Suspended-Sediment Loads in the Southern Great Barrier Reef

A mechanical sampling system collected suspended sediment and tidal current velocity data over One Tree Reef in the southern Great Barrier Reef. Suspension loads were collected at selected levels of the flooding and falling tide using siphon systems, and water movement was monitored with dye casts and bidirectional current meters. The results show large, tidally fluctuating suspension-load fluxes, important for sediment transport into lagoons.

Use Cases

• Modeling sediment transport into coral reef lagoons based on tidal cycle data
• Analyzing the relationship between current velocity and suspended-sediment flux
• Quantifying calcium carbonate suspension in reef environments based on titration results
• Studying sedimentological processes over leeward reef margins

Strengths

• The description details a specific mechanical system for collecting samples at various tidal stages
• This is described as the first experiment of its nature conducted in a modern coral reef environment
• Water movement was monitored using fluorescein dye casts and arrays of bidirectional current meters

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 data_gov_au, focusing on a single reef

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Field measurements using sampling towers, siphon systems, complexometric titration, dye casts, and current meters.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-04 08:10:33.533159; freshness should be verified

Geography

One Tree Reef in the southern Great Barrier Reef