Submerged Coral Reefs in the Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia

Three submerged, living patch coral reefs covering 80 km² were discovered in the southern Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia. The reefs were mapped using multibeam swath sonar, seabed sampling, and underwater video, with their upper surfaces at a mean depth of 28.6±0.5 meters. This dataset, hosted by the Australian Ocean Data Network, suggests a late Quaternary phase of reef growth under different climate and sea level conditions.

Use Cases

• Modeling historical coral reef distribution based on bathymetric data mentioned in the description
• Assessing potential coral refugia from thermal stress based on the described submerged reef locations
• Studying late Quaternary sea-level and climate change impacts on reef development
• Planning marine conservation areas using the discovered reef locations and extent

Strengths

• Covers 80 km² of previously undocumented coral reef area
• Data collection involved multibeam sonar, seabed sampling, and underwater video for validation
• Provides precise depth measurements (28.6±0.5 m) for reef surfaces

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 as the last update date is 2026-06-23

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Multibeam swath sonar surveys supplemented with seabed sampling and underwater video.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-23 00:36:32.300803

Geography

Southern Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia