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.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Brodie, J. W., 1964. Bathymetry of the New Zealand Region. New Zealand Department of Scientific and Industrial Research Bulletin, v. 161, 53 p.
Kroenke, L. W., Jouannic, C., and Woodward, P. (Compilers), 1982. Bathymetry of the southwest Pacific, scale 1∶6,442,194. CCOP/SOPAC, Suva, Fiji.
Lapouille, A., 1978. Southern New Hebrides Basin and western South Fiji Basin as a single marginal basin. Bulletin of the Australian Society of Exploration Geophysicists, v. 9, p. 130–133.
Karig, D. E., 1970. Ridges and basins of the Tonga-Kermadec island arc system. Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 75, p. 239–254.
Lapouille, A., 1977. Magnetic surveys over the rises and basins in the south west Pacific. In: International Symposium of Geodynamics in Southwest Pacific, Noumea, 27 August–2 September 1976. Editions Technip, Paris, p. 15–28.
Davey, F. J., 1982. The structure of the South Fiji Basin. Tectonophysics, v. 87, p. 185–241.
Weissel, J. K., and Watts, A. B., 1975. Tectonic complexities in the South Fiji marginal basin. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, v. 28, p. 121–126.
Watts, A. B., Weissel, J. K., and Davey, F. J., 1976. Tectonic evolution of the South Fiji marginal basin. In: M. Talwani and W. C. Pitman III (eds.), Island Arcs, Deep Sea Trenches and Back Arc Basins. Maurice Ewing Series I, American Geophysical Union, p. 419–427.
Malahoff, A., Feden, R. H., and Fleming, H. F., 1977. Crustal extension processes in the Havre Trough, South Fiji and New Caledonia basins (Abstract). EOS, Transactions of the American Geophysical Union, v. 58, p. 379.
Malahoff, A., Feden, R., and Fleming, H., 1982. Magnetic anomalies and tectonic fabric of marginal basins north of New Zealand. Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 87, p. 4109–4125.
Grow, J. A., and Mudie, J. D., 1973. Attenuation of Pacific magnetic anomalies in the Aleutian Trench. Abstract. EOS, Transactions of the American Geophysical Union, v. 54, p. 330.
Hilde, T. W. C., Isezaki, N., and Wageman, J. M., 1976. Mesozoic sea-floor spreading in the North Pacific. In: G. H. Sutton, M. H. Manghnani, and R. Moberly (eds.), The Geophysics of the Pacific Ocean Basin and Its Margin. Geophysical Monograph 19, American Geophysical Union, p. 205–226.
Marshak, R. S., and Karig, D. E., 1977. Triple junctions as a cause for anomalously near-trench igneous activity between the trench and volcanic arc. Geology, v. 5, p. 233–236.
Watts, A. B., Weissel, J. K., and Larson, R. L., 1977. Seafloor spreading in marginal basins of the Western Pacific. Tectonophysics, v. 37, p. 167–181.
Klein, G. de V., and Kobayashi, K., 1978. Off-ridge volcanism and seafloor spreading in the Shikoku Basin. Nature, v. 273, p. 746–748.
Klein, G. de V., and Kobayashi, K., 1981. Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project, v. 58, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.
Kroenke, L. W., and Scott, R. B. and others, 1981. Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project, v. 59, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 820 p.
Karig, D. E., 1974. Evolution of arc systems in the western Pacific. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, v. 2, p. 51–75.
Seely, D. R., and Dickinson, W. R., 1977. Structure and stratigraphy of forearc regions. In: Geology of continental margin. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Continuing Education Course Note Ser. 5.
Isacks, B. L., and Barazangi, M., 1977. Geometry of Berioff zones: lateral segmentation and downwards bending of the subducted lithosphere. In: M. Talwani and W. C. Pitman, III (eds.), Island Arcs, Deep Sea Trenches and Back Arc Basins. Maurice Ewing Series, I, American Geophysical Union, p. 99–114.
Dickinson, W. R., 1973. Widths of modern arc-trench gaps proportional to past duration of igneous activity in associated magmatic arcs. Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 73, p. 3376–3389.
Coulbourn, W. T., and Moberly, R., 1977. Structural evidence of the evolution of fore-arc basins off South America. Canadian Journal of Earth Science, v. 14, p. 102–116.
Dugas, F., and others, 1977. Structural characteristics and tectonics of an active island arc: the New Hebrides. In: International Symposium of Geodynamics in Southwest Pacific, Noumea, 27 August–2 September 1976. Editions Technip, Paris, p. 79–89.
Kroenke, L. W., and Dupont, J., 1982. Subduction-obduction: A possible north-south transition along the west flank of Three Kings Ridge. Geo-Marine Letters, v. 2, p. 11–16.
Scott, R., and Kroenke, L., 1980. Evolution of backare spreading and arc volcanism in the Philippine Sea: Interpretation of Leg 59 DSDP results. In: D. E. Hayes (ed.), The Tectonic and Geologic Evolution of Southeast Asian Seas and Islands, Geophysical Monograph 23, American Geophysical Union, p. 283–291.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
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
Received:
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02462793