Seabed Environments of the Eastern Joseph Bonaparte Gulf, Northern Australia

Northern Australia's Van Diemen Rise in the eastern Joseph Bonaparte Gulf was surveyed to map seabed environments. The survey collected 1,154 square kilometres of multibeam sonar data, 340 line-km of sub-bottom profiles, and geological and biological samples from 63 stations. It was completed under a Memorandum of Understanding between Geoscience Australia and the Australian Institute of Marine Science.

Use Cases

• Modeling late-Quaternary seabed evolution based on sedimentological and geophysical data.
• Investigating relationships between physical environment and benthic biota for biodiversity prediction.
• Conducting surrogacy research using geochemical assessments of sediment and water quality.
• Analyzing sediment transport dynamics based on oceanographic data for wave, tide, and currents.

Strengths

• Provides 100% seabed coverage via multibeam sonar for four distinct study areas.
• Integrates multidisciplinary data including geological, geochemical, geophysical, and biological samples from 63 stations.
• Includes a novel assessment of sediment and water quality for surrogacy research.

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 specific survey area.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Seabed mapping survey using multibeam sonar, sub-bottom profiling, and station sampling.

Time Range

null

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-10 19:53:13.457438; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Van Diemen Rise, eastern Joseph Bonaparte Gulf, Northern Australia.