Carpentaria Reefs: Submerged Coral Reef Discovery in Australia's Gulf

Two Geoscience Australia surveys in 2003 and 2005 discovered submerged coral reefs in the Gulf of Carpentaria. The reefs were identified using multibeam sonar technology and their age was determined via Uranium/Thorium dating of drill-core samples. This discovery established a new coral reef province within Australia's marine zone.

Use Cases

• Study the formation and age of submerged coral reefs based on Uranium/Thorium dating results mentioned in the description
• Analyze seabed morphology using the multibeam sonar survey data referenced in the description
• Map a newly identified coral reef province for marine spatial planning and protection as described

Strengths

• Discovery of a previously unknown coral reef province in Australia's Gulf of Carpentaria
• Age determination of reefs using the Uranium/Thorium dating method at the Australian National University
• Use of new multibeam sonar technology for reef identification as described

Limitations

• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• Primary data formats are HTML and VIDEO/X-FLV, which may not be directly usable for quantitative analysis

Provenance

Source

Geoscience Australia Data

Collection Method

Surveys using multibeam sonar and drill-core sampling with Uranium/Thorium dating

Time Range

Surveys conducted in 2003 and 2005

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-30 12:50:39.837763; freshness should be verified

Geography

Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia