Early Holocene Coral Reef Province in the Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia

Multibeam sonar, drill core, and video data confirm a previously unknown coral reef province in the Gulf of Carpentaria. The dataset includes mapping of seven reefs, with U/Th dating showing growth commenced around 10.5 kyr BP and persisted for approximately 2.0 kyr. The data was published by Geoscience Australia and last updated in March 2026.

Use Cases

• Modeling reef growth rates (0.95 to 4 m kyr-1) against rapid sea-level rise based on the described measurements.
• Analyzing the timing and cessation of reef development (~8.0 kyr BP) based on the provided age data.
• Mapping Pleistocene limestone exposure depths (27-30 m) for regional sea-level stillstand studies.
• Classifying reef geomorphology and living coral distribution based on sonar and video data mentioned.

Strengths

• Includes data from multiple sources: multibeam sonar mapping, drill cores, and underwater video.
• Provides specific temporal data: reef growth commenced ~10.5 kyr BP and persisted for ~2.0 kyr.
• Contains quantified growth rate measurements ranging from 0.95 to 4 meters per thousand years.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to the Gulf of Carpentaria region.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Multibeam sonar mapping, drill core sampling, and underwater video collection.

Time Range

Early Holocene, with reef growth from ~10.5 to ~8.0 kyr BP.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-25 17:11:01.267212; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia.