Geomorphological Evolution and Carbonate Production at Lord Howe Island

Late Quaternary sediments and landforms of Lord Howe Island, a volcanic island at the latitudinal limit of coral reef growth. The dataset, published by Geoscience Australia Data, includes information on submarine and subaerial carbonate sediments, erosional landforms, and a fringing reef. Uranium-series, amino acid racemisation, and thermoluminescence dating indicate deposits from marine oxygen isotope stage 5 and potentially older interglacial periods.

Use Cases

• Modeling carbonate sediment deposition based on described eolianite and beach units.
• Studying coral reef development limits based on the island's position as the southernmost reef in the Pacific.
• Analyzing marine planation and erosional landforms associated with different lithologies like basalt and calcarenite.
• Investigating the biota transition from tropical to temperate in shelf sediments around the island.

Strengths

• Focus on a unique location at the latitudinal limit to coral reef growth.
• Includes multiple dating methods (Uranium-series, amino acid racemisation, thermoluminescence) for temporal context.
• Describes specific geological features like Mount Lidgbird Basalt cliffs and calcarenite platforms.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to data_gov_au.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Time Range

Late Quaternary, with specific deposits dated to marine oxygen isotope stage 5 (~130-80 thousand years ago) and potentially older interglacials.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-25 18:09:28.892918; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Lord Howe Island, Balls Pyramid, and the surrounding shelf in the Pacific Ocean.