Seabed Sand Content Across the Australian Continental EEZ, 2011

Spatially continuous data of seabed sand content expressed as a weight percentage from 0 to 100%. The dataset covers the Australian continental Exclusive Economic Zone at a 0.01 decimal degree resolution and supersedes previous predictions with demonstrated improvements in accuracy. It was published by Geoscience Australia Data and last updated in 2026.

Use Cases

• Modeling seabed habitat suitability based on sediment sand content described in the dataset.
• Regional marine spatial planning based on continuous sediment fraction data.
• Assessing sediment transport and erosion patterns across the continental shelf.
• Validating and improving broader oceanographic models with updated seabed composition data.

Strengths

• Spatially continuous raster data at 0.01 decimal degree resolution.
• Supersedes previous predictions with demonstrated improvements in accuracy.
• Covers the Australian continental EEZ, including seabed surrounding Tasmania.

Limitations

• Accuracy varies and artifacts occur in regions with insufficient underlying samples.
• Dataset may not be appropriate for use at local scales where sample density is low.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Prediction and interpolation from underlying sample data, presented in raster format.

Time Range

2011

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-20 02:04:13.505038; freshness should be verified.

Geography

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