Carpentaria Reefs: Submerged Coral Reef Discovery in Australia

A video presentation details findings from two Geoscience Australia marine surveys conducted in 2003 and 2005. The story relates to the discovery of previously unknown submerged coral reefs across the southern Gulf of Carpentaria, identified using new multibeam sonar technology. The age of the reefs was determined using drill-core samples analyzed via the Uranium/Thorium method at the Australian National University.

Use Cases

• Studying the formation and age of submerged coral reefs based on Uranium/Thorium dating of drill-core samples.
• Mapping previously unknown seabed features based on multibeam sonar survey data.
• Supporting marine conservation planning based on the discovery of a new coral reef province in Australia's marine zone.

Strengths

• Documents a novel discovery of a previously unknown coral reef province.
• Relies on specific scientific methods: multibeam sonar surveys (2003, 2005) and Uranium/Thorium dating at a named institution (Australian National University).

Limitations

• The primary data format is a video presentation; underlying raw survey data (e.g., sonar point clouds, core sample measurements) are not directly described.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for quantitative analysis.

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Marine surveys (surveys 238 and 276) using multibeam sonar and drill-core sampling.

Time Range

Surveys conducted in 2003 and 2005.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-20 03:17:11.113085; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia.