Southwest Australian Margin Marine Surveys: Seismic and Bathymetry Data

Two major marine surveys from October 2008 to February 2009 investigated the resource potential of deep-water frontier areas off southwest Australia. Geoscience Australia acquired 7,300 km of 2D seismic data, reprocessed 11,700 km of industry seismic lines, and collected 230,000 km² of multibeam bathymetry. The project also gathered gravity, magnetic, sub-bottom profiler data, and 190 geological rock samples from 53 dredge sites.

Use Cases

• Modeling subsurface geology based on 2D seismic reflection data.
• Mapping seafloor topography and features using multibeam swath bathymetry.
• Analyzing regional geophysical properties from gravity and magnetic survey lines.
• Investigating near-surface sediment layers with sub-bottom profiler data.
• Studying seabed composition and geology from collected rock samples.

Strengths

• Covers a large spatial area including the Mentelle, North Perth, Southern Carnarvon Basins, and Wallaby Plateau.
• Includes multiple complementary data types: seismic, bathymetry, gravity, magnetics, and physical samples.
• Integrates newly acquired data (7,300 km seismic) with reprocessed industry data (11,700 km seismic).

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and dataset scale are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data freshness should be verified; the underlying surveys were conducted in 2008-2009.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia's Southwest Margin Project, via the Australian Ocean Data Network.

Collection Method

Data acquired through dedicated marine surveys using seismic, multibeam, gravity, magnetic, and dredging equipment.

Time Range

Survey conducted from October 2008 to February 2009.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-05 07:47:04.794820; freshness should be verified

Geography

Southwest Australian continental margin, including the Mentelle Basin, North Perth Basin, Southern Carnarvon Basin, and Wallaby Plateau.