Southeast Australian Shelf Research Articles

Multivariate examination of the sediment-deficient southeast Australian continental shelf

Continental shelves are the most morphologically variable element within the source-to-sink system owing to the numerous processes that influence their formation. A recent multivariate analysis of a global compilation of modern continental shelf data showed that much of the variability is related to tectonic setting, the degree to which the shelf has been glaciated, and carbonate production. While these factors play first-order roles in determining the morphology of shelves, other controlling mechanisms such as siliciclastic sediment supply, wave and tidal energy, bedrock lithology, and sea-level fluctuations are not as well understood. Here, we report findings from a detailed investigation of the southeast Australian shelf that explored how sediment distribution, wave energy, and bedrock lithology influence shelf morphology. The high-resolution analysis suggests that the southeast Australian shelf has 11 distinct shelf types. No strong relationships exist between the shelf attributes or shelf type with their onshore catchments. However, a substantial section boundary correlates with a bedrock contact between the Sydney Basin in the south and the New England Orogen to the north. South of this boundary, we propose that the shelf morphology reflects transgression with low sediment supply, whereas to the north, the morphology reflects transgression with higher sediment input. Although several factors contributed to this difference in shelf morphology, we suggest that sediment distribution and retention due to the active wave climate during the most recent transgression likely played a vital role.

Reef Fish Diversity Across the Temperate South Pacific Ocean

Patterns of species richness and their structuring forces at multiple scales provide a critical context for research efforts focusing on ecology, evolution, and conservation. Diversity gradients have been demonstrated in tropical reef fish, but corresponding patterns and mechanisms remain poorly understood in temperate regions. We conducted hierarchical (spatially nested) sampling of temperate reef fish faunas across > 140 degrees of longitude in the eastern and western South Pacific Ocean. Our sampling efforts spanned five distinct provinces: the Southeast Australian Shelf (SAS), Northern and Southern New Zealand (N-SNZ), Juan Fernandez and Desventuradas Islands (JFD), and the Warm Temperate Southeastern Pacific (WTPA). We evaluated (i) spatial variation in patterns of species richness and abundance (using Chao 1 index), and distribution of functional diversity (using several functional attributes: max body size, trophic groups, feeding guilds, trophic level, habitat use, gregariousness, and activity patterns) and (ii) scale-dependencies in these patterns. Species richness declined from west to east across the temperate South Pacific, but this pattern was detectable only across larger spatial scales. A functional redundancy index was significantly higher in the western South Australian Shelf at multiple scales, revealing that species contribute in equivalent ways to an ecosystem function such that one species may substitute for another. We also detected that patterns of variation in functional diversity differed from patterns of variation in species richness, and were also dependent on the spatial scale of analysis. Lastly, we identified that species’ traits are not equally distributed among reef fish assemblages, where some provinces are characterized by a distinct functional component within their reef fish assemblages. Planktivorous and schooling species, for instance, dominated the assemblages in the eastern Pacific, which is characterized by higher primary productivity and steep bathymetric slopes favoring these traits. Demersal and pairing behavior traits dominated the reef fish assemblages in western Pacific provinces (SAS, SNZ). We conclude that combining the identifies and species’ traits allow us to disentangle historical, biogeographic and environmental factors that structure reef fish fauna.

Shelf sand supply determined by glacial-age sea-level modes, submerged coastlines and wave climate

Submerged paloeshorelines preserved on the continental shelf indicate the depths of the most frequent (modal) low sea-levels within the glacial stages of the Late Quaternary. Here we have determined the south-east Australian shelf configuration when sea level was 40 m and 60 m below present-day sea-level (depths of the most persistent paleoshorelines within the last 120 ka), and we resolve the wave climate variations influencing the sediment transport pathways over this period. We present evidence demonstrating that the combination of shelf morphological evolution, changes in sea-level and variations in wave climate is responsible for latitudinal changes in sediment transport and deposition during the interglacial states. The paleoshoreline and shelf evolution is key to understanding the distribution of present-day shelf sand deposits and the contemporary sand budget response to future wave climate changes.

