Éditeur(s) : AGU
Résumé : New, high-quality multichannel seismic reflection data from the western New Caledonia offshore domain allow for the first time the direct, continuous connection of seismic reflectors between the Deep Sea Drilling Project 208 drill hole on the Lord Howe Rise and the New Caledonia Basin. A novel seismic interpretation is hence proposed for the northern New Caledonia Basin stratigraphy, which places the Eocene/Oligocene unconformity deeper than previously thought and revisits the actual thickness of the pre-Oligocene sequences. A causal link is proposed between the obduction of the South Loyalty Basin over New Caledonia (NC) and the tectonic history of the northern New Caledonia Basin. Here it is suggested that as the South Loyalty Basin was being obducted during early Oligocene times, the NC Basin subsided under the effect of the overloading and underthrusted to accommodate the compressional deformation, which resulted in (1) the uplift of the northern Fairway Ridge and (2) the sinking of the western flank of New Caledonia. This event also had repercussions farther west with the incipient subsidence of the Lord Howe Rise.
Tectonics (0278-7407) (AGU), 2008-12 , Vol. 27 , N. TC6006 , P. 1-20

Droits : 2008 American Geophysical Union
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/2008/publication-4782.pdf
DOI:10.1029/2008TC002263
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00000/4782/

Éditeur(s) : American Geophysical Union
Résumé : [1] During the Zoneco 11 marine geophysical survey (September 2004), two deep reflection seismic profiles recorded by ocean bottom seismometers were acquired in the offshore domain west of New Caledonia. The northern profile crosses the New Caledonia Basin, the Fairway Ridge, the Fairway Basin, and the Lord Howe Rise. The southern profile crosses the Norfolk Rise south of New Caledonia, the New Caledonia Basin, the Fairway Ridge and Basin, and ends at the foot of Lord Howe Rise. On the northern profile the Lord Howe Rise has a crustal thickness of 23 km and exhibits seismic velocities and velocity gradients characteristic of continental crust. The crust thins to 12-15 km in the neighboring Fairway Basin, which is interpreted to be of thinned continental origin based on the seismic velocities. The crustal thickness of the Fairway Rise is 22 km, and it is also interpreted to be of continental origin. The New Caledonian Basin is underlain by crust of 10 km thickness, which shows unusally high velocities (between 7.0 and 7.4) uncharacteristic for either thinned continental or oceanic crust. On the southern profile the Norfolk Rise is also found to be of continental nature. Here, the New Caledonia Basin shows velocities, crustal thickness, and basement roughness characteristic of typical oceanic crust. The crust in the Fairway Basin shows higher velocities than on the northern profile, which could be caused by volcanic intrusions into the crust during extension. A deep reflector in the upper mantle was imaged underneath the New Caledonian Basin on the northern profile.
Journal of Geophysical Research - Solid earth (0148-0227) (American Geophysical Union), 2007-11 , Vol. 112 , N. B11102 , P. NIL_71-NIL_88

Droits : 2007 American Geophysical Union
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/2007/publication-3543.pdf
DOI:10.1029/2007JB005093
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00000/3543/