Authors / CoAuthors
Glenn, K.C.
Abstract
Ashmore Reef is an ovoid, shelf edge, platform reef located on the north west shelf of Australia (~ 12? 20? S, 123? 00? E) at the north-western boundary of the Browse and Bonaparte basins. Built on antecedent topography, it is the largest emergent reef with the highest biodiversity in the region. Geomorphological expressions of the carbonate platform include three vegetated cays with a sub-surface fresh water lens, guano deposits and beach rock, two lagoons separated by an calcareous algal rise, large scale mobile inter-tidal and sub-tidal sand flats, extensive lineated reef flats up to 1.7 km wide, an algal dominated reef rim rise, and a precipitous reef front with classical spur and groove morphology. Sedimentological analysis shows that the modern sand accumulations are primarily foraminifera, coral, molluscan fragments and a range of coralline algae (mainly Halimeda sp). The reef is subject to a 4.75 m semi-diurnal tide and lagoonal water temperatures range between 25.2 and 35.4?C. The climate is tropical monsoonal, and warm to hot, with the annual mean temperature at 28.5?C. Regional data indicate that rainfall exceeds 950 mm, and evaporation potential is 1820 mm. Dominant SW trade winds drive the surface currents and these interplay with the Indian Ocean and are seasonally influenced by southward moving Indonesian-Though-Flow waters. Thunderstorms occur on ~ 85 days in the wet season and the region experiences 7% of the global annual total of cyclones.
Product Type
nonGeographicDataset
eCat Id
37508
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 Publication
- ( Theme )
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- morphology
- ( 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
2001-01-01T00:00:00
Creation Date
Security Constraints
Legal Constraints
Status
Purpose
Maintenance Information
unknown
Topic Category
geoscientificInformation
Series Information
Lineage
Unknown
Parent Information
Extents
[-13.0, -12.0, 123.0, 124.0]
Reference System
Spatial Resolution
Service Information
Associations
Downloads and Links
Source Information
Source data not available.