Product catalogue
Geoscience Australia Survey 267, Post Survey Report: Testing Natural Hydrocarbon Seepage Detection Tools on the Yampi Shelf, Northwestern Australia
Geoscience Australia Marine Survey 267 was undertaken aboard the Parmelia K, a 28 m pearling boat out of Broome. The survey departed Darwin on 3 March 2004 and terminated in Broome on 18 March 2004. The length of the survey was curtailed by unfavourable weather conditions associated with tropical cyclones Evan and Fay. The aim of the survey was to test and validate a range of techniques used in the detection/identification of natural hydrocarbon seepage. The Yampi Shelf in the northern North West Shelf was selected for the test bed as it is a known region of intense and widespread hydrocarbon seepage.
One of the most significant findings of the survey was the direct observation of natural hydrocarbon seepage in the Timor Sea region of the North West Shelf, which has previously only been interpreted through remote sensing or automated water sampling techniques (sniffer). Seepage plumes were observed rising from pockmark fields or hard-grounds on the vessel's echosounder and the side-scan sonar. Gas bubbles with oily films were observed at the surface. Active seepage sites were detected in close associated with hydrocarbon related diagenetic zones (HRDZs) interpreted in 3D seismic coverage of the region. A towed fluorometer detected variations in the hydrocarbon concentration of the sea surface over the study areas. Seepage appeared to be most active in association with low-tide, and more suppressed during high tide.
Multi-beam swath bathymetry of the study areas revealed channels between 2 and 20 m deep on the Yampi Shelf headland and in the vicinity of the major HRDZs. Tidal current directions measured by an acoustic doppler current profiler (ADCP) in the Yampi Shelf headland channels suggests that tidal shears over this headland may be giving a response on Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR).
Sediment samples were collected with a Smith-Macintyre Grab, a dredge and a gravity core, although coring was largely unsuccessful due to carbonate hard-grounds over the seepage sites. Grab and dredge samples suggest that the active seeps are zones of preferential macro-biotic distribution.
Significant down-time was introduced through poorly functioning equipment and a lack of experience on behalf of the staff. This was primarily due to the fact that some of the equipment was leased from Seismic Asia Pacific Ltd. Therefore it is recommended for future surveys that an operator be supplied with leased equipment, or that the equipment is purchased by Geoscience Australia and staff are appropriately trained before the survey. It is also highly recommended that the survey have seismic acquisition capability, as the seismic data proved to be the best proxy for seepage site location.
Simple
Identification info
- Date (Publication)
- 2005-01-01T00:00:00
- Citation identifier
- Geoscience Australia Persistent Identifier/https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/61717
- Cited responsible party
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Publisher Geoscience Australia
Canberra Author Jones, A.T.
1 Author Logan, G.A.
2 Author Kennard, J.M.
3 Author O'Brien, P.E.
4 Author Rollet, N.
5 Author Sexton, M.
6 Author Glenn, K.C.
7
- Name
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Record
- Issue identification
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2005/015
- ISBN
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1920871527
- Point of contact
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Custodian ED
Owner Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Custodian Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice
- Topic category
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- Geoscientific information
- Maintenance and update frequency
- Unknown
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
- Keywords
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GA Publication
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Record
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- Theme
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marine survey
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- Theme
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marine
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- Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC)
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Earth Sciences
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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
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
- OnLine resource
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Download the Record (pdf)
Download the Record (pdf)
- Distribution format
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pdf
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Resource lineage
- Statement
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Unknown
- Hierarchy level
- Non geographic dataset
- Other
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GA Publication
- Description
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Source data not available.
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/a05f7892-c371-7506-e044-00144fdd4fa6
- 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
Type of resource
- Resource scope
- Document
- Name
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GA Record
Alternative metadata reference
- Title
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Geoscience Australia - short identifier for metadata record with
uuid
- Citation identifier
- eCatId/61717
- Date info (Revision)
- 2018-04-20T06:02:35
- Date info (Creation)
- 2004-11-15T00:00:00
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