Late Quaternary (0–128 ka) palaeoshoreline features on the Australian continental shelf, mapped and analyzed by researchers from Geoscience Australia. The data represent relict coastal structures formed during periods of lower sea level, with modal depths identified at 30–40 m and 70–90 m below present. These features provide a framework for environmental management and archaeological targeting.
Use Cases
- Modeling past sea-level positions and coastal evolution based on identified modal depth zones (30–40 m, 70–90 m).
- Mapping distinctive benthic habitats and predicting marine biodiversity distributions across the shelf.
- Targeting potential submerged archaeological sites from periods of lower sea level for investigation.
- Identifying relict coastal areas that may contain sand resources for environmental management.
Strengths
- Analysis is based on the well-dated Late Quaternary sea-level record (0–128 ka).
- Identifies specific, persistent modal sea-level positions (e.g., 30–40 m between 97 and 116 ka).
- Links shoreline morphology to concrete factors like composition (carbonate vs siliciclastic) and oceanographic setting.
Limitations
- Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
- Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
- Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to the Australian continental shelf focus.
Provenance
- Source
- Geoscience Australia Data
- Collection Method
- Analysis of sea-level records and mapping of submerged continental shelf features.
- Time Range
- Late Quaternary (0–128,000 years ago)
- Freshness
- Last updated 2026-04-20 03:26:30.703601; freshness should be verified.
- Geography
- Australian continental shelf