Geomorphic Features of the Antarctic Margin and Southern Ocean, 2012 Mapping

A 2012 geomorphic map of the Antarctic continental margin and adjoining ocean basins at scales of 1:1-2 million. The dataset identifies 27 geomorphic units based on bathymetry and geophysical data, with polygons digitized by hand in ArcGIS. It was developed by Geoscience Australia and has been used for benthic bioregionalisation and Marine Protected Area planning in East Antarctica.

Use Cases

• Modeling benthic habitat distribution based on interpreted seafloor geomorphic units.
• Planning Marine Protected Areas based on mapped physical seafloor conditions.
• Analyzing oceanographic influences based on classified undersea features.
• Predicting substrate types for biological communities based on feature classification.

Strengths

• Identifies 27 distinct geomorphic units.
• Integrates multiple key bathymetry datasets including GEBCO08 and ETOPO2.
• Based on the International Hydrographic Organisation (2001) classification, expanded for specific applications.
• Updated since original publications with modified feature names and polygon representations.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Interpretation of publicly available bathymetry and geophysical data, with polygons digitized by hand in ArcGIS.

Time Range

2012

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-20 00:57:27.322996; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Antarctic continental margin and Southern Ocean basins.