( Geophysical study of the Chesterfield Plateau (SW Pacific); Preliminary results of the ZOE200 cruise ( R/V Coriolis)).

Abstract:

The Chesterfield Plateau is a highstanding feature located near the N termination of the Lord Howe Rise. It consists of 2 parts connected by a saddle: the Chesterfield platform and the Bellona platform surfaces. They are very shallow (45-80 m) and have an area of approx 16 000 km2. Geophysical data suggest that the basement of the platforms consists of 5 major seamounts around which reefs have grown and coalesced to an estimated minimum thickness of 200-300 m. The southernmost seamount is aligned with the N-S trending Lord Howe guyots. The trend of the other 5 seamounts is N175o on a line offset 25 km W of the N-S Lord Howe trend. A major fracture trending N60o, probably contemporaneous with the opening of the Tasman Sea (Late Cretaceous-Late Paleocene), would have affected the Chesterfield area before the guyots setting. These reef-capped seamounts may represent the earliest recognized volcanic events along the Lord Howe guyot hotspot track which migrated with the northward movement of the Australian-Indian plate (Upper Oligocene).-English summary

Año de publicación:

1987

Keywords:

Fuente:

scopus