Sediment and Water Movement at One Tree Reef, Great Barrier Reef, 1979

One Tree Reef in the southern Great Barrier Reef was monitored for water circulation and sediment flux in March and April 1979. The dataset likely contains measurements of water velocity and suspended-sediment transport across different reef zones, including windward and leeward margins, coral flats, algal flats, and sand sheets. Data was aggregated by the Australian Ocean Data Network.

Use Cases

• Modeling sediment loss and retention patterns based on described spring and neap tide cycles.
• Analyzing water flow reversal patterns across different reef margins mentioned in the description.
• Studying the relationship between energy patterns and mud distribution in the lagoon.
• Calibrating hydrodynamic models for coral reef systems using observed velocity changes from ocean to lagoon.

Strengths

• Data captures a specific, detailed event in March/April 1979.
• Description provides concrete comparisons, such as twice as much sediment leaving on spring tides compared to transport to sand sheets.
• Covers multiple distinct reef environments: windward/leeward margins, coral/algal flats, sand sheets, and lagoon.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data is from a single two-month period in 1979; temporal representativeness is limited.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Field monitoring of water circulation and sediment flux.

Time Range

March/April 1979

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-04 23:15:52.363257; freshness should be verified.

Geography

One Tree Reef, southern Great Barrier Reef