Gifford Marine Park: Seamount Bathymetry Flythrough

Bathymetric data from 2007 and 2017 surveys visualizes two large, flat-topped volcanic seamounts in the Gifford Marine Park, located 700 km east of Brisbane on the Lord Howe Rise. The flythrough movie depicts seafloor features including sediment veneers, bedform fields, steep cliffs, and mass movement scars across over 3 km of ocean depth. This dataset supports research into Miocene hotspot volcanism and the role of seamounts as habitats for cetaceans and migratory pelagic species.

Use Cases

• Visualizing seafloor geomorphology based on high-resolution bathymetric surveys.
• Studying Miocene hotspot volcanism and seamount formation along the Lord Howe Rise chain.
• Identifying potential marine habitats and aggregation points for species like humpback and sperm whales.
• Planning marine protected area management using detailed topographic models.

Strengths

• Data is derived from two dedicated marine surveys conducted by Geoscience Australia in 2007 and 2017.
• Covers a significant vertical range, spanning over 3 kilometers of ocean depth.
• Cross-platform presence on a government data portal indicates formal curation and importance.

Limitations

• Core data attributes like column names, row counts, and file size are unspecified across all sources.
• License and author information is not provided, limiting clarity on reuse permissions.
• The primary deliverable is a visualization (MP4 video), which may limit direct quantitative analysis of the underlying bathymetric data.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia, in collaboration with the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) for the 2017 survey.

Collection Method

Bathymetric data collection via marine surveys, processed into a 3D flythrough movie.

Time Range

2007 to 2017 (survey years)

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-16 according to the most recent source.

Geography

Gifford Marine Park, Lord Howe Rise, Tasman Sea, 700 km east of Brisbane, Australia.