Geomorphology and Habitats of the Carnarvon Shelf

Flythrough movie showing the bathymetry of Carnarvon shelf, highlighting benthic habitats at Point Cloates. The bathymetric image is derived from multibeam sonar collected in 2008 using a 300 kHz Simrad EM3002 system on RV Solander. Key features on the shelf include a prominent ridge at 60 m water depth and a complex area of smaller ridges and mounds across the inner shelf. The ridges and mounds provide hard substrate for diverse coral and sponge communities. The Carnarvon shelf is a study site for the Marine Biodiversity Research Hub, funded through the Commonwealth Environment Research Facilities (CERF) programme. Survey work was carried out as a collaboration between Geoscience Australia and the Australian Institute of Marine Science. Further information is provided in GA Record 2009/02.