Timor Sea Seabed Topographic Relief Data from Multibeam Surveys

Topographic relief data from seabed mapping surveys on the Van Diemen Rise in the eastern Joseph Bonaparte Gulf of the Timor Sea. The survey was conducted by Geoscience Australia and the Australian Institute of Marine Science in 2009 and 2010, collecting geological and biological data across four study areas from the outer to inner shelf. This dataset provides context for the benthic biodiversity of the Van Diemen Rise within the wider northern Australian marine region.

Use Cases

• Modeling seabed hardness and substrate characterisation based on multibeam bathymetry and backscatter data.
• Investigating relationships between seabed topography and macro-benthic community structure.
• Providing regional context for biodiversity prediction in the Arafura-Timor Sea.
• Analyzing geological and biological data correlations across shelf environments from outer to inner shelf.

Strengths

• Data collected over two consecutive years (2009 and 2010) across four distinct study areas.
• Integrates detailed geological (sedimentological, geochemical, geophysical) and biological (macro-benthic, infaunal) data.
• Survey conducted under a formal Memorandum of Understanding between Geoscience Australia and the Australian Institute of Marine Science.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale modeling.
• Last updated 2026-03-25 18:32:38.340829; freshness should be verified.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia and the Australian Institute of Marine Science

Collection Method

Multibeam seabed mapping surveys (GA-0322, SOL4934 in 2009; GA-0325, SOL5117 in 2010).

Time Range

2009-2010

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-25 18:32:38.340829

Geography

Van Diemen Rise, eastern Joseph Bonaparte Gulf, Timor Sea, Northern Australia