Page 474 - (DK) Ocean - The Definitive Visual Guide

472 THE PACIFIC OCEAN

Melanesia PACIFIC OCEAN F1
Bismarck Sea
THE NAME MELANESIA COMES FROM THE GREEK for “black
AREA 124,000 square miles (320,000 square km)
islands.” The area includes the islands north of Australia, from
MAXIMUM DEPTH 9,200 ft (2,800 m)
Celebes and New Guinea in the west, to Fiji and Samoa in the
INFLOWS Pacific Ocean, Solomon Sea
east. The surrounding seas are tropical, their warm waters fed by
the westward flow of the South Equatorial Current. The region The Bismarck Sea lies off the north
coast of New Guinea. It is surrounded
is geologically complex, with some parts volcanically active. by volcanic islands, the largest being
New Britain. The underlying Bismarck
the Solomon Sea appears to consist Microplate is caught between
PACIFIC OCEAN F2
of one or two very small tectonic the Australian Plate, moving north,
Solomon Sea plates (microplates) of oceanic origin. and the Pacific and Caroline plates,
The Solomon Sea Microplate is moving west. The northern islands
AREA 278,000 square miles (720,000 square km) spreading from the area of the of the archipelago arise from the
MAXIMUM DEPTH 29,300 ft (8,940 m) Pockington Trough and rotating subduction of the Caroline and Pacific
clockwise, subducting to the north plates, marked by the Manus Trench
INFLOWS Pacific Ocean, Coral Sea
and possibly to the southwest. Volcanic to the north. Volcanoes on the south
The Solomon Sea lies between the activity is particularly intense off the side of the sea are currently more
Solomon Islands and the island of New Georgia Islands, where the active, arising from the subduction
New Guinea, with the island of New spreading ridge is being subducted: of the Solomon Sea Microplate at
Britain to the north and the Louisiade the submarine volcano Kavachi the New Britain Trench. To the east
Archipelago to the south. The area is breached the surface explosively in of the Bismarck Sea lies the Ontong
geologically complex, forming the 2002. On the other side of the sea, Java Rise. This submarine plateau is
remains of a closing ocean basin the tectonic upheavals have resulted RABAUL VOLCANO one of the world’s largest expanses of
caught between the Australian Plate in uplift of New Guinea’s Huon The sudden eruption of the Rabaul caldera igneous rock. It is composed of flood
moving north and the Pacific Peninsula, where raised coral terraces on the