Geomorphic Features of the Antarctic Margin and Southern Ocean

A geomorphic map of the Antarctic continental margin and adjoining ocean basins created from bathymetry and geophysical data. Twenty-seven geomorphic units were identified and digitized as polygons based on interpretation of seafloor bathymetry. The map has been used for benthic bioregionalisation and developing Marine Protected Areas for East Antarctica.

Use Cases

• Habitat mapping for Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems based on classified seafloor features.
• Predicting physical conditions influencing seafloor communities based on geomorphic units.
• Developing benthic bioregionalisations based on the polygon-based feature map.
• Planning representative systems of Marine Protected Areas based on the continental margin classification.

Strengths

• Based on publicly available bathymetry datasets including GEBCO08 and ETOPO2.
• Includes twenty-seven distinct geomorphic units classified according to an expanded International Hydrographic Organisation framework.
• Polygons were digitized by hand in ArcGIS, suggesting manual verification of feature boundaries.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Last updated 2026-05-05 01:43:46.959455; freshness should be verified.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Interpretation and manual digitization of bathymetry and geophysical data.

Geography

Antarctic continental margin and adjoining Southern Ocean basins.