Late Holocene Sediment Cores from Nara Inlet, Central Great Barrier Reef

Three sediment cores from Nara Inlet in the Whitsunday Islands, central Great Barrier Reef, Australia. The data, hosted by the Australian Ocean Data Network, was last updated on 2026-06-04. It describes sediment composition and accumulation rates over the last 3000 years.

Use Cases

• Modeling sediment accumulation rates over time based on radiocarbon dating of benthic foraminifera.
• Analyzing the changing ratio of terrigenous clay to marine carbonate components through the core layers.
• Investigating the impact of fringing reef growth on sediment input patterns in a middle-shelf environment.
• Reconstructing late Holocene environmental conditions on the Great Barrier Reef platform.

Strengths

• Data is derived from three physical sediment cores providing direct geological evidence.
• Includes specific compositional metrics, such as carbonate component making up 25.80% by weight.
• Provides a temporal framework, with the top 3 meters of sediment accumulating within the last 3000 years.

Limitations

• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Three sediment cores collected from Nara Inlet for laboratory analysis.

Time Range

Late Holocene, covering approximately the last 3000 years.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-04 06:16:07.832372; freshness should be verified.

Geography

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