At 270 m water depth, International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Site U1464 is currently in an outer ramp setting, ~50 km southeast of the Rowley Shoals. The seabed in the vicinity of the site is poorly sorted, carbonate-rich (>90%) sediment made up of bioclastic gravel, sand, and mud. Site U1464 is 5 km updip from a drowned “fossil” shoal described by Jones (1973) and Ryan et al. (2009) and is connected to the site by parallel laterally persistent reflectors on seismic Profile JN87-07. Therefore, improved ages for these reflectors may allow us to date the initiation and demise of this reef/shoal. The proximity of Site U1464 to a previously identified drowned shoal makes this site unique and significant. Stratigraphic data and paleobathymetric determinations obtained will allow robust estimates of the subsidence history of this part of the northwest shelf and its role in carbonate platform drowning. As the most northern site of the Expedition 356 coring transect, the sediment and biota at Site U1464 are likely to record strong Western Pacific Warm Pool and Indonesian Throughflow signals vital to understanding the (geo)history of these important oceanic features. The strata of this site should also contain a Pliocene–Pleistocene record of the Australian monsoon and aridity.