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Three Kings Ridge: a west-facing arc

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Abstract

The Three Kings Ridge has been described as a remnant arc or an east-facing arc on the western side of the South Fiji Basin under which symmetric South Fiji Basin magnetic anomaly lineations have been lost. We find evidence of neither arc-trench morphology on the eastern flank of the ridge nor collision tectonism within the adjacent South Fiji Basin that might have obliterated it. We believe there is room for the missing magnetic lineations within the South Fiji Basin and we recognize the distinctive island-arc morphology characteristic of a west-facing arc on the western flank of the Three Kings Ridge. Our interpretation requires that arc volcanism postdated formation of much of the South Fiji Basin and that oceanic lithosphere from the adjacent Norfolk Basin must have been subducted beneath the west-facing Three Kings Arc.

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Kroenke, L.W., Eade, J.V. Three Kings Ridge: a west-facing arc. Geo-Marine Letters 2, 5–10 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02462793

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02462793

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