National Marine Sediments Database: Seafloor Characteristics for Australian Waters

A collaborative project between the National Oceans Office and Geoscience Australia created the MARS database of seafloor sediment data. The database contains about 25,000 samples with 138,000 recorded properties, covering the Australian Marine Jurisdiction. Maps of sediment properties like grain size and carbonate content were produced for the Northern Planning Area and broader region.

Use Cases

• Map sediment grain size distribution based on weight percent gravel, sand, and mud data.
• Model sediment mobility in shallow waters based on mean grain size data for marine domains.
• Classify seafloor sediments based on the Folk scheme and carbonate content.
• Identify gaps in measured sediment data coverage to guide future sampling efforts.

Strengths

• Database contains about 25,000 sediment samples with 138,000 recorded properties.
• Project conducted the first national-scale critical assessment of Australia's seafloor sediment data quality and coverage.
• Maps provide validated quantitative data for sediment properties like grain size and carbonate content.

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Significant gaps in measured data coverage were identified, with about 70% of the total marine domain unmapped.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Identification and collation of existing marine sediment data from various sources.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-04 07:57:52.266590; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Australian Marine Jurisdiction, excluding external territories, with a focus on the Northern Planning Area.