Frontier Basins of the West Australian Continental Margin: Post-survey Report of Marine Re

Between 25 October 2008 and 19 January 2009, Geoscience Australia conducted marine survey GA2476 using the RV Sonne. The survey mapped 229,000 km² of seabed, collected 25,000 line-km of seismic data, and sampled 62 stations across four frontier basins off Western Australia. This report provides a preliminary analysis of geological, geophysical, oceanographic, and biological data to assess petroleum prospectivity and environmental significance.

Use Cases

• Assess petroleum prospectivity based on geological and geophysical data from frontier sedimentary basins.
• Model seabed morphology based on multi-beam sonar mapping covering 229,000 km².
• Analyze marine environmental significance based on biological samples and oceanographic data.
• Support resource management decisions for future offshore acreage release based on integrated basin analysis.

Strengths

• Survey covers a large geographic area of 229,000 km² with multi-beam sonar mapping.
• Integrated data collection includes 25,000 line-km each of seismic, gravity, and magnetic data.
• Sampling includes 62 stations using diverse equipment like CTD profilers, boxcores, and rock dredges.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Data freshness should be verified; the report is from 2009, though metadata was updated in 2026.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Marine reconnaissance survey using RV Sonne with multi-beam sonar, seismic reflection, gravity, magnetic, and biological sampling equipment.

Time Range

25 October 2008 to 19 January 2009

Freshness

Survey conducted in 2008-2009; report metadata last updated 2026-05-14.

Geography

West Australian Continental Margin, specifically Zeewyck and Houtman sub-basins (Perth Basin), Cuvier margin, and Cuvier Plateau.