It is with great interest that we read the paper by Mueller (2015) who proposes that the majority of small pockmarks with diameters less than about 10 m on the northwest shelf of Australia may be of biotic origin, created by the fish Epinephelus, the Grouper. This hypothesis is based on a spatial association between pockmarks and Epinephelus at a number of sites on the northwest shelf and elsewhere around Australia, and on recent work undertaken on the habitats and observed behaviours of grouper fish in the Gulf of Mexico who excavate sediment from pre-existing solution cavities (Coleman et al., 2010; Wall et al., 2011). However, we contend that critical details have not been taken into account as part of Mueller's (2015) hypothesis, and additional consideration of existing geologic, geomorphic, sedimentologic and geochemical information is required. To make the science more robust, here we present a more comprehensive overview of the information available.

The Regions data set was created as one of three broad-scale data layers to facilitate the definition of Primary and Secondary compartments. The Regions data is provided so that the logic of the compartment creation can be understood. With regards to spatial scale, the Regions data set represents one of the mid-scale products, as shown in the hierarchical listing for all of the polygon data sets shown below: - Coastal Realms (1:5 000 000) - Coastal Regions (1:1 000 000) - Coastal Divisions (1:250 000) - Primary Compartments (1:250 000 - 1:100 000) - Secondary Compartments (1:100 000 - 1:25 000)

The Exploring for the Future Project Areas web service depicts the spatial extents of project work undertaken as part of Geoscience Australia's $100.5 million initiative dedicated to boosting investment in resource exploration in Australia. Each project area extent has been generated by aggregating all project work sites into an envelope polygon. An indicative spend on each f the projects is also given.

The Exploring for the Future Project Areas web service depicts the spatial extents of project work undertaken as part of Geoscience Australia's $100.5 million initiative dedicated to boosting investment in resource exploration in Australia. Each project area extent has been generated by aggregating all project work sites into an envelope polygon. An indicative spend on each f the projects is also given.

This point data set was created to identify locations on (or near) the Australian coastline which were considered to represent significant changes in key environmental attributes of the coast as they pertain to sediment movement in the coastal zone. This data was created during and subsequent to the technical workshop hosted by Geoscience Australia in Canberra from 16-18 October 2012. This workshop brought together the team of Australian coastal science experts listed below. - Prof. Bruce Thom - University of Sydney and the Wentworth Group - Prof. Andy Short - University of Sydney - Prof. Colin Woodroffe - University of Wollongong - Dr. Ian Eliot - University of Western Australia - Mr. Chris Sharples - University of Tasmania - Dr. Brendan Brooke - Geoscience Australia - Dr. Scott Nichol - Geoscience Australia The technical workshop had the goal of creating regional (primary) and sub-regional (secondary) scale coastal sediment compartments - spatial zones (represented by polygons) within (or between) which sediment movement could be considered on scales and timeframes relevant to coastal management. The first step in this process involved the expert panel identifying and defining boundary points along the Australian coastline, after which the expert panel assigned relevant environmental attributes to each point. Following the development of the boundary points data set, breaklines representing the coast-perpendicular compartment boundaries were generated by extending a line from the defined offshore bathymetric contour to the defined onshore elevation contour. In every case a compartment breakline extends seaward and landward of its boundary point.

The Realms data set was created as one of three broad-scale data layers to facilitate the definition of Primary and Secondary compartments. The Realms data is provided so that the logic of the compartment creation can be understood. With regards to spatial scale, the Realms data set represents the smallest scale product, as shown in the hierarchical listing for all of the polygon data sets shown below: - Coastal Realms (1:5 000 000) - Coastal Regions (1:1 000 000) - Coastal Divisions (1:250 000) - Primary Compartments (1:250 000 - 1:100 000) - Secondary Compartments (1:100 000 - 1:25 000)

The Divisions data set was created as one of three broad-scale data layers to facilitate the definition of Primary and Secondary compartments. The Divisions data is provided so that the logic of the compartment creation can be understood. With regards to spatial scale, the Divisions data set represents one of the mid-scale products, as shown in the hierarchical listing for all of the polygon data sets shown below: - Coastal Realms (1:5 000 000) - Coastal Regions (1:1 000 000) - Coastal Divisions (1:250 000) - Primary Compartments (1:250 000 - 1:100 000) - Secondary Compartments (1:100 000 - 1:25 000)

This point data set was created to identify locations on (or near) the Australian coastline which were considered to represent significant changes in key environmental attributes of the coast as they pertain to sediment movement in the coastal zone. This data was created during and subsequent to the technical workshop hosted by Geoscience Australia in Canberra from 16-18 October 2012. This workshop brought together the team of Australian coastal science experts listed below. - Prof. Bruce Thom - University of Sydney and the Wentworth Group - Prof. Andy Short - University of Sydney - Prof. Colin Woodroffe - University of Wollongong - Dr. Ian Eliot - University of Western Australia - Mr. Chris Sharples - University of Tasmania - Dr. Brendan Brooke - Geoscience Australia - Dr. Scott Nichol - Geoscience Australia The technical workshop had the goal of creating regional (primary) and sub-regional (secondary) scale coastal sediment compartments spatial zones (represented by polygons) within (or between) which sediment movement could be considered on scales and timeframes relevant to coastal management. The first step in this process involved the expert panel identifying and defining boundary points along the Australian coastline, after which the expert panel assigned relevant environmental attributes to each point. Following the development of the boundary points data set, breaklines representing the coast-perpendicular compartment boundaries were generated by extending a line from the defined offshore bathymetric contour to the defined onshore elevation contour. In every case a compartment breakline extends seaward and landward of its boundary point.

The Solid Geology of the North Australian Craton web service delivers a seamless chronostratigraphic solid geology dataset of the North Australian Craton that covers north of Western Australia, Northern Territory and north-west Queensland. The data maps stratigraphic units concealed under cover by effectively removing the overlying cover (Liu et al., 2015). This dataset comprises five chronostratigraphic time slices, namely: Cenozoic, Mesozoic, Paleozoic, Neoproterozoic, and Pre-Neoproterozoic.

The Solid Geology of the North Australian Craton web service delivers a seamless chronostratigraphic solid geology dataset of the North Australian Craton that covers north of Western Australia, Northern Territory and north-west Queensland. The data maps stratigraphic units concealed under cover by effectively removing the overlying cover (Liu et al., 2015). This dataset comprises five chronostratigraphic time slices, namely: Cenozoic, Mesozoic, Paleozoic, Neoproterozoic, and Pre-Neoproterozoic.