Australian Continental Shelf Palaeoshorelines: Morphology and Sea-Level Relationships

Palaeoshorelines are submerged relict coastal features formed on the Australian continental shelf during periods of lower sea level in the Late Quaternary (0–128 ka). The dataset maps these features, which formed at persistent modal depths of 30–40 m and 70–90 m below present sea level, and whose morphology depends on composition and oceanographic setting. This mapping provides a geospatial framework for understanding biodiversity distributions, environmental change, and potential archaeological sites.

Use Cases

• Modeling marine species distributions based on mapped palaeoshoreline habitats.
• Targeting areas for sand resource exploration based on relict coastal depositional structures.
• Identifying potential archaeological sites from periods of lower sea level (e.g., 10 ka, 85 ka).
• Monitoring environmental change using the palaeoshoreline record as a baseline framework.
• Comparing shelf morphology and preservation states between carbonate and siliciclastic compositions.

Strengths

• Based on a peer-reviewed publication in Continental Shelf Research (2017), providing a scientific foundation.
• Describes specific, dated sea-level modal positions (e.g., 30–40 m below present between 97–116 ka).
• Cross-platform presence on data.gov.au signals importance and official curation.

Limitations

• Column names, row counts, and specific data formats are unknown, limiting technical assessment.
• License information is not provided, restricting clarity on reuse permissions.
• Update timestamps conflict between 2026-04-10 and 2026-06 05, indicating potential metadata inconsistency.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network, derived from research by Brooke, B.P., Nichol, S.L., Huang, Z., & Beaman, R.J.

Collection Method

Analysis of the well-dated Late Quaternary sea-level record and mapping of shelf features.

Time Range

Late Quaternary (0–128 thousand years ago)

Freshness

2026 -06-05 07:50:04.768302

Geography

Australian continental shelf