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. Their existence suggests a late Quaternary phase of reef growth under different environmental conditions.
Use Cases
- Mapping submerged reef habitats based on multibeam sonar survey data
- Studying coral reef resilience and historical growth phases based on the discovery of previously unknown bioherms
- Modeling potential coral refuges under climate change based on the description of deeper, cooler habitats
- Analyzing bathymetric data to locate other potential submerged reefs in tropical regions
Strengths
- Reports a specific discovery of three reefs covering 80 km²
- Provides precise mean depth measurement of 28.6±0.5 meters
- Describes the survey methodology (multibeam sonar, sampling, video)
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; last updated metadata is from 2026-05-05
Provenance
- Source
- Australian Ocean Data Network
- Collection Method
- Multibeam swath sonar survey supplemented with seabed sampling and underwater video
- Freshness
- Last updated 2026-05-05 04:13:30.716598
- Geography
- Southern Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia