
External Contact Author Nichol, S.
Place and Communities Internal Contact Author Nanson, R.
Place and Communities Internal Contact Author Harris, P.T.
External Contact Author Caley, M.J.
External Contact Author Williams, A.
External Contact Author Althaus, F.
External Contact Author Koser, R.
External Contact Publisher Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice
- Name
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2018 International Network for Submarine Canyon Investigation and Scientific Exchange (INCISE) 5-7 November 2018 Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
- Purpose
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Abstract for the INCISE 2018 Symposium
- Status
- Completed
- Point of contact
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Point of contact Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice Resource provider Place and Communities Division
External Contact Point of contact Huang, Z.
Place and Communities Internal Contact
- Spatial representation type
- Topic category
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- Oceans
Extent
Extent
))
- Maintenance and update frequency
- Not planned
Resource format
- Title
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Product data repository: Various Formats
- Website
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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
- theme.ANZRC Fields of Research.rdf
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EARTH SCIENCES
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- Feature type
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Submarine Canyon
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- Discipline
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Geomorphic Mapping
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- Discipline
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Habitat Mapping
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- Keywords
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Published_External
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Resource constraints
- Title
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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence
- Alternate title
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CC-BY
- Edition
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4.0
- Access constraints
- License
- Use constraints
- License
- Other constraints
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(c) Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia) 2018
Resource constraints
- Title
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Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem
- Edition date
- 2018-11-01T00:00:00
- Classification
- Unclassified
- Language
- English
- Character encoding
- UTF8
Distribution Information
- Distributor contact
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Distributor Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice facsimile
- OnLine resource
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Link to Conference Page
Link to Conference Page
- Distribution format
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- OnLine resource
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Download Abstract (pdf) [422.7 MB]
Download Abstract (pdf) [422.7 MB]
- Distribution format
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pdf
- File decompression technique
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nil
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Resource lineage
- Statement
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This abstract has been submitted to the INCISE 2018 symposium. The abstract contains the highlights of several previous and current studies on Australian submarine canyons. I have presented an oral talk in the symposium (Shenzhen, China, November 5-7).
Citation: Huang, Z., Schlacher, T.A., Nichol, S., Nanson, R., Harris, P.T., Julian Caley, M., Williams, A., Althaus, F., Kloser, R., 2018. Geomorphic and habitat mapping of submarine canyons of the Australian continental margin, 4th International Submarine Canyon Symposium (INCISE2018), Shenzhen, China, November 5-7.
- Hierarchy level
- Document
Metadata constraints
- Title
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Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem
- Edition date
- 2018-11-01T00:00:00
- Classification
- Unclassified
Metadata
- Metadata identifier
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urn:uuid/01a2a4a2-f781-4ebb-8634-b138e2f26cca
- Title
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GeoNetwork UUID
- Language
- English
- Character encoding
- UTF8
- Contact
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Point of contact Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice Owner Huang, Z.
Place and Communities Internal Contact Point of contact Huang, Z.
Place and Communities Internal Contact
Type of resource
- Resource scope
- Document
- Name
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Conference Abstract
Alternative metadata reference
- Title
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Geoscience Australia - short identifier for metadata record with
uuid
- Citation identifier
- eCatId/122817
- Date info (Creation)
- 2018-05-04T03:37:56
- Date info (Revision)
- 2018-05-04T03:38:12
Metadata standard
- Title
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AU/NZS ISO 19115-1:2014
Metadata standard
- Title
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ISO 19115-1:2014
Metadata standard
- Title
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ISO 19115-3
- Title
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Geoscience Australia Community Metadata Profile of ISO 19115-1:2014
- Edition
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Version 2.0, September 2018
- Citation identifier
- https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/122551