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.

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Details of this research may be found in these publications:

Authors	Date	Title
Harris, P.T., Heap, A.D., Marshall, J.F., McCulloch, M.T.	2008	A new coral reef province in the Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia: colonisation, growth and submergence during the early Holocene.
Harris, P.T., Heap, A., Marshall, J.F., Hemer, M., Daniell, J., Hancock, A., Buchanan, C., Sbaffi, L., Brewer, D., Heales, D.	2007	Submerged coral reefs and benthic habitats of the southern Gulf of Carpentaria.
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.	2006	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.
Harris, P.T., Heap, A.D., Wassenberg, T., Passlow, V.	2004	Submerged coral reefs in the Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia.