Approximate surface projection on Pacific Ocean of some tectonic features near Vanuatu subduction zone (center map). The New Britain subduction zone to the north is also shown. Key:
Up to 70 km (43 mi) deep shallow-focus earthquakes
70–300 km (43–186 mi) deep shallow-focus earthquakes
More than 300 km (190 mi) deep shallow-focus earthquakes
(blue) Active subduction trenches
(light blue) Inactive trenches
(brown) Selected oceanic floor ridges
(yellow) Spreading centers or rifts
Volcanoes and tectonic plate boundaries where they are transform faults are not shown. Mouse over shows feature names.
Etymology
Vanuatu
Tectonics
Plate
Australian, New Hebrides
Status
Active
Earthquakes
Up to Mw8.2[1]
Age
Miocene-current
The Vanuatu subduction zone (previously called New Hebrides subduction zone) is currently one of the most active subduction zones on Earth, producing great earthquakes (magnitude 8.0 or greater), with potential for tsunami hazard to all coastlines of the Pacific Ocean.[2][3] There are active volcanoes associated with arc volcanism.
^Cite error: The named reference Ioualalen2017 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Roger et al. 2023, Section:Abstract
^Roger et al. 2023, Section:2 Seismotectonic context
and 27 Related for: Vanuatu subduction zone information
southwest of Vanuatu, east of Australia, and south of Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. The trench was formed as a result of a subductionzone. The Australian...
relationship to an area of subduction tectonic activity that extends south eastward from New Britain to the Vanuatusubductionzone, involving the north eastern...
previously unrecognised, subductionzone. The ridge contains Matthew Island and Hunter Island and extends from southern Vanuatu near the Volsmar seamount...
of a separate subduction system to the rest of the Vanuatusubductionzone that has been called the Matthew and Hunter subductionzone. The Hunter Ridge...
State and Earthquake Triggering on the Outer Rise of the Southern VanuatuSubductionZone, Southern New Caledonia". Bulletin of the Seismological Society...
while the subduction of the oceanic crust of the Australian Plate occurs to the south east in the New Hebrides Trench of the Vanuatusubductionzone under...
progressively which causes the southern end the subductionzone to bend eastward. The Australian Plate subducts under Vanuatu at the New Hebrides trench which results...
Alpide belt (which is the Earth's other very long subduction-related volcanic and earthquake zone, also known as the Mediterranean–Indonesian volcanic...
(29,990 ft). The New Britain subductionzone is a continuum with the Vanuatusubductionzone and are all cases of subduction polarity reversal as originally...
along convergent plate boundaries, particularly at subductionzones. Examples of subductionzones include the Sumatra and Java trenches, Nankai Trough...
on an active and destructive plate boundary called the New Hebrides SubductionZone. While the National Geophysical Data Center classified the total damage...
the Miocene, possibly by the forearc bulge in response to the subduction nearby to Vanuatu. It was followed by erosion with deposition happening again,...
plate, descending into the mantle and forming the New Hebrides/Vanuatusubductionzone, stretching from New Caledonia in the south to the Santa Cruz Islands...
softer ground, releasing 0.5 million megatons of TNT energy. Cascadia subductionzone List of tsunamis Megathrust earthquake Megatsunami NOAA Center for...
Antilles subductionzone. Also not a trench is the New Caledonia trough, which is an extensional sedimentary basin related to the Tonga-Kermadec subduction zone...
million years old and is spreading between the New Hebrides and Tonga subduction. The plate forms the west central part of the seafloor of the North Fiji...
velocity on Earth, a result is the earth's most active zone of mantle seismicity. Subduction rates decrease southward along the Tonga-Kermadec Arc, from...
Caledonia and south-east of Vanuatu archipelago. Hunter Island and Matthew Island, 70 km (43 mi) apart, are claimed by Vanuatu as part of Tafea Province...
resulted from the descent of the lithosphere into the mantle along the subductionzone. They are the principal way by which continental growth is achieved...
built on top of ancient collapsed volcanoes originating due to subduction at the Vanuatu trench. The Chesterfield Islands, 550 kilometres (340 miles) to...
Ambrym is a volcanic island in Malampa Province in the archipelago of Vanuatu. Volcanic activity on the island includes lava lakes in two craters near...
000 km2 New Hebrides Plate – Minor tectonic plate in the Pacific Ocean near Vanuatu – 1,100,000 km2 Okhotsk Plate – Minor tectonic plate in AsiaPages displaying...
that sit above the various subductionzones. The Pacific Ocean is the only ocean which is mostly bounded by subductionzones. Only the central part of...
(blue) Active subduction trenches (yellow) Spreading centers or rifts Seismic context, is shown in a map in the article Vanuatusubductionzone. Mouse over...
uplift. Farther north, subduction of the Pacific Plate has led to extensive volcanism, including the Coromandel and Taupo Volcanic Zones. Associated rifting...