Southern Australian Margin Sediment Geochemistry and Pore Water Analysis

Geochemical data from eight gravity cores collected from the southern Australian continental margin offshore West Tasmania, South Australia, and Victoria. The dataset includes porewater metabolites, major and trace element abundances, radiochemical data, and paleoceanographic indicators. Analyses were conducted by the Bureau of Mineral Resources (BMR) as part of survey 67, with data compiled into a record for environmental and resource assessment.

Use Cases

• Assess organic carbon burial and redox conditions by analyzing porewater metabolite data and manganese inventory differences between outer-shelf and lower-slope cores.
• Investigate sedimentation rates and Late Quaternary paleoceanography using down-core distributions of authigenic uranium and excess thorium-230.
• Identify potential indicators for marine phosphorite formation by correlating pore water silicate data with observations of glauconite presence.
• Model geochemical processes for manganese crust and nodule formation by examining manganese remobilisation patterns between pore waters and sediments.

Strengths

• Data from eight distinct gravity cores provides multiple sampling points across the margin.
• Includes complementary analyses: porewater chemistry, elemental abundances, and radiochemical data.

Limitations

• Sample size is limited to eight cores, restricting broad spatial statistical analysis.
• Primary data formats are PDF and HTML, which may require extraction for computational analysis.
• Temporal coverage and specific collection dates for the cores are not provided.

Provenance

Source

Bureau of Mineral Resources (BMR) survey 67, via the Australian Ocean Data Network.

Collection Method

Samples collected via gravity coring during the Rig Seismic survey, with analyses performed at sea and in Canberra laboratories.

Time Range

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Freshness

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Geography

Southern Australian Continental Margin, including offshore West Tasmania, South Australia, and Victoria.