Deep-Sea Sediment Analyses from Tasmanian and Victorian Margins

1985-1988 laboratory analyses from 97 deep-sea cores collected off southwest Victoria and Tasmania. The Bureau of Mineral Resources (BMR) documented grain size, calcium carbonate (CaCO3), and total organic carbon (TOC) percentages from samples taken at 20cm intervals. This work aimed to model sedimentation changes on the continental margin over time.

Use Cases

• Analyzing grain size distribution to infer past depositional energy and transport mechanisms.
• Correlating CaCO3 percentage variations with paleoceanographic conditions and carbonate compensation depth.
• Investigating TOC content in 15 cores as a proxy for past biological productivity and organic matter preservation.
• Modeling sedimentation rates and sequences by integrating core length data (0.02m to 7.78m) with sample depth intervals.
• Comparing sedimentological properties across three distinct coring cruises (SO-36C, BMR 67, BMR 78) for regional analysis.

Strengths

• Analyses derived from 97 distinct deep-sea cores collected across three scientific cruises.
• Core length data provided, with a documented range from 0.02 meters to 7.78 meters.
• Samples were systematically collected at 20cm intervals for consistent laboratory analysis.

Limitations

• Specific row counts for analytical measurements are not provided in the description.
• Data is temporally limited to samples collected between 1985 and 1988.
• Primary data formats are documented reports (HTML, PDF), not raw, machine-readable data tables.

Provenance

Source

Bureau of Mineral Resources (BMR), Division of Marine Geosciences and Petroleum Geology, via the Australian Ocean Data Network.

Collection Method

Laboratory analysis (grain size, CaCO3, TOC) on sediment samples taken from cores collected during three marine research cruises.

Time Range

1985-1988

Freshness

Data collection concluded in 1988; metadata was last updated in 2026.

Geography

Ocean regions off southwest Victoria, and western and southern Tasmania, including the South Tasman Rise.