Geoscience Australia collected 124 seabed samples across the eastern Bonaparte Gulf in 2009/2010, analyzing 74 physical and chemical variables. Cluster analysis of these variables, including grain-size and geochemical enrichments, was shown to discriminate infauna better than geomorphology-based clusters. The data highlights links between sediment properties, terrestrial sources, subsurface seepage, and benthic habitats like sponge/gorgonian communities.
Use Cases
- Modeling benthic biodiversity patterns based on sediment geochemical variables like Mn, P, and Nd/Sr ratios.
- Identifying unique or sensitive benthic habitats using cluster analysis of physical and chemical seabed properties.
- Assessing the influence of terrestrial sediment sources and subsurface seepage on outer-shelf sediment signatures.
- Characterizing sedimentary environments and potential geohazards for marine conservation and offshore development planning.
Strengths
- Dataset comprises 124 samples with 74 measured physical and chemical variables per sample.
- Cluster analysis results showed a high cophenetic correlation of 0.82, indicating good fit to the underlying data.
- Research connects specific geochemical dimensions (e.g., cross-shelf Mn/P transition) to biological observations like sponge occurrences.
Limitations
- Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
- Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
- Freshness should be verified; the underlying survey was conducted in 2009/2010.
Provenance
- Source
- Geoscience Australia / Australian Ocean Data Network
- Collection Method
- Seabed mapping surveys involving sample collection and laboratory analysis of physical and chemical properties.
- Time Range
- 2009-2010
- Freshness
- Last updated 2026-06-23 01:35:50.151861; freshness should be verified
- Geography
- Eastern Bonaparte Gulf