Offshore Sydney Basin and NSW Continental Margin Geochemistry and Sedimentology : Natural Processes, Anthropogenic Contributions and Non-renewable Resources : Project 121.37

Brief description

This proposal describes a multi-institutional, multi-disciplinary, 28 day survey, to beconducted aboard the BMR research vessel Rig Seismic on the NSW continental margin, between Wollongong, Sydney and Newcastle during September-October of1992. The survey includes personnel from the Environment Management Unit of theSydney Water Board; Sydney University, Depts. of Geography, Geology andGeophysics, the Ocean Sciences Institute, the Geological Survey of New South Wales, and the Program in Marine Geosciences and Petroleum Geology from the BMR. Partial funding for the survey is being provided by the Sydney Water Boardand Sydney University. The overall primary objectives include: 1.To collect baseline environmental data on the distribution and chemicalcompositions of sediments (with special reference to anthropogenic materials), whichwill be used for environmental monitoring purpouses in the coastal zone. 2.To provide appropriate scientific data re the juxtapositon of renewable and non-renewable resources on the continental margin, and the discharge of wastes (humanand industrial) from various activities to the coastal zone. These data are one essential aid in managing coastal zone activities adjacent to Australia's majorpopulation centre. 3. To provide new information related to non-renewable resources (hydrocarbons,seafloor minerals and marine sands and aggregates) present in the offshore SydneyBasin. The projects to be conducted include : (i) Quaternary and Contemporary sedimentation and geochemistry on the continentalshelf. (ii) The record of Quaternary climate change preserved in sediments on the continental slope (iii) Easterly changes of sedimentary facies and thermal history of the Permo-Mesozoic Sydney basin rocks. (iv) Contaminants in continental shelf sediments. (v) Geochemical characterisation of continental shelf sediments-with special reference to nutrients, nitrogen and phosphorus. (vi) Continuous geochemical tracer studies of ocean outfalls and estuary/oceanexchanges (with special reference to light hydrocarbons). The timetable for the survey is shown in Table 1.

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