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Skeletal carbonate variation on the continental shelf of eastern Australia

Created 17/10/2025

Updated 17/10/2025

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Sediments on the continental shelf of eastern Australia increase in carbonate content away from the present shoreline. However, the high values of the outer shelf sands show little latitudinal variation, both tropical and temperate continental shelves being mantled with sediments which are relatively pure carbonates. Thus a high calcimass productivity is not restricted to tropical regions. However, the types of carbonate-secreting organisms do show marked latitudinal variations. North of latitude 24°S the outer continental shelf is dominated by the Great Barrier Reef, and inter-reef and outer shelf sediments contain the remains of hermatypic corals and calcareous green algae, mainly Halimeda, together with varying amounts of foraminifera, Mollusca, Bryozoa, and calcareous red algae. Corals and Halimeda are not present in the sediments south of 24°S, which consists of foraminifera, mollusca, bryozoa and calcareous red algae. The bryozoan content of the sediments increases to the south, and between 38° and 44°S bryozoans become the dominant component of the outer shelf sands. Present-day sea-surface temperature and salinity data have been analysed to predict the distribution of carbonate particle associations. The observed distribution agrees with the predicted one, but the presence of relict carbonate sediments must be taken into account.

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Additional Info

Field Value
Title Skeletal carbonate variation on the continental shelf of eastern Australia
Language eng
Licence Not Specified
Landing Page https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/df48fd92-e234-45d5-a0cd-2358d5578e76
Contact Point
Geoscience Australia Data
clientservices@ga.gov.au
Reference Period 20/04/2018
Geospatial Coverage
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
{
  "coordinates": [
    [
      [
        141.0,
        -45.0
      ],
      [
        155.0,
        -45.0
      ],
      [
        155.0,
        -10.0
      ],
      [
        141.0,
        -10.0
      ],
      [
        141.0,
        -45.0
      ]
    ]
  ],
  "type": "Polygon"
}
Data Portal Geoscience Australia

Data Source

This dataset was originally found on Geoscience Australia "Skeletal carbonate variation on the continental shelf of eastern Australia". Please visit the source to access the original metadata of the dataset:
https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/csw/dataset/skeletal-carbonate-variation-on-the-continental-shelf-of-eastern-australia