Tropical and extratropical‐origin storm wave types and their influence on the East Australian longshore sand transport system under a changing climate

AbstractTropical expansion is potentially an amplifier of coastal change in the subtropics, through directional wave climate shifts. The storm wave climate and directional wave power distribution along the Southeast Australian Shelf (SEAS) is investigated with respect to tropical extent. Forty years of storm wave observations from nine midshelf wave buoys are evaluated using synoptic storm wave typing. A robust latitudinal and along‐shelf gradient in storm wave types and wave propagation patterns exists. The tropical origin storms produce a shore‐normal propagation pattern along the SEAS, reduce the connectivity of coastal compartments through minor headland bypassing events or episodically reversing the net northward transport. In contrast, the extratropical origin storms produce a shore‐oblique propagation pattern from the Southern Tasman to the Coral Sea, and are an important control on the connectivity of regional longshore sand transport through episodic major headland bypassing events between compartments, and the maintenance of down‐drift coastlines in dynamic equilibrium. Future climate change projections indicate that the recent trend in the expansion of the latitudinal extent of the tropics in the south‐west Pacific region will continue throughout this century. The combined impacts of a projected 2.5° poleward shift on the storm wave climate is a significant reduction in net northward longshore sand transport and the efficiency of headland bypassing events. On the North and Central Coasts of New South Wales we project a ∼30% reduction in longshore sand transport for the dominant extratropical‐origin storm events, together with a ∼5% increase in reversed (net southward) longshore sand transport for tropical‐origin storm events.

Impacts of enhanced central Pacific ENSO on wave climate and headland-bay beach morphology

Wave climate and Pacific basin coastal behaviour associated with El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is understood at a reconnaissance level, but the coastal response to different central Pacific (CP) versus eastern Pacific (EP) flavours of ENSO is unknown. We show that CP ENSO events produce different patterns of directional wave power to EP ENSO along the southeast Australian shelf and southwest Pacific region, because of significant variability in trade-wind wave generation. The modulation of the trade wind wave climate during CP ENSO has thus far been neglected in existing coastal process studies. We also show that coastal change between CP and EP ENSO cannot be inferred from shifts in the deepwater wave climate. This is because variability in trade wind wave generation is masked in deepwater by the persistence of high power extra-tropical waves that have reduced impact on nearshore processes due to high wave refraction. Morphodynamic modelling in a headland-bay beach indicates that CP ENSO leads to higher coastal erosion potential and slower post-storm recovery than EP ENSO during an El Niño/La Niña cycle. We show that the alongshore variability in beach morphological type can be used to model the static equilibrium planform response for each ENSO phase. Results indicate that shoreline response to ENSO in most headland-bay beach coasts is not as simple as the existing paradigm that (anti-) clockwise rotation occurs during El Niño (La Niña). Our methods provide a second-order approach to project coastal response and predict the discrete shoreline rotations for ENSO flavours.

Detecting regime shifts in marine systems with limited biological data: An example from southeast Australia

The ability to detect ecological regime shifts in a data-limited setting was investigated, using southeast Australian ecosystems as a model. Community variability was summarized for 1968–2008 with the first two principal components (PCs) of recruitment estimates for six fish stocks and reproductive parameters for four seabird species; regional climate was summarized for 1953–2008 with the first two PCs for three parameters (sea surface temperature [SST], sea surface salinity, surface nitrate) measured at two stations; and basin-scale climate variability was summarized for 1950–2012 with mean South Pacific SST and the first two PCs of detrended South Pacific SST. The first two biology PCs explained 45% of total community variability. The first two PCs of basin-scale SST showed abrupt shifts similar to “regime” behavior observed in other ocean basins, and the first PC of basin-scale SST showed significant covariation with the first PC of regional climate. Together, these results are consistent with the strong community variability and decadal-scale red noise climatic variability associated with Northern Hemisphere regime shifts. However, statistical model selection showed that the first two PCs of regional climate and the first PC of biology time series all exhibited linear change, rather than abrupt shifts. This result is consistent with previous studies documenting rapid linear change in the climate and biology of southeast Australian shelf ecosystems, and we conclude that there is no evidence for regime shift behavior in the region’s ecology. However, analysis of a large set of previously-published biological time series from the North Pacific (n=64) suggests that studies using fewer than ∼30 biological time series, such as this one, may be unable to detect regime shifts. Thus we conclude that the nature of ecological variability in the region cannot be determined with available data. The development of additional long-term biological observations is needed for understanding change in southeast Australia and in many other marine ecosystems globally.

