Seabed Environments and Shallow Geology of the Vlaming Sub-Basin, Western Australia

Geoscience Australia acquired 653 km² of multibeam and backscatter data in 2012 to assess CO2 storage potential. The survey collected seabed samples from 43 stations and 6.65 km² of side-scan sonar imagery to investigate links between deep geology and the seabed. Data focuses on two areas above the South Perth Shale seal and Gage Sandstone reservoir, revealing fault-like structures and rhodolith beds.

Use Cases

• Modeling seal integrity for CO2 storage based on seabed and subsurface geological connections.
• Mapping seabed geomorphology and fault structures based on multibeam and side-scan sonar data.
• Studying coralline red algal (rhodolith) bed distributions and their relationship to underlying geology.
• Assessing potential fluid seepage pathways based on correlations between seabed features and structural geology.

Strengths

• Survey collected 653 km² of multibeam and backscatter data.
• Includes seabed samples from 43 stations, comprising 89 grab samples.
• Acquired 6.65 km² of side-scan sonar imagery and concurrent chirper sub-bottom profile data.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The precise relationship between seabed features, fluid seepage, and basin geology is noted as uncertain and requires further work.
• Data freshness should be verified; last metadata update was 2026-06-23.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia, Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Marine environmental survey involving seabed sampling, multibeam sonar, backscatter, chirper sub-bottom profiling, and side-scan sonar.

Time Range

March-April 2012

Freshness

Survey conducted in March-April 2012; metadata last updated 2026-06-23.

Geography

Vlaming Sub-basin, Western Australia, specifically two areas on the Rottnest Shelf.