Diamantina fracture zone

Being parallel to the Southeast Indian Ridge, the Diamantina fracture zone is not a true fracture zone in the sense used in plate tectonics,[1] and includes an escarpment, separating two oceanic plateaus, being the southern border of the Broken Ridge Plateau.

Professor Alan Jamieson from The University of Western Australia led a scientific expedition to the eastern margin of the DFZ, which enters the southwest corner of the Australian exclusive economic zone.

[6] Professor Jamieson's team deployed baited landers beyond 6,000 m (20,000 ft) water depth aiming to document the biodiversity and geology of the region.

[5] Later research using multibeam bathymetry data available from Geoscience Australia and the GMRT (Global Multi-Resolution Topography) Synthesis, infilled with data derived from the GEBCO_2014 global bathymetry dataset, suggested that the deepest point in the fracture zone would be at 33°27′07″S 101°28′05″E / 33.452°S 101.468°E / -33.452; 101.468 in the Dordrecht Deep, within the axis of the fracture zone, with a maximum water depth of between 7,090 to 7,100 metres (23,260 to 23,290 ft).

[9] To resolve this debate, the Diamantina fracture zone was surveyed by the Five Deeps Expedition in March 2019 by the Deep Submersible Support Vessel DSSV Pressure Drop, equipped with a full-ocean depth Kongsberg SIMRAD EM124 multibeam echosounder system.