Southern Australian Margin Sediment Geochemistry and Porewater Analysis

Eight gravity cores from the southern Australian continental margin were analyzed for porewater metabolites, major and trace elements, and radiochemical data. The Bureau of Mineral Resources collected this data during survey 67 to assess environmental change and sediment processes. Analyses were conducted both at sea and in Canberra, forming part of a larger geochemical database for the Australian margin.

Use Cases

• Modeling manganese crust formation by analyzing manganese inventory and remobilization data between pore waters and sediments.
• Reconstructing Late Quaternary paleoceanography using down-core distributions of authigenic uranium and excess thorium-230.
• Assessing organic carbon burial rates by comparing pore water oxygen data from outer-shelf and lower-slope cores.
• Identifying potential glauconite and phosphorite formation through analysis of pore water silicate uptake data.
• Calculating sedimentation rates from radiochemical species profiles to understand depositional history.

Strengths

• Analysis of eight distinct gravity cores provides multiple sample points.
• Data includes complementary geochemical analyses: porewater metabolites, major/trace elements, and radiochemistry.

Limitations

• Small sample size of only eight cores limits broad spatial generalizations.
• Data is derived from a single survey (BMR 67), potentially introducing temporal and methodological bias.
• File formats are PDF and HTML, complicating direct machine-readability and analysis.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network, originating from Bureau of Mineral Resources survey.

Collection Method

Gravity core sampling and subsequent geochemical analysis conducted at sea and in Canberra laboratories.

Time Range

Late Quaternary period.

Freshness

null

Geography

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