Deepwater Gippsland Basin Dredge Hauls: Cretaceous to Holocene Lithologies

The Gippsland Basin off Australia was sampled in 1998 by the R/V Franklin research cruise FR 11/98, which recovered 18 dredge hauls. The study provides information on the lithologies, ages, and paleo-environments of the deepwater basin, categorizing rocks into volcanics, volcaniclastics, and calcareous sediments. The Australian Ocean Data Network hosts this dataset, which was last updated in 2026.

Use Cases

• Reconstructing Late Cretaceous paleoenvironments based on described lithologies like basalt, hyaloclastite, and carbonaceous sandstone.
• Analyzing the timing of marine transgression in the Tasman Sea based on palynological age data from Turonian to Campanian sediments.
• Studying volcanic rock composition and depositional settings from the described volcaniclastics, breccias, and associated mineral fills.
• Mapping the distribution of Neogene and Quaternary calcareous oozes and marly sediments across the basin's water depths.

Strengths

• Provides specific lithological categories for 18 dredge hauls, including volcanics, volcaniclastics, and calcareous sediments.
• Includes paleoenvironmental interpretations and age ranges (e.g., Turonian to Campanian, ~90 Ma to ~74 Ma) derived from the study.
• Dataset is hosted by the authoritative Australian Ocean Data Network and has a recent metadata update in 2026.

Limitations

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

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

18 dredge hauls recovered during R/V Franklin research cruise FR 11/98 in 1998, sited using seismic reflection profiles.

Time Range

Late Cretaceous (Turonian to Campanian, ~90-74 Ma) to Holocene.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-10 18:04:08.735418; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Deepwater Gippsland Basin, off southeastern Australia, with water depths from 680 to 3800 meters.