From Australian Oceans Data Network
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Background quality for coastal marine waters of the North West Shelf, Western Australia

Created 23/06/2025

Updated 23/06/2025

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Water quality surveys were undertaken in February and June of 2003 to determine dissolved concentrations of cadmium, chromium, copper, lead and zinc, total mercury, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, phenols, BTEX chemicals and petroleum hydrocarbons in and around the Dampier Archipelago and Port Hedland. Most sampling sites were located in areas unlikely to be contaminated from anthropogenic sources, but for comparative purposes some sites were also located in potentially contaminated areas. This work was undertaken to provide an estimate of background concentrations for selected metals and organics in the marine waters of the North West Shelf, and to ascertain whether the guideline trigger values from ANZECC & ARMCANZ (2000) are relevant to the region. The results of this study indicate that the coastal waters of the North West Shelf are generally of very high quality. The concentrations of metals were low by world standards, with localised elevations of some metals adjacent to industrial centres and ports. Metal concentrations at the time of sampling met the environmental quality guidelines for a very high level of ecological protection (99% species protection) throughout the sampled area, with the exception of the inner harbour at Port Hedland, where copper and zinc levels were elevated above background, but below the 95% species protection guidelines, which represent a high level of ecological protection. No organic chemicals were detected in any of the samples. The reporting limits were well below the guideline trigger values recommended in ANZECC & ARMCANZ (2000) for a very high level of ecological protection for the five organics for which guideline values were available. The findings of this study suggest that ANZECC & ARMCANZ (2000) 99% species protection guidelines are relevant to the region for all metals analysed, except cobalt, for which the 95% species protection guideline is recommended for use. A set of Environmental Quality Criteria is proposed.

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Additional Info

Field Value
Title Background quality for coastal marine waters of the North West Shelf, Western Australia
Language eng
Licence Not Specified
Landing Page https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/2677c310-fc66-486f-bfc2-ec6ab7304909
Contact Point
Australian Ocean Data Network
scott.condie@csiro.au
Reference Period 01/07/2000 - 30/06/2007
Geospatial Coverage
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
{
  "coordinates": [
    [
      [
        114.0,
        -24.0
      ],
      [
        122.0,
        -24.0
      ],
      [
        122.0,
        -17.0
      ],
      [
        114.0,
        -17.0
      ],
      [
        114.0,
        -24.0
      ]
    ]
  ],
  "type": "Polygon"
}
Data Portal Australian Oceans Data Network

Data Source

This dataset was originally found on Australian Oceans Data Network "Background quality for coastal marine waters of the North West Shelf, Western Australia". Please visit the source to access the original metadata of the dataset:
https://catalogue.aodn.org.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/csw/dataset/background-quality-for-coastal-marine-waters-of-the-north-west-shelf-western-australia