The Solomon Sea Plate is a minor

tectonic plate Plate tectonics (from the la, label=Late Latin, tectonicus, from the grc, τεκτονικός, lit=pertaining to building) is the generally accepted scientific theory that considers the Earth's lithosphere to comprise a number of large te ...

to the northwest of the

Solomon Islands archipelago The Solomon Islands (archipelago) is an island group in the western South Pacific Ocean, north-east of Australia. The archipelago is in the Melanesian subregion and bioregion of Oceania and forms the eastern boundary of the Solomon Sea. The ...

in the south

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. Itt roughly corresponds with the

Solomon Sea The Solomon Sea is a sea located within the Pacific Ocean. It lies between Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands. Many major battles were fought there during World War II. Extent The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of ...

east of Papua New Guinea.

Tectonics

The tectonic regime in this part of the world is extremely complex and involves a number of minor as well as major plates. The Solomon Sea Plate is an

oceanic crust Oceanic crust is the uppermost layer of the oceanic portion of the tectonic plates. It is composed of the upper oceanic crust, with pillow lavas and a dike complex, and the lower oceanic crust, composed of troctolite, gabbro and ultramafic cumu ...

al plate remnant which is disappearing into two

subduction Subduction is a geological process in which the oceanic lithosphere is recycled into the Earth's mantle at convergent boundaries. Where the oceanic lithosphere of a tectonic plate converges with the less dense lithosphere of a second plate, the ...

zones, one to its north, the other on its southwest margin. Its southeast margin runs along the Woodlark Rise, an undefined compressive zone which may be a

transform fault A transform fault or transform boundary, is a fault along a plate boundary where the motion is predominantly horizontal. It ends abruptly where it connects to another plate boundary, either another transform, a spreading ridge, or a subductio ...

marking the boundary with the adjoining

Woodlark Plate The Woodlark Plate is a small tectonic plate located in the eastern half of the island of New Guinea. It subducts beneath the Caroline plate along its northern border while the Maoke Plate converges on the west, the Australian plate converges on ...

. The northern subduction zone is located where the Solomon Plate is diving below the

South Bismarck Plate The South Bismarck Plate is a small tectonic plate located in the southern Bismarck Sea. The eastern part of New Guinea and the island of New Britain are on this plate. Tectonics Convergent boundaries line the southern border including the subdu ...

to the northwest and the

Pacific Plate The Pacific Plate is an oceanic tectonic plate that lies beneath the Pacific Ocean. At , it is the largest tectonic plate. The plate first came into existence 190 million years ago, at the triple junction between the Farallon, Phoenix, and Iza ...

to the northeast. The northwest part of the subduction zone is called the New Britain Subduction Zone.

New Britain New Britain ( tpi, Niu Briten) is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea (or with an island hop of Umboi the Dam ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

is the volcanic island formed from this collision and resulting volcanism. The southwestern subduction zone is where the Solomon Plate is diving below the

Indo-Australian Plate The Indo-Australian Plate is a major tectonic plate that includes the continent of Australia and the surrounding ocean and extends northwest to include the Indian subcontinent and the adjacent waters. It was formed by the fusion of the Indian an ...

References

External links

Preliminary Analysis of the April 2007 Solomon Islands Tsunami, Southwest Pacific Ocean, USGS

Report on interplate propagation of subduction stress rupture, Solomon earthquake of 2007
Tectonic plates Geology of the Pacific Ocean {{tectonics-stub

Tectonics

See also

References

External links