Late Holocene Sediment Cores from Nara Inlet, Great Barrier Reef

Geoscience Australia Data provides sediment core data from Nara Inlet in the central Great Barrier Reef. The dataset likely contains information from three cores, including sediment composition and radiocarbon ages indicating accumulation within the last 3000 years. It focuses on the changing proportions of terrigenous clay and marine carbonate components over time.

Use Cases

• Modeling sediment accumulation rates based on radiocarbon ages from benthic foraminifera tests.
• Analyzing the temporal change in clastic vs. carbonate abundance described in the system.
• Investigating the impact of fringing reef growth on terrigenous sediment input as suggested in the description.
• Studying the provenance and distribution of late Holocene terrigenous material on the middle shelf.

Strengths

• Data is derived from three physical sediment cores, providing direct geological samples.
• Includes radiocarbon dating establishing a temporal framework for the top 3 meters of sediment.
• Quantifies sediment composition, such as a carbonate component of 25.80% by weight.
• Provides a specific geographic focus on Nara Inlet within the central Great Barrier Reef platform.

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 a single inlet study site.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Collection and analysis of three sediment cores from Nara Inlet.

Time Range

Late Holocene, with the top 3 meters accumulated within the last 3000 years.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-20 01:09:21.714453; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Nara Inlet, Whitsunday Islands, central Great Barrier Reef platform, Australia.