A continental-scale seabed sediment particle size, texture and carbonate dataset for the Australian region - Dataset

Geoscience Australia maintains a national collection of marine geological samples and analytical data from across the Australian region. Digital records of these datasets are held within the Marine Sediment Database (MARS), available as an online resource of c. 2.6 million entries. Here we have extracted data from MARS to collate sediment properties for over 15,000 seabed samples for use as a standalone dataset. Analytical data includes textural composition (mud, sand, gravel), summary statistics for particle size distributions, textural class and calcium carbonate values (where available). Information on sample water depth, location and marine survey is also provided. The sample set spans the coast, continental shelf, slope and deep ocean locations across the Australian marine region (covering the extent of the AusBathyTopo 250m 2023 grid). This dataset has utility for a broad range of purposes including seabed characterisation, sediment transport modelling, habitat characterisation, seabed engineering studies and fundamental geological and sedimentological research.<br>Additional metadata of this dataset are provided in the word document accompanied with the dataset. The metadata document describes the attribute table, the sediment carbonate classification and the sediment facies.