Directional wave climate and power variability along the Southeast Australian shelf

Variability in the modal wave climate is a key process driving large-scale coastal behaviour on moderate- to high-energy sandy coastlines, and is strongly related to variability in synoptic climate drivers. On sub-tropical coasts, shifts in the sub-tropical ridge (STR) modulate the seasonal occurrence of different wave types. However, in semi-enclosed seas, isolating directional wave climates and synoptic drivers is hindered by a complex mixed sea-swell environment. Here we present a directional wave climate typology for the Tasman Sea based on a combined statistical-synoptic approach using mid-shelf wave buoy observations along the Southeast Australian Shelf (SEAS). Five synoptic-scale wave climates exist during winter, and six during summer. These can be clustered into easterly (Tradewind), south-easterly (Tasman Sea) and southerly (Southern Ocean) wave types, each with distinct wave power signatures. We show that a southerly shift in the STR and trade-wind zone, consistent with an observed poleward expansion of the tropics, forces an increase in the total wave energy flux in winter for the central New South Wales shelf of 1.9GJm–1 wave-crest-length for 1° southerly shift in the STR, and a reduction of similar magnitude (approximately 1.8GJm–1) during summer. In both seasons there is an anti-clockwise rotation of wave power towards the east and south-east at the expense of southerly waves. Reduced obliquity of constructive wave power would promote a general disruption to northward alongshore sediment transport, with the cross-shore component becoming increasingly prevalent. Results are of global relevance to sub-tropical east coasts where the modal wave climate is influenced by the position of the zonal STR.

Selling the 'Untold Wealth' in the Seas: A Social and Cultural History of the South-east Australian Shelf Trawling Industry, 1915-1961

Abstract Between 1915 and 1961 a state-run trawling industry operated on the South-east Australian shelf targeting tiger flathead (Neoplatycephalus richardsoni) as its principal species. When the last steam-trawlers left in 1961, stocks in flathead had effectively collapsed. The familiar experience of overfishing, however, was due as much to social and cultural pressures as it was to increasing numbers of fishers targeting a delicate species with ever improving technologies. Flathead stocks declined as a direct result of a government initiative, designed to induce New South Wales residents to consume the Shelf's neglected wealth. In the intersection between the consuming masses, trawling nets, and government-directed marketing campaigns, tiger flathead became a new 'cheap food' and it could not withstand those forces. This article analyses the emergence of the Shelf fishery in 1915 and its evolution through the twentieth century. The history it details reveals the impact of the culture of consumerism on fishing ecosystems and the process through which a species declined from abundant to exhausted.

Phytoplankton blooms and production sources on the south-east Australian continental shelf

During a large-scale ecosystem study on the south-east Australian shelf in spring 1994, we opportunistically sampled a widespread phytoplankton bloom. Thalassiosira partheneia, a small centric diatom, was the primary species in the bloom, indicating that we had sampled the early stage of a typical short-lived spring bloom for the area. Pigment analysis indicated four distinct communities that were coincident with the regional oceanography. The bloom was strongest over the northern shelf where the East Australian Current overlaid uplifted nutrient-rich slope water, but absent at inner stations on the wide southern shelf, where slope water did not reach. The bloom was patchy over the southern outer shelf where slope water was present to the surface and local conditions were influenced by topography. Pigment and stable isotope data indicated that primary production in this area was almost entirely oceanic. A slight trend for seaward enrichment of sediment δ13C is best explained by limited macroalgal growth in shallow waters. There was little fresh organic matter in the sediment even for stations under the bloom, suggesting that the bloom did not reach the seabed directly. The lack of specific zooplankton grazing pigments suggests that zooplankton grazing was minimal.