Seafloor bathymetry of the Gifford Marine Park

Flythrough movie of Gifford Marine Park, which is located 700 km east of Brisbane, Australia. The park is situated about halfway along the Lord Howe Rise seamount chain on the western flank of the Lord Howe Rise. Seamounts along this chain formed from Miocene volcanism via a migrating magma source (“hotspot”) after the opening of the Tasman Sea. Two large, flat-topped volcanic seamounts dominate the park. Their gently sloping summits have accumulated veneers of sediment, which in places have formed fields of bedforms. Steep cliffs, debris and large mass movement scars encircle each seamount, and contrast with the lower gradient abyssal plains from which they rise. Spanning over 3 km of ocean depths, the seamounts are likely to serve multiple and important roles as breeding locations, resting areas, navigational landmarks or supplementary feeding grounds for some cetaceans (e.g. humpback whales, sperm whales). They may also act as important aggregation points for other highly migratory pelagic species. The bathymetry shown here was collected on two surveys - the first in 2007 by Geoscience Australia and the second in 2017 by Geoscience Australia in collaboration with the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology. The Gifford Marine Park has also been the focus of a study undertaken by the Marine Biodiversity Hub as part of the National Environmental Science Program.
This research is supported by the National Environmental Science Program (NESP) Marine Biodiversity Hub through Project D1.

本数据集为澳大利亚布里斯班以东700公里处的吉福德海洋公园（Gifford Marine Park）的飞越航拍影片。该公园坐落于豪勋爵海隆（Lord Howe Rise）西翼的豪勋爵海隆海山链中部区域。该海山链内的海山均形成于中新世火山活动，其成因系塔斯曼海扩张后迁移的岩浆源（即“热点”）。两座大型平顶火山海山构成了该公园的核心地貌，其缓倾峰顶堆积了薄层沉积物，部分区域形成了床形构造（bedforms）群。每座海山的外围均分布有陡峭崖壁、碎屑堆积体与大规模块体运动痕迹，与海山崛起的缓坡深海平原形成鲜明反差。这些海山的水深跨度超过3公里，极有可能为多种鲸类（如座头鲸、抹香鲸）提供多重重要生境功能，包括繁殖场所、休憩区域、导航地标以及辅助觅食地；同时，它们也可能成为其他高度洄游性远洋物种的重要聚集位点。本次展示的水深地形数据采集自两项科考作业：第一项为2007年由澳大利亚地球科学局（Geoscience Australia）开展的勘测，第二项为2017年澳大利亚地球科学局与日本海洋地球科学技术厅（Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology）联合实施的勘测。吉福德海洋公园同时也是国家环境科学计划（National Environmental Science Program）下属海洋生物多样性中心（Marine Biodiversity Hub）一项研究的重点对象。
本研究由国家环境科学计划（National Environmental Science Program, NESP）下属海洋生物多样性中心通过D1项目资助完成。