Thesis abstract:

The growth and development of carbonate platforms and reefs are complex and governed by multiple factors such as; sea level, sea surface temperature, ocean currents and sediment flux. Carbonate platform and reef environments on the North West and North East Shelves of Australia are controlled by differing combinations of these factors due to their dissimilar tectonic and oceanographic settings. Additionally, there is an inherent uncertainty around how each shelf responded to local and global cyclic events in the recent geological past and how these events correspond on opposite sides of the Australian continent.

The Scott Reefs on the North West Shelf of Australia sit on the edge of a continental margin, where relative base level changes are recorded by coral species assemblages through time and space. Recent data acquisition (Core) and re-processing of seismic data in this region provides a unique opportunity to investigate those changes.

This region underwent dramatic climatic and oceanographic changes throughout the Quaternary period; most notably, a rise in sea level amplitude during the Mid Pleistocene Transition, between 0.6-0.8Ma and the associated change in climate from wet to dry. The timings of coral reef turn on and off are insufficiently understood with respect to these changes.

Forward stratigraphic modelling is a technological method that can be implemented to unravel the recent historical evolution of this region and compare the findings with the relatively better-known carbonate system on the NE margin of Australia.

By coupling forward stratigraphic modelling with observational data analysis, geo-eco-morphological models of these carbonate systems can be designed to better resolve their evolutionary history, as well as outputting high resolution historical local sea level curves, carbonate accretion rates and tectonic variations. These outputs can also be used to constrain ideas about how these specific and other analogous carbonate systems might change in uncharacteristic environmental conditions such as those witnessed today and anticipated in the near future.