Australia: Scientists at National ICT Australia (NICTA) and the School of Geosciences, University of Sydney, have created the first digital map of seafloor sediments. Published in the latest edition of Geology, the map will help scientists better understand how our oceans have responded, and will respond, to environmental change. Researchers used a computer algorithm to turn 15,000 seafloor sediment observations into a continuous digital map.
“We created the new digital seafloor geology map using an artificial intelligence method called ‘support vector machine’ designed to learn how different types of deep marine sediments are juxtaposed. The new map completely changes our understanding of the geology of the ocean floor,” said Dr Simon O’Callaghan, lead researcher, NICTA.
Source: University of Sydney
