Holocene Sea-Level and Storm Records from the Great Barrier Reef Inner Zone

Geoscience Australia Data provides a dataset examining Holocene sea-level and climatic changes from the Great Barrier Reef inner shelf. It includes 45 radiocarbon results from 11 sites, ranging between 360 and 5855 years B.P., and storm-ridge surveys from 5 locations. The data, last updated in 2026, indicates sea level fell from +1 meter at 6000 years B.P. to its present position.

Use Cases

• Reconstructing Holocene sea-level curves based on coral microatoll indicators and radiocarbon dates.
• Analyzing the frequency of major storm events based on dated coral shingle and shell ridge sequences.
• Investigating regional isostatic adjustments by comparing sea-level indicators across 11 sites.
• Modeling long-term climatic stability using evidence for storm frequency over the last 4000-6000 years.

Strengths

• Includes 45 radiocarbon results providing a quantitative age framework.
• Sea-level trend has defined confidence limits of ±0.2 meters.
• Storm recurrence interval is quantified, with an average of about 80 years at one key site.
• Spatial coverage spans the Great Barrier Reef inner zone between 14° and 20° S.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Primary file formats are PDF and HTML, which may complicate direct computational analysis.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Examination of fringing reefs and storm ridges, using coral microatolls as sea-level indicators and radiocarbon dating.

Time Range

Data points range from 360 to 5855 years before present (B.P.), with analysis covering the last 6000 years.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-30 12:31:13.220972; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Great Barrier Reef inner shelf, between 14° and 20° S latitude.