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 identified 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, points to a late Quaternary phase of reef growth under different climate conditions.

Use Cases

• Mapping submerged reef structures based on multibeam sonar and video survey data mentioned in the description
• Studying historical coral reef growth phases under past cooler climate and lower sea level conditions
• Identifying potential coral refugia from surface warming and bleaching events based on depth data
• Analyzing the distribution of submerged reefs in the Gulf of Carpentaria using existing bathymetry data

Strengths

• Covers a specific, newly discovered area of 80 km² containing three patch reefs
• Includes precise depth measurements for reef surfaces (mean of 28.6±0.5 m)
• Data collection involved multiple methods: multibeam sonar, seabed sampling, and underwater video

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to the specific survey area in the Gulf of Carpentaria

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Multibeam swath sonar surveys supplemented with seabed sampling and underwater video

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-27 16:33:00.405869; freshness should be verified

Geography

Southern Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia