What is the Australian continental shelf?
The Continental Shelf of Australia Surrounding Australia is a shallow extension of the landmass known as the continental shelf. This shelf is relatively shallow, up of 200 meters deep compared to the thousands of meters deep in the open ocean, and extends outward to the continental slope where the deep ocean begins.
How deep is the continental shelf off Sydney?
With the continental shelf lying just 14 nautical miles from Sydney heads, the water depth starts dropping from 140 metres to well over 3000 metres out wide where the huge game fish patrol the deep sea, searching for food.
Where is the continental shelf closest to Australia?
The largest of these areas is the extended continental shelf arising from the Territory of Heard Island and McDonald Islands between Australia and South Africa. The other is from Macquarie Island between Tasmania and Antarctica.
How far is the continental shelf off Newcastle?
about 20 miles
The continental shelf is about 20 miles off shore but regularly the inshore fishery fires with huge bait schools of slimey mackerel the black and striped marlin are consistently amongst them feeding making the hook up rate on all methods of fishing including bait and switch, trolling and live baiting highly successful.
How far out is the continental shelf?
A continental shelf typically extends from the coast to depths of 100–200 metres (330–660 feet). It is gently inclined seaward at an average slope of about 0.1°. In nearly all instances, it ends at its seaward edge with an abrupt drop called the shelf break.
How far out is the continental shelf Australia?
The Continental Shelf is the area of the seabed and subsoil which extends beyond the territorial sea to a distance of 200M from the territorial sea baseline and beyond that distance to the outer edge of the continental margin as defined in Article 76 of the Convention.
How far is the continental shelf off Yamba?
Detailed morphology of the northern New South Wales continental shelf. The northern New South Wales shelf (Figures 1, 2) occupies the margin between Yamba (29°30′S) and the Tweed River (28°10′S), an along-shelf distance of 135 km.
What are the five territories of Australia?
The Federation of Australia constitutionally consists of six federated states (New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, and Western Australia) and ten federal territories, out of which three are internal territories (the Australian Capital Territory, Jervis Bay Territory, and Northern Territory …
Where is the continental shelf narrowest?
The southern and northern ends are relatively wide, with width of 65–215 km; the middle is narrow, with the narrowest point of only 27 km. The slope edge of the continental shelf generally has water depth between 200 and 250 m.
Where does the continental shelf meet the sea floor?
The shelf usually ends at a point of increasing slope (called the shelf break). The sea floor below the break is the continental slope. Below the slope is the continental rise, which finally merges into the deep ocean floor, the abyssal plain. The continental shelf and the slope are part of the continental margin.
What is the legal definition of the continental shelf?
Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the name continental shelf was given a legal definition as the stretch of the seabed adjacent to the shores of a particular country to which it belongs.
Why was the Continental Shelf survey done in Australia?
Harnessing expertise from several areas across Geoscience Australia as well as university specialists, the survey team assessed the continental slope, particularly in areas where it is thought that submarine mass failures could generate tsunamis.
Where is the continental slope off New South Wales?
The results of a 15–day marine survey off the New South Wales coast have provided a regional understanding of the morphology and mass wasting history of the continental slope between Jervis Bay and Forster ( figure 1 ).