Tectonics, Magmatism, and Evolution of the New Hebrides Backarc Troughs (Southwest Pacific)

Abstract

In the southwest Pacific, a discontinuous series of narrow and elongated troughs separates the New Hebrides island arc from the adjacent active marginal basin, the North Fiji Basin. This chapter reviews the structural, geophysical, geochronological, and petrological data available for the New Hebrides backarc troughs (NHBAT) and discusses the significance of these structures. A diffuse horst-and-graben morphology, partly obscured in some places by recent volcanic complexes, characterizes the northern Jean-Charcot troughs (JCT). By contrast, the southern Coriolis troughs (CT) show well-developed flat-bottomed grabens. Moreover, no backarc troughs are observed in the central backarc area, adjacent where the d'Entre-casteaux zone collides with the arc. Volcanic rocks dredged in the NHBAT show a wide range of SiO, contents, with high-Alzo3 and low-Tio, contents, features typical of their archackarc environments. Trace element analyses indicate a much stronger subduction component in the volcanics of the southern CT than in those of the northern JCT. However, large-ionic-radius-lithophile-element (LILE) (Ba, Rb, Sr) enrichments and high-field-strength-elements (HFSE) (Ta, Nb, Zr, Ti,-Y, Yb) depletions, relative to N-MORB (mid-ocean ridge basalts), are generally observed in most NHBAT volcanics and are features characteristic of island-arc basic and