Australian Seabed Sediments Collection with Physical Properties, 1905-2017

Over a century of marine sediment data from 1905 to 2017, describing physical properties of seabed samples collected within Australian territorial waters and surrounding regions. The dataset is held by Geoscience Australia's MARS database and aggregates samples from multiple organizations. Attributes include survey details, location, water depth, and sediment properties like grain size percentages and texture classification.

Use Cases

• Map seabed sediment distribution based on percentage of mud, sand, and gravel.
• Analyze sediment texture and mean grain size using the Folk (1954) classification system.
• Correlate sediment properties with water depth and geographic location information.
• Study long-term changes in marine sediment composition across the specified time range.

Strengths

• Covers a long temporal range from 1905 to 2017.
• Includes samples from multiple geographic regions, including the Australian EEZ, Antarctic Territory, and surrounding waters.
• Contains specific sediment properties like percentage composition and mean grain size.

Limitations

• No consistent datum and projection due to the long time span and differing collecting organizations.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Sampling technique, spatial accuracy, and sample preservation vary between surveys.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Marine Sediment database (MARS), aggregated by the Australian Ocean Data Network.

Collection Method

Samples acquired by marine surveys from a range of organizations.

Time Range

1905 to 2017

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-27 17:39:48.346892; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Australian Exclusive Economic Zone, Australian Antarctic Territory, waters around Christmas Island, Timor Sea, and waters around Papua New Guinea.