National Marine Sediments Database: Seafloor Characteristics for Australian Waters

The MARS database contains approximately 25,000 seafloor sediment samples with 138,000 recorded properties, collated by the National Oceans Office and Geoscience Australia. Maps show sediment distribution, grain size, and carbonate content for the Northern Planning Area and broader Australian Marine Jurisdiction. The project identified that about 70% of the marine domain remains unmapped by measured sediment data.

Use Cases

• Model sediment mobility in waters less than 300 m depth based on mean grain size data.
• Map seafloor sediment classification 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 samples with 138,000 recorded properties.
• Maps use validated quantitative data for two defined regions.
• Project represents the first national-scale critical assessment of Australia's seafloor sediment data quality and coverage.

Limitations

• About 70% of the total marine domain remains unmapped by measured sediment data.
• Significant gaps exist in data coverage, particularly in the South-west and West-central Marine Domains.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network via data_gov_au.

Collection Method

Collaborative project involving identification, collation, and validation of existing marine sediment data.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-17 01:42:00.511674; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Australian Marine Jurisdiction, including the Northern Planning Area.