Kenn Plateau Marine Geology Survey: Bathymetry and Seismic Data from 2004

Geoscience Australia Cruise 270 collected marine geophysical and geological data over the Kenn Plateau off northeast Australia in 2004. The survey recorded 3090 km of multichannel seismic data, continuous multibeam-sonar swath-bathymetry, magnetic data, and twelve dredge hauls of sedimentary rock samples. Data documents the plateau's thinned continental crust, rift basins, and Oligocene volcanic structures.

Use Cases

• Modeling tectonic plate rotation and rifting based on described fracture zones and crustal thinning.
• Analyzing sediment deposition sequences based on described Cretaceous to Recent stratigraphic layers.
• Mapping submarine volcanic edifices based on the described Tasmantid chain hotspot volcanoes.
• Studying paleo-environmental changes from described Eocene chalk and Oligocene carbonate sequences.

Strengths

• 3090 km of multichannel seismic data provides substantial subsurface imaging coverage.
• Continuous multibeam-sonar swath-bathymetry offers detailed seafloor mapping.
• Twelve dredge hauls with micropaleontologically dated samples provide ground-truth geological data.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data is delivered in PDF and HTML formats, which may require extraction for computational analysis.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network, Geoscience Australia

Collection Method

Marine survey by R.V. Southern Surveyor (Cruise SS5/2004) using multibeam sonar, seismic, magnetic, and dredging equipment.

Time Range

Survey conducted in 2004; geological data covers Late Cretaceous to Recent periods.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-04 23:39:49.617661; freshness should be verified

Geography

Kenn Plateau off northeast Australia, covering approximately 140,000 km².