National Marine Sediments Database: Seafloor Characteristics for Australian Waters

A national database of seafloor sediment samples and characteristics for the Australian Marine Jurisdiction. The MARS database contains about 25,000 samples with 138,000 recorded properties, resulting from a collaborative project between the National Oceans Office and Geoscience Australia. Maps of sediment properties were produced for the Northern Planning Area and the broader region.

Use Cases

• Modeling sediment mobility in shallow waters based on mean grain size data.
• Mapping the distribution of gravel, sand, and mud based on measured grain size data.
• Conducting regional energy regime analysis based on tide and wave exceedance maps.
• Identifying gaps in seafloor data coverage to guide future sampling efforts.

Strengths

• Contains approximately 25,000 sediment samples with 138,000 recorded properties.
• Includes validated quantitative data used to produce maps for two defined regions.
• Represents the first national-scale critical assessment of Australia's seafloor sediment data quality and coverage.

Limitations

• Significant data gaps exist, with about 70% of the total marine domain remaining unmapped by measured sediment data.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Data freshness should be verified as the last update date is in the future (2026-04 28).

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network, from a project by the National Oceans Office and Geoscience Australia.

Collection Method

Identification, collation, and critical assessment of existing marine sediment data, followed by database population and mapping.

Time Range

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Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-28 13:29:25.534890; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Australian Marine Jurisdiction, including the Northern Planning Area, excluding external territories.