The Lord Howe Rise is a deep sea plateau which extends from south west of New Caledonia to the Challenger Plateau, west of New Zealand in the south west of the Pacific Ocean. To its west is the Tasman Basin and to the east is the New Caledonia Basin. Lord Howe Rise has a total area of about 1,500,000 km2 (580,000 sq mi), and generally lies about 750 to 1,200 metres under water. It is part of Zealandia, a much larger continent that is now mostly submerged, and so is composed of continental crust. Some have included the 3,500 m (11,500 ft) deep New Caledonia Basin as within the rise, given its continental crust origin, and this would give a larger total area of 1,950,000 km2 (750,000 sq mi).
The Hawaiʻi hotspot is a volcanic hotspot located near the namesake Hawaiian Islands, in the northern Pacific Ocean. One of the best known and intensively studied hotspots in the world, the Hawaii plume is responsible for the creation of the Hawaiian–Emperor seamount chain, a 6,200-kilometer (3,900 mi) mostly undersea volcanic mountain range. Four of these volcanoes are active, two are dormant; more than 123 are extinct, most now preserved as atolls or seamounts. The chain extends from south of the island of Hawaiʻi to the edge of the Aleutian Trench, near the eastern coast of Russia.
The Louisville Ridge, often now referred to as the Louisville Seamount Chain, is an underwater chain of over 70 seamounts located in the Southwest portion of the Pacific Ocean. As one of the longest seamount chains on Earth it stretches some 4,300 km (2,700 mi) from the Pacific-Antarctic Ridge northwest to the Tonga-Kermadec Trench, where it subducts under the Indo-Australian Plate as part of the Pacific Plate. The chains formation is best explained by movement of the Pacific Plate over the Louisville hotspot although others had suggested by leakage of magma from the shallow mantle up through the Eltanin fracture zone, which it follows closely for some of its course.
Zealandia, also known as Te Riu-a-Māui (Māori) or Tasmantis, is an almost entirely submerged mass of continental crust in Oceania that subsided after breaking away from Gondwana 83–79 million years ago. It has been described variously as a submerged continent, continental fragment, and microcontinent. The name and concept for Zealandia was proposed by Bruce Luyendyk in 1995, and satellite imagery shows it to be almost the size of Australia. A 2021 study suggests Zealandia is over a billion years old, about twice as old as geologists previously thought.
The Macdonald hotspot is a volcanic hotspot in the southern Pacific Ocean. The hotspot was responsible for the formation of the Macdonald Seamount, and possibly the Austral-Cook Islands chain. It probably did not generate all of the volcanism in the Austral and Cook Islands as age data imply that several additional hotspots were needed to generate some volcanoes.
The East Tasman Plateau is a submerged microcontinent south east of Tasmania. Its area is 50,000 square kilometres (19,000 sq mi), and it is mostly from 2,500 to 3,000 metres deep. It is a circular piece of continental rocks surrounded by oceanic crust. Volcanism occurred there 36 million years ago. The East Tasman Plateau is separated from the island of Tasmania by 100 kilometres (62 mi) of deeper water, and the East Tasman Saddle is a higher ridge connecting the plateau to the Freycinet Peninsula region of the Tasmanian East Coast. This ridge runs north west from the plateau. South-west of the plateau is the L'Atalante Depression. The East Tasman Plateau represents a continental fragment.
The Pacific Ocean evolved in the Mesozoic from the Panthalassic Ocean, which had formed when Rodinia rifted apart around 750 Ma. The first ocean floor which is part of the current Pacific Plate began 160 Ma to the west of the central Pacific and subsequently developed into the largest oceanic plate on Earth.
The Tasmantid Seamount Chain is a 2,000 km (1,200 mi) long chain of seamounts in the South Pacific Ocean. The chain consists of over 16 extinct volcanic peaks, many rising more than 4,000 m (13,000 ft) from the seabed. It is one of the two parallel seamount chains alongside the East Coast of Australia; the Lord Howe and Tasmantid seamount chains both run north-south through parts of the Coral Sea and Tasman Sea. These chains have longitudes of approximately 159°E and 156°E respectively.
