Petrel Sub-basin Marine Survey (GA-0335 / SOL5463) (NLECI Program) - Seabed Sediment Grain Size Data

The Petrel Sub-basin Marine Survey GA-0335 (SOL5463) was undertaken on RV Solander during May 2012 as part of the Commonwealth Government's National Low Emission Coal Initiative (NLECI). The survey was a collaboration between the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) and GA. The purpose was to acquire geophysical and biophysical data on shallow (less than 100 m water depth) seabed environments within two targeted areas in the Petrel Sub-basin to support the investigation of CO2 storage potential in these areas. Unconsolidated surface (seabed) sediments were collected at 11 sampling stations using a Smith_McIntyre grab (10L volume). Sediment samples were collected to provide data on a) sedimentology, b) infauna and c) the geochemical composition of the sediments.
For the sedimentology (this dataset) up to 250 g of sediment was sub-sampled from the surface (0-2 cm) of the sediment recovered in the Smith_McIntyre grabs. Sub-samples were described from visual inspection, noting grain size, sorting and composition and these were stored in plastic bags and refrigerated. These were subsequently analysed at the GA laboratories to provide information on the texture and composition of the sediments at the sampling locations. Grain size measurement was undertaken by wet sieving to determine mud (2000 microns) fractions as percentage of dry weight. A separate sub-sample (~1g) was used for laser diffraction measurement of the mud and sand fractions using a Malvern Mastersizer 2000, with results expressed as percentage of the total particle volume based on an average of three measurements on each sample. Particle size distributions including mean, median, and standard deviation, together with skewness and kurtosis indices were calculated. Separate sample splits were taken for measurement of the carbonate content using the carbonate bomb method following Muller and Gastner (1979).

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