Unique Group Provides Multi-beam Echo Sounder for Searching Underwater Rock Art in Australia  

Summary of the Project  

Unique Group successfully supported a University of Western Australia (UWA) research team by providing them with a Norbit multibeam echo sounder to perform multibeam survey to discover submerged indigenous engraved rock art in Murujuga (Dampier Archipelago) in the NW of Western Australia. This region is very prospective for Indigenous underwater archaeology with number of drowned terrestrial landforms such as river channels, water holes and beaches already discovered. The team recently discovered Aboriginal stone artefacts on the seabed of Murujuga which represents the first tangible evidence of occupation on a now drowned landscape.   

Client Requirement  

The UWA research team initiated a project to search and find underwater rock art in Murujuga, one of the richest rock art provinces in the world with over a million rock engravings recording an occupation period spanning more than 50 thousand years BP. The client wanted to map a prospective area of seabed called the Madeline Shoals at a very high spatial resolution to target specific locations for diver investigations and reached out to Unique Group to provide them with a multibeam echosounder system. 

 

Unique Solution Delivered  

The client team had initially performed geophysical mapping of the seabed using topo-bathy LiDAR on a powered glider operated by Airborne Research Australia but had omitted the Madeline Shoals area due to the greater water depths (15 to 40 m below sea level).  Multibeam Echosounder provided by Unique Group was mounted to a survey vessel (Optimus 1000) for mapping wide swaths of seabed in a single pass. The multibeam survey was designed to generate the greatest density of point cloud data as possible, this included 100% overlap and very low <3 knots) survey speed. 

The survey results have been fascinating as the 3D seabed mapping of the Madeline Shoals has revealed highly complex and detailed submerged igneous geological terrain that based on similar terrestrial landforms has the potential to host engraved rock art. The team will continue their search using direct underwater ROV and diver observations. 

Benefits Delivered  

• Logistically efficient: Due to the remoteness of the region all survey equipment could be transported on commercial aircraft 
• Time saving: Mobilisation of equipment on the survey vessel took less than 2 hours enabling more survey time 
• Quick delivery of the equipment. 
• Expertise: The Unique Group engineering team trained and supported the client during the project. 

In Search of Underwater Rock Art, read more: In Search of Underwater Rock Art (arcgis.com)