Marine Geological Survey Data from Australia's Southwest Margin, 2008-2009

Geoscience Australia conducted a 90-day marine survey from October 2008 to January 2009 over frontier basins on the southwest Australian margin. The survey collected 229,000 square kilometres of multi-beam sonar data and nearly 25,000 line kilometres of gravity, magnetic, and sub-bottom profiler data. Rock samples from 30 stations in water depths of 1,000 to 5,000 metres were analyzed to assess petroleum system elements for the region.

Use Cases

• Modeling petroleum systems based on rock sample geochemistry and age constraints.
• Analyzing seabed morphology and tectonic features based on multi-beam sonar and sub-bottom profiler data.
• Correlating pre-breakup sedimentary strata using dredged rock samples from submarine canyons and scarps.
• Integrating gravity and magnetic data with seismic interpretations for basin analysis.

Strengths

• Covers a large spatial area with 229,000 square kilometres of multi-beam sonar data.
• Includes multi-modal geophysical data with nearly 25,000 line kilometres of gravity, magnetic, and sub-bottom profiler records.
• Rock samples provide direct geological constraints from 30 stations across water depths of 1,000 to 5,000 metres.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Data is delivered in PDF and HTML formats, which may require extraction for computational analysis.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale ML tasks.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia, via the Australian Ocean Data Network.

Collection Method

Marine reconnaissance survey (GA2476) using the RV Sonne research vessel, acquiring geological samples and geophysical data.

Time Range

October 2008 to January 2009

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-05 06:45:48.085776; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Zeewyck and Houtman sub-basins (Perth Basin), southern Exmouth Sub-basin, Bernier Platform (Carnarvon Basin), and Cuvier Plateau (Wallaby Plateau) on the southwest Australian margin.