Offshore Sydney Basin Geochemistry and Sedimentology Survey, 1992

Project 121.37 describes a 28-day multi-institutional survey conducted aboard the BMR vessel Rig Seismic on the NSW continental margin in September-October 1992. The survey aimed to collect baseline environmental data on sediment composition and distribution, with special reference to anthropogenic materials and non-renewable resources. It involved personnel from the Sydney Water Board, Sydney University, the Geological Survey of NSW, and the Bureau of Mineral Resources.

Use Cases

• Establishing environmental baselines for coastal monitoring based on sediment chemical composition data.
• Analyzing the distribution of anthropogenic contaminants in continental shelf sediments.
• Investigating the record of Quaternary climate change preserved in continental slope sediments.
• Characterizing geochemical tracers for ocean outfalls and estuary-ocean exchanges.
• Assessing the juxtaposition of renewable and non-renewable resources on the continental margin.

Strengths

• Multi-institutional and multi-disciplinary survey design involving several government and academic bodies.
• Explicit primary objectives focused on baseline data, contaminants, and resource assessment.
• Defined temporal scope of a 28-day survey in September-October 1992.
• Clear geographic focus on the NSW continental margin between Wollongong, Sydney, and Newcastle.

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; the underlying survey is from 1992.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Marine survey conducted aboard the BMR research vessel Rig Seismic.

Time Range

Survey conducted in September-October 1992.

Freshness

Last updated 2026 05 14 09:24:27.960749; freshness should be verified

Geography

NSW continental margin, offshore Sydney Basin, between Wollongong, Sydney, and Newcastle.