BMR Cruise 107: Seabed Morphology and Resources around Christmas Island

A 1992 marine survey of the seabed around Christmas Island, an Australian territory with an area of 140 km². The work was conducted by Geoscience Australia using the RV Rig Seismic to study seabed resources for boundary delimitation. The island sits on oceanic crust and features a plateau up to 361 meters high, with surrounding abyssal plains 5000-6000 meters deep.

Use Cases

• Map seabed morphology based on the described bathymetric features like the Christmas Rise and Java Trench.
• Assess potential offshore mineral resources based on the described volcanic and limestone geology.
• Support maritime boundary delimitation based on the survey's stated purpose for negotiations.
• Study geological uplift and plate tectonics based on the described Indo-Australian Plate movement.

Strengths

• Focuses on a specific geographic area (Christmas Island and its 200-mile zone).
• Includes detailed geological context, such as the island's uplift rate of about 7 cm/year and phosphate deposit history.
• Originates from a national geological survey (Geoscience Australia), suggesting authoritative collection.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data files are in PDF/HTML formats, which may require extraction for computational analysis.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Marine survey conducted using RV Rig Seismic.

Time Range

Survey started in January 1992.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-20 02:05:44.336771; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Ocean area around Christmas Island, Indian Ocean, including the Christmas Rise and Java Trench.