org/wiki/Tonga_Trench
Tonga Trench
e Tonga Trench is an oceanic trench located in the south-west
Pacific Ocean. It is the deepest trench of the Southern Hemisphere
and the second deepest on Earth. e fastest plate tectonic velocity
on Earth occurs as the Pacific Plate is being subducted westward in
the trench.
Contents
Horizon Deep
Geology The Tonga Trench is the
Tonga-Kermadec arc system northern half of the Tonga-
Pacific slab avalanche
Kermadec subduction system
Tonga Trench–Lau Basin transition which extends 2,550 km
Louisville Seamount Chain collision (1,580 mi) between New
Osbourn Trough Zealand and Tonga.[1]
Capricorn Seamount
See also
References
Notes
Sources
Horizon Deep
e deepest point of the Tonga Trench, the Horizon Deep at 23.25833°S 174.726667°W, is 10,800 ± 10 m
(35,433 ± 33 ) deep, making it the deepest point in the Southern Hemisphere and the second deepest on Earth aer
the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench. It is named for the research vessel Horizon of the Scripps Institution of
Oceanography, the crew of which found the deep in December 1952.[3]
As one of the deepest hadal trenches, the sediments of the Horizon Deep harbours a community of roundworms. A
2016 study found that the abundance of individuals in this community is six times greater than it is at a site on the
trench edge (c. 6,250 m (20,510 )) near the deep and that the difference in biomass between these locations is even
bigger. Species diversity, on the other hand, is twice as big on the trench slope, probably because of a small number
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of opportunistic species in the trench.[4] Figures for abundance and biomass are similar for the deeps of the
Mariana Trench but considerably lower in the Peru–Chile Trench.[5]
Geology
c. 500 km (310 mi) beneath the North Fiji Basin a detached segment of the subducted Australian Plate has collided
with the subducted Pacific Plate which produces many large-scale earthquakes. e subducted Pacific Plate is also
being deformed in the collision as both slabs seles on the 660 km discontinuity. is slab collision probably
occurred 5–4 Ma when the Lau Basin started to open.[13]
Oceanic trenches are important sites for the formation of what will become continental crust and for recycling of
material back into the mantle. Along the Tonga Trench mantle-derived melts are transferred to the island arc
systems, and abyssal oceanic sediments and fragments of oceanic crust are collected.[7]
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e oldest and westernmost of the Louisville seamounts, the Osbourn Seamount, is siing on the edge of the trench
and its former flat top is currently tilting towards the trench.[17] West of the Osbourn Seamount a broad zone of
faulted blocks shallows the trench by 3,000 m (9,800 ) while the adjacent fore-arc is elevated by c. 300 m (980 )
and covered by canyons.[18]
e Louisville collision zone correlates with a zone of seismic quiescence along the Tonga-Kermadec Trench known
as the "Louisville Gap". is gap in seismicity indicates that subducting seamounts inhibit or even prevent
seismicity at subduction zones, perhaps by increasing intervals between earthquakes, but the mechanism behind
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Geochemical evidence suggests that the Louisville chain has been subducting under the Tonga-Kermadec Arc since
4 Ma. Seismic studies have identified a southward, along-arc mantle flow that indicate that Pacific mantle is being
replaced by Indo-Australian mantle west of the Tonga trench.[20]
Osbourn Trough
e Osbourn Trough, located at 25.5°S just north of the Louisville Ridge collision zone, is a 900 km (560 mi)-long
extinct spreading ridge located midway between two large oceanic plateaux north and south of the Tonga Trench
respectively: Manihiki 1,750 km (1,090 mi) to the north and Hikurangi 1,550 km (960 mi) to the south. ese
plateaux once formed part of the 100 ×106 km3 (3.5 × 1018 cu ) Ontong Java-Manihiki-Hikurangi large igneous
province (LIP). Spreading between the plateaux ceased when Hikurangi collided with the Chatham Rise east of New
Zealand at 86 Ma.[21] e western end of the Osbourn Trough is bounded by the Tonga Trench and its eastern by
the Wishbone–East Manihiki Scarp. In between the Osbourn Trough is divided into three segments separated by
dextral offsets. Near the Tonga Trench the bathymetry of these structures is affected by the bending of the Pacific
Plate.[22]
Capricorn Seamount
e Capricorn Seamount is a guyot located on the eastern wall of the northern Tonga Trench (see map above). It is
a large guyot, 100 km (62 mi) wide at its base with a small part of its reefal or lagoonal summit reaching 440 m
(1,440 ) below sea level. e bending of the Pacific Plate at the Tonga Trench is currently slicing it like a loaf of
bread: inside the guyot a north-south-trending horst and graben system is developing parallel to the trench; the
western slope of the guyot has reached the 9,000 m (30,000 )-deep trench and has started to fill it; the summit of
the guyot is tilted 1.7° towards the trench and its centre is only 45 km (28 mi) from the trench axis.[23] e
Capricorn Seamount is expected to be completely consumed by the trench within 500,000 years.[24]
See also
Geology of the Pacific Ocean
List of submarine topographical features
References
Notes
1. Smith & Price 2006, p. 316
2. Furlong & Wahlquist 1999, p. 27
3. "GEBCO Gazetteer of Undersea Feature Names" (https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/gazetteer/).
GEBCO. 26 April 2015. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
4. Leduc et al. 2016, Abstract
5. Leduc et al. 2016, p. 8
6. Bird 2003, Tonga Plate (TO), Kermadec Plate (KE), and Niuafo’ou Plate (NI), p. 28
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