Seabed Environments of the Eastern Joseph Bonaparte Gulf, Northern Australia  


Authors / CoAuthors

Anderson, T.J. | Nichol, S. | Radke, L. | Heap, A.D. | Battershill, C. | Hughes, M. | Siwabessy, J. | Barrie, V. | Alvarez de Glasby, B. | Daniell, J. | Tran, M.

Abstract

A seabed mapping survey over a series of carbonate banks, intervening channels and surrounding sediment plains on the Van Diemen Rise in the eastern Joseph Bonaparte Gulf was completed under a Memorandum of Understanding between Geoscience Australia and the Australian Institute of Marine Sciences. The survey obtained detailed geological (sedimentological, geochemical, geophysical) and biological data (macro-benthic and infaunal diversity, community structure) for the banks, channels and plains to establish the late-Quaternary evolution of the region and investigate relationships between the physical environment and associated biota for biodiversity prediction. The survey also permits the biodiversity of benthos of the Van Diemen Rise to be put into a biogeographic context of the Arafura-Timor Sea and wider northern Australian marine region. Four study areas were investigated across the outer to inner shelf. Multibeam sonar data provide 100 per cent coverage of the seabed for each study area and are supplemented with geological and biological samples collected from 63 stations. In a novel approach, geochemical data collected at the stations provide an assessment of sediment and water quality for surrogacy research. Oceanographic data collected at four stations on the Van Diemen Rise will provide an understanding of the wave, tide and ocean currents as well as insights into sediment transport. A total of 1,154 square kilometres of multibeam sonar data and 340 line-km of shallow (<100 mbsf) sub-bottom profiles were collected.

Product Type

document

eCat Id

71325

Contact for the resource

  Custodian

EGD  

  Owner

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)  

  Custodian

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)  
Cnr Jerrabomberra Ave and Hindmarsh Dr GPO Box 378
Canberra
ACT
2601
Australia

Keywords

  • GA PublicationRecord
( Theme )
  • bathymetry
( Theme )
  • environmental
( Theme )
  • marine biodiversity
( Theme )
  • marine survey
( Theme )
  • seabed
( Theme )
  • GIS
( Theme )
  • backscatter
( Theme )
  • marine
  • AU-WA
Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC)
  • Earth Sciences
  • Published_External

Publication Date

2011-01-01T00:00:00

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

unknown

Topic Category

geoscientificInformation

Series Information

Record 2011/008

Lineage

Unknown

Parent Information

Extents

[-12.4183, -10.2875, 129.4526, 130.0773]

Reference System

Spatial Resolution

Service Information

Associations

Downloads and Links

Download the Record (pdf)  

Source Information

Source data not available.