AUSTREA-1: Seafloor Mapping of Southeast Australia and Great Australian Bight

In January 2000, the Australian Geological Survey Organisation completed a 25-day seabed survey covering 11,000 km and mapping about 120,000 km² of seabed. The AUSTREA-1 cruise collected swath-bathymetry, seismic, magnetic, gravity, and oceanographic data for marine planning and resource assessment. The survey mapped diverse regions including Lord Howe Island, the Bass Canyon complex, and the Tasmanian Seamounts Marine Protected Area.

Use Cases

• Modeling seabed terrain and habitats based on swath-bathymetry and backscatter imagery.
• Assessing potential petroleum basins based on 6-channel seismic profiles.
• Analyzing ocean currents and water column structure based on ADCP and XBT data.
• Mapping benthic protected areas and fishing grounds based on detailed seafloor morphology.
• Studying volcanic and sedimentary features like seamounts and canyons for geological research.

Strengths

• Survey mapped approximately 120,000 km² of seabed, an area about 1.5 times the size of Tasmania.
• Data quality was described as 'mostly excellent' in the report.
• Multiple complementary data types were collected, including bathymetry, seismic, magnetics, gravity, and oceanographic measurements.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and dataset size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data is from a single survey in 2000; freshness should be verified for contemporary applications.

Provenance

Source

Australian Geological Survey Organisation (AGSO), now Geoscience Australia.

Collection Method

Collected during the AUSTREA-1 cruise (AGSO Cruise 222) using the RV L'Atalante, employing Simrad EM 12D swath-mapping, GI-gun seismic, and other geophysical instruments.

Time Range

Survey conducted from 18 December 1999 to 11 January 2000.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-25 17:05:55.657319; freshness should be verified

Geography

Southeast Australian margin, Lord Howe Island, central Great Australian Bight, and adjacent waters.