Lithology and Diagenesis of Southern Great Barrier Reef Carbonate Foundations

A relatively thin Holocene reef in the southern Great Barrier Reef has developed on a foundation of older reefs extending up to 420 meters deep. Petrographic analysis of late Pleistocene reef limestones shows they were subjected to near-surface subaerial diagenesis in vadose and phreatic freshwater zones. The data, hosted by the Australian Ocean Data Network, describes the boundary marked by a prominent solution unconformity showing soils, calcrete, and extensive leaching.

Use Cases

• Modeling reef growth and foundation duplication based on described lithological similarities between Holocene and Pleistocene layers.
• Analyzing the effects of sea-level change on carbonate diagenesis based on the described solution unconformity and subaerial exposure processes.
• Studying the distribution and abundance of Halimeda limestones as a framework infill component across different reef growth periods.
• Reconstructing paleo-freshwater lens environments based on variations in vadose and phreatic diagenetic effects described around reef perimeters and lagoons.

Strengths

• Describes a reef foundation extending to a depth of up to 420 meters.
• Provides specific diagenetic processes like thin-film transformation and sparry calcite cement infill.
• Hosted by the authoritative Australian Ocean Data Network.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data is presented in PDF/HTML formats, which may require extraction for computational analysis.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Petrographic analysis of drill core samples, as described.

Time Range

Ranges from middle Miocene to late Pleistocene and Holocene.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-10 18:03:34.568333; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Southern Great Barrier Reef.