Geoscience Australia - Gulf of Carpentaria Reefs

Geoscience Australia discovered a new coral reef province in the Gulf of Carpentaria during seabed mapping surveys carried out in 2003 and 2005 aboard the RV Southern Surveyor. The reefs are located along the southern part of the Gulf and are submerged 20-30 metres below sea level, making them invisible to satellites or air photography. Their existence was revealed using multibeam sonar mapping, underwater video and core sampling. Watch the movie to get the whole story.

The Carpentaria Reefs movie

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Publications

Details of this research may be found in the following publications.

Title	Date	Authors	Type	Access
A new coral reef province in the Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia: colonisation, growth and submergence during the early Holocene.	2008	Harris, P.T., Heap, A.D., Marshall, J.F., McCulloch, M.T.	Paper Marine Geology 207, 185-191	View abstract & download PDF from Science Direct website
Submerged coral reefs and benthic habitats of the southern Gulf of Carpentaria.	2007	Harris, P.T., Heap, A., Marshall, J.F., Hemer, M., Daniell, J., Hancock, A., Buchanan, C., Sbaffi, L., Brewer, D., Heales, D.	GA Report	View abstract & download PDF from GA product database
Geoscience Australia Survey 238 post-cruise report: Sources and sinks of terrigenous sediments in the southern Gulf of Carpentaria - RV Southern Surveyor 04/2003, May-June 2003.	2006	Heap, A.D., Harris, P.T., Passlow, V., Wassenberg, T., Hughes, M., Sbaffi, L., Mathews, E., Fellows, M., Fountain, L., Porter-Smith, R., Daniell, J., Buchanan, C., Robertson, L.	GA Report	View abstract & download PDF from GA product database
Submerged coral reefs in the Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia.	2004	Harris, P.T., Heap, A.D., Wassenberg, T., Passlow, V.	Paper Marine Geology	View abstract & download PDF from Science Direct website