14.4 million square kilometres of Australia's marine jurisdiction are covered by this map of offshore mineral occurrences. Geoscience Australia, CSIRO, and state geological surveys compiled data from published and unpublished marine research surveys. The map shows manganese nodules, crusts, shellsand, construction aggregate, heavy mineral sand, phosphorites, diamonds, tin, copper, gold, and coal.
Use Cases
- Identify mineral prospectivity for exploration based on mapped occurrences of manganese nodules, crusts, and other minerals.
- Support marine planning decisions by integrating mineral location data with other marine information layers.
- Analyze the contextual setting of mineral deposits like manganese crusts on the East Tasman Plateau based on bathymetry and physiography.
Strengths
- Map covers a vast area of 14.4 million square kilometres within Australia's exclusive economic zone.
- Integrates data from multiple sources including federal and state government records and marine research surveys.
- Includes bathymetry data showing the variable physiography of the seafloor.
Limitations
- Data is from August 2006; freshness should be verified.
- Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
- Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
Provenance
- Source
- Geoscience Australia, CSIRO's Wealth from Oceans Flagship and Division of Exploration and Mining, and State and Northern Territory Geological Surveys.
- Collection Method
- Collaborative project drawing together data from published and unpublished marine research surveys and government reports.
- Time Range
- August 2006
- Freshness
- Last updated 2026-04-16 10:08:53.140310; freshness should be verified.
- Geography
- Australia's 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone and extended continental shelf.