Spatial distribution and morphology of the Halimeda bioherms of the Great Barrier Reef, Australia

Sediment derived from the decomposition of Halimeda algae is a major contributor to the tropical back-reef carbonate depositions. Halimeda bioherms occur extensively on the northern Great Barrier Reef (GBR), Australia. This dataset represents the most complete, high-resolution spatial mapping of the extent of northern GBR Halimeda bioherms, based on airborne lidar and multibeam echosounder bathymetry data. Three distinct morphological sub-types are described: reticulate, annulate, and undulate. The northern GBR bioherms cover an area of 6095 km2, three times larger than previous estimates.

源自仙掌藻（Halimeda）残体分解产生的沉积物，是热带礁后碳酸盐沉积的主要贡献源。仙掌藻生物丘（Halimeda bioherms）广泛分布于澳大利亚北部大堡礁（Great Barrier Reef, GBR）海域。本数据集基于机载激光雷达（airborne lidar）与多波束测深声呐（multibeam echosounder）获取的水深地形数据，实现了对北部大堡礁仙掌藻生物丘分布范围迄今为止最完整、高分辨率的空间制图。该类生物丘可划分为三种特征鲜明的形态亚型：网状型（reticulate）、环状型（annulate）与波状型（undulate）。北部大堡礁仙掌藻生物丘总分布面积达6095平方千米，是此前估算值的三倍。