Seabed Sediment Composition in Australia's Browse Region 2014

Geoscience Australia provides spatially continuous raster grids of seabed gravel, mud, and sand content for the Browse region within the Australian continental EEZ. The data, expressed as weight percentages from 0 to 100%, is presented at a 0.0025 decimal degree resolution. This 2014 dataset supersedes previous predictions with improved accuracy for basin-scale analysis.

Use Cases

• Model seabed habitat suitability using the spatially continuous weight percentage of gravel, mud, and sand content.
• Analyze sediment distribution patterns across the Browse region from the 0.0025 decimal degree resolution raster grids.
• Assess baseline environmental conditions for marine planning with the three sediment fraction classifications (gravel >2000 µm, mud <63 µm, sand 63-2000 µm).
• Validate or update regional sediment models using this superseded dataset's basin-scale predictions.

Strengths

• Data is provided at a high spatial resolution of 0.0025 decimal degrees.
• Dataset supersedes previous predictions with demonstrated improvements in accuracy.
• Covers three key sediment fractions (gravel, mud, sand) as continuous weight percentages.

Limitations

• Accuracy varies and artefacts occur in regions with insufficient underlying sample density.
• Dataset is intended for basin-scale use and may not be appropriate for local-scale analysis in undersampled areas.
• Temporal coverage is limited to a snapshot from 2014.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Predicted from spatial modeling, superseding previous predictions; format includes raster grids and ASCII text files.

Time Range

2014

Freshness

Last updated March 2026, though the underlying data is from 2014.

Geography

Browse region within the Australian continental Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).