Authors / CoAuthors
Heap, A.D. | Nichol, S.L. | Przeslawski, R. | Radke, L.
Abstract
The northern Australian continental shelf is the focus for an expanding offshore energy industry and is also recognised for its high-value marine biodiversity in regional marine management plans. To reduce uncertainty and risk in the future development and management of the region, Geoscience Australia has an ongoing program to provide integrated marine environmental information to support both activities. The program includes collation of existing marine data and acquisition of new high resolution datasets. In 2009 and 2010, marine surveys in eastern Joseph Bonaparte Gulf were completed to characterise the seabed in representative areas, assess potential for geohazards and identify unique or sensitive benthic habitats. Data acquired included multibeam sonar bathymetry (~1900 km2), shallow (<120 m) sub-bottom profiles, sediment grabs and shallow (2-5 m) cores, towed video and epibenthic sleds. Geomorphic features mapped range from expansive soft-sediment plains, to isolated carbonate banks that rise tens of metres and incised valleys up to 200 m deep. Each feature is characterised by a distinctive biota, ranging from coral and sponge gardens on banks to diverse infaunal communities across plains. Geohazards include potential for localised slumping in valleys and escape of subsurface fluid/gas from plains and valley floors. To facilitate uptake of this information, results are integrated as generalised graphical models representing key spatial patterns of shelf ecosystems. This work has led to further work in targeted areas of the Gulf as part of a new four-year Australian Government program to inform geological and environmental assessments of offshore basins for CO2 storage.
Product Type
nonGeographicDataset
eCat Id
73413
Contact for the resource
Custodian
Point of contact
Cnr Jerrabomberra Ave and Hindmarsh Dr GPO Box 378
Canberra
ACT
2601
Australia
Keywords
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- External PublicationAbstract
- ( Theme )
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- habitat
- ( Theme )
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- seabed
- ( Theme )
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- marine
- Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC)
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- Earth Sciences
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- Published_Internal
Publication Date
2012-01-01T00:00:00
Creation Date
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Purpose
Maintenance Information
unknown
Topic Category
geoscientificInformation
Series Information
Lineage
Unknown
Parent Information
Extents
[-13.0, -10.0, 128.0, 131.0]
Reference System
Spatial Resolution
Service Information
Associations
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Source data not available.