Northern Lord Howe Rise, a submerged ribbon continent, contains small submarine volcanic cones revealed by multibeam sonar mapping. Dredged samples from two cones include highly altered hyaloclastites, basalt, and interbedded micrites, with ferromanganese crusts up to 7 cm thick. The dataset, from Geoscience Australia, includes analyses of rock composition, foraminifera-derived ages, and crust chemistry, with a last update in April 2026.
Use Cases
- Modeling intraplate hotspot-type magmatism based on cone alignment and gravity high correlations.
- Analyzing ferromanganese crust growth rates and hydrothermal influence based on Mn:Fe ratios and metal content.
- Dating volcanic events and paleoenvironmental conditions based on foraminifera in interbedded micrites.
- Correlating volcanic seamount fields with continental basement structure based on gravity data mentioned.
Strengths
- Includes specific geochemical data such as copper (up to 0.08 wt %), nickel (up to 0.65%), and cobalt (up to 0.25%) content in crusts.
- Provides temporal constraints with foraminifera indicating a late Early Miocene (~16 Ma) age for the oldest micrite.
- Contains detailed lithological descriptions of dredged samples, including rock types and mineral compositions like clinopyroxene.
- Specifies spatial context with cone locations (23-24°S), water depths (~1150 m), and cone heights (750 m and 900 m).
Limitations
- Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
- Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
- Data freshness should be verified despite the 2026 update date.
Provenance
- Source
- Geoscience Australia Data
- Collection Method
- Multibeam sonar swath-mapping and dredging of submarine volcanic cones.
- Time Range
- Late Early Miocene (~16 Ma) to Pliocene, with sample collection date unknown.
- Freshness
- Last updated 2026-04-20 02:40:12.237646
- Geography
- Northeastern Lord Howe Rise, at approximately 23-24°S.