Australian Plate in the context of "Tonga-Kermadec Ridge"

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⭐ Core Definition: Australian Plate

The Australian plate is or was a major tectonic plate in the Eastern Hemisphere and, largely, Southern Hemisphere. Originally a part of the ancient continent of Gondwana, Australia remained connected to India and Antarctica until approximately 100 million years ago when India broke away and began moving north. Australia and Antarctica had begun rifting by 96 million years ago and completely separated a while after this, some believing as recently as 45 million years ago, but most accepting presently that this had occurred by 60 million years ago.

The Australian plate later fused with the adjacent Indian plate beneath the Indian Ocean to form a single Indo-Australian plate. However, recent studies suggest that the two plates may have once again split apart and have been separate plates for at least 3 million years. The Australian plate includes the continent of Australia, including Tasmania, as well as portions of New Guinea, New Zealand and the Indian Ocean basin.

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👉 Australian Plate in the context of Tonga-Kermadec Ridge

The Tonga–Kermadec Ridge is an oceanic ridge in the south-west Pacific Ocean underlying the TongaKermadec island arc.It is a result of the most linear, fastest converging, and seismically active subduction boundary on Earth, the Kermadec–Tonga subduction zone, and consequently has the highest density of submarine volcanoes.

The Tonga–Kermadec Ridge stretches more than 3,000 km (1,900 mi) north-northeast from New Zealand's North Island. The Pacific Plate subducts westward beneath the Australian Plate along the ridge. It is divided into two segments, the northern Tonga Ridge and southern Kermadec Ridge, by the Louisville Seamount Chain. On its western side, the ridge is flanked by two back-arc basins, the Lau Basin and Havre Trough, that began opening at 6 Ma and 2 Ma respectively. Beyound the basins is the Lau-Colville Ridge. Together with these seafloor structures the ridge forms the eastward-migrating, 100  million year old Lau–Tonga–Havre–Kermadec arc/back-arc system or complex.

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Australian Plate in the context of Lau-Colville Ridge

The Lau–Colville Ridge is an extinct oceanic ridge located on the oceanic Australian Plate in the south-west Pacific Ocean extending about 2,700 km (1,700 mi) from the south east of Fiji to the continental shelf margin of the North Island of New Zealand. It was an historic subduction boundary between the Australian Plate and the Pacific Plate and has important tectonic relationships to its east where very active spreading and subduction processes exist today. It is now the inactive part of an eastward-migrating, 100 million year old Lau-Tonga-Havre-Kermadec arc/back-arc system or complex and is important in understanding submarine arc volcanism because of these relationships. To its west is the South Fiji Basin whose northern bedrock is Oligocene in origin.

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Australian Plate in the context of Macquarie Island

Macquarie Island is a subantarctic island in the south-western Pacific Ocean, about halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica. It has been governed as a part of Tasmania, Australia, since 1880. It became a Tasmanian State Reserve in 1978 and was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997.

Macquarie Island is an exposed portion of the Macquarie Ridge and is located where the Australian Plate meets the Pacific Plate.

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Australian Plate in the context of Havre Trough

The Havre Trough (Havre Basin) is a currently actively rifting back-arc basin about 100 km (62 mi) to 120 km (75 mi) wide, between the Australian Plate and Kermadec microplate. The trough extends northward from New Zealand's offshore Taupō Volcanic Zone commencing at Zealandia's continental shelf margin and continuing as a tectonic feature, as the Lau Basin which currently contains active seafloor spreading centers. Its eastern margin is defined by the Kermadec Ridge created by Pacific Plate subduction under the Kermadec microplate, while the western margin is the remnant Lau-Colville Ridge.

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