GA Survey 282: Shallow Gas and Benthic Habitat Mapping in the Arafura Sea

Geoscience Australia's Marine Survey 282 report integrates geophysical and biological data from the Arafura Sea. It confirms microbial shallow gas in Holocene mud-filled channels and identifies deeper migrating gas sources, correlating pockmark field density (~350/km2) with sediment type and fluid supply. The survey also maps benthic habitats, finding high biodiversity on hard substrates with sessile benthos up to ~50cm tall, while soft substrates show low-relief coverage (<5%).

Use Cases

• Mapping pockmark field distribution and density based on seabed sediment type and gas sources.
• Correlating benthic biodiversity and abundance with substrate hardness from seafloor mapping.
• Analyzing links between deep Proterozoic/Jurassic faults and seabed features using seismic and sub-bottom profile data.
• Investigating microbial gas origin in Holocene mud-filled channels versus deeper migrating gas sources.

Strengths

• Integrates multiple data modalities: geophysical indicators, core material analysis, and detailed seabed habitat mapping.
• Provides specific quantitative observations, including pockmark density (~350/km2) and benthic coverage (<5%).

Limitations

• No column names or row counts are provided, limiting understanding of the dataset's internal structure.
• License, author, and exact data size are unspecified across all sources.
• The dataset appears to be a report (PDF/HTML) rather than a raw data table, which may limit direct analysis.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Marine survey involving geophysical data collection, core material analysis, and seabed mapping.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-30 14:56:56.642091

Geography

Arafura Sea