The Tasmantid hotspot is a volcanic hotspot located in the South Pacific Ocean. The northward movement of the Indo-Australian Plate over the last 60 million years coupled with volcanism of the Tasmantid hotspot has resulted in a north–south line of submarine volcanoes called the Tasmantid Seamount Chain. This includes over 10 seamounts, the youngest of which is the seven million year old Gascoyne Seamount. The Tasmantid hotspot is now 400 km (250 mi) south of Gascoyne Seamount and is defined by a prominent zone of seismic activity.
The Mid-Pacific Mountains (MPM) is a large oceanic plateau located in the central North Pacific Ocean or south of the Hawaiian–Emperor seamount chain. Of volcanic origin and Mesozoic in age, it is located on the oldest part of the Pacific Plate and rises up to 2 km (1.2 mi) above the surrounding ocean floor and is covered with several layers of thick sedimentary sequences that differ from those of other plateaux in the North Pacific. About 50 seamounts are distributed over the MPM. Some of the highest points in the range are above sea level which include Wake Island and Marcus Island.
The Louisiade Plateau, also called the Louisiade Rise, is a poorly studied oceanic plateau in the northern Coral Sea of the South Pacific Ocean. To its west is the Louisiade Archipelago that it is named after. It has been described as a continental fragment that rifted away from the northwestern continental margin of Australia but its position at the northern end of the Tasmantid Seamount Chain also suggests that the Louisiade Plateau might be a large igneous province formed by the arrival of the Tasmantid hotspot. A sample of volcanic rock from the southern spur of the Louisiade Plateau was dated at 56.4 ± 0.6 million years ago by Ar-Ar methodology which is not inconsistent with Tasmantid Seamount Chain timings. Recent sampling however along the northernmost part of the plateau found serpentinized peridotites, mid-ocean ridge basalt and volcaniclastic breccia–conglomerates consistent with placement of oceanic crust during a subduction initiation event in the formation of this part of the plateau.
Crough Seamount is a seamount in the Pacific Ocean, within the exclusive economic zone of Pitcairn. It rises to a depth of 650 metres (2,130 ft) and is paired with a taller but overall smaller seamount to the east. This seamount has a flat top and probably formed an island in the past. It is about 7-8 million years old, although a large earthquake recorded at its position in 1955 may indicate a recent eruption.
Gascoyne Seamount, also called Gascoyne Guyot or Gascoyne Tablemount, is a guyot in the Tasman Sea of the South Pacific Ocean.
The Taupo Bank is an extinct volcanic seamount of the Tasmantid Seamount Chain.
The Derwent Hunter Guyot is an extinct volcanic seamount of the Tasmantid Seamount Chain.
The Britannia Guyots are a line of extinct volcanic seamounts in the Tasmantid Seamount Chain.
The Queensland Guyot is an extinct volcanic seamount of the Tasmantid Seamount Chain.
The Lord Howe Seamount Chain of which Gifford Guyot is an eruptive centre, and part of a pair of coral-capped guyots, formed during the Miocene. The Gifford Marine Park is co-located off the Queensland coast near Brisbane.
Zealandia is an area of mostly submerged continental crust that contains New Zealand and New Caledonia.
The Three Kings Ridge, sometimes known as Three Kings Rise and more rarely at its southern end as the Three Kings Bank is a deep sea westward facing volcanic arc of Zealandia continental crust extending from 55 kilometres (34 mi) northwest of Cape Reinga / Te Rerenga Wairua, New Zealand on a line bisecting New Caledonia and Fiji in the South Pacific Ocean. Its southern portion contains the Manawatāwhi / Three Kings Islands which have biological significance as they are host to unique species and important marine ecosystems.
