Seabed Sand Content Across the Australian Continental EEZ, 2011

Geoscience Australia Data provides a spatially continuous raster dataset of seabed sand content across the Australian continental Exclusive Economic Zone. The data expresses sand fraction as a weight percentage from 0 to 100% at a 0.01 decimal degree resolution. This 2011 dataset supersedes previous predictions with demonstrated improvements in accuracy, though accuracy varies with underlying data density and seabed complexity.

Use Cases

• Modeling sediment transport and erosion based on seabed sand content percentages.
• Mapping benthic habitats and ecosystems based on substrate composition.
• Assessing seabed stability for infrastructure planning based on sediment properties.
• Calibrating regional oceanographic models with spatially continuous sediment data.

Strengths

• Spatially continuous coverage of the Australian continental EEZ, including Tasmania.
• Data supersedes previous predictions with demonstrated improvements in accuracy.
• Provides sand content as a percentage at a 0.01 decimal degree resolution.

Limitations

• Artefacts occur in regions with insufficient underlying sample data.
• May not be appropriate for local-scale analysis where sample density is low.
• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Likely derived from seabed samples and predictive modeling, superseding previous predictions.

Time Range

2011

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-30 14:38:44.906082; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Australian continental Exclusive Economic Zone, including seabed surrounding Tasmania. Excludes areas around Macquarie Island, Norfolk Island, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Heard and McDonald Islands, and the Australian Antarctic Territory.