Kermadec Trench
Encyclopedia
Oceanic trench
The oceanic trenches are hemispheric-scale long but narrow topographic depressions of the sea floor. They are also the deepest parts of the ocean floor....
es, reaching a depth of 10047 metres (32,962.6 ft). Formed by the subduction of the Pacific Plate
Pacific Plate
The Pacific Plate is an oceanic tectonic plate that lies beneath the Pacific Ocean. At 103 million square kilometres, it is the largest tectonic plate....
under the Indo-Australian Plate
Indo-Australian Plate
The Indo-Australian Plate is a major tectonic plate that includes the continent of Australia and surrounding ocean, and extends northwest to include the Indian subcontinent and adjacent waters...
, it runs over a thousand kilometres parallel with and to the east of the Kermadec Ridge and island arc
Island arc
An island arc is a type of archipelago composed of a chain of volcanoes which alignment is arc-shaped, and which are situated parallel and close to a boundary between two converging tectonic plates....
, from near the northeastern tip of New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
's North Island
North Island
The North Island is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the much less populous South Island by Cook Strait. The island is in area, making it the world's 14th-largest island...
to the trench's junction with the Louisville seamount chain
Louisville seamount chain
The Louisville seamount chain is an underwater chain of over 70 seamounts in the Southwest Pacific Ocean. One of the longest seamount chains on Earth, it stretches some 4,300 kilometres from the Pacific-Antarctic Ridge ENE to the Tonga-Kermadec Trench, where it subducts under the...
northeast of Monowai Seamount
Monowai Seamount
Monowai is a volcanic seamount to the north of New Zealand. It is one of the most active volcanoes in the Kermadec volcanic arc.The most recent eruption was in 2008....
. The Tonga Trench
Tonga Trench
The Tonga Trench is located in the South Pacific Ocean and is deep at its deepest point, known as the Horizon Deep.The Tonga Trench is a convergent plate boundary. The trench lies at the northern end of the Kermadec-Tonga Subduction Zone, an active subduction zone where the Pacific Plate is being...
marks the continuation of subduction beyond this point. Subduction south of the Kermadec trench is marked by the shallower Hikurangi Trench
Hikurangi Trench
The Hikurangi Trench is a linear deep in the Pacific Ocean off the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand, lying between the southern end of the Cook Strait and the Chatham Rise. Though much shallower, it is the southward continuation of the Kermadec Trench and forms part of the...
.
Kermadec trench is specially noted by its very abrupt slope.
See also
- Oceanic trenchOceanic trenchThe oceanic trenches are hemispheric-scale long but narrow topographic depressions of the sea floor. They are also the deepest parts of the ocean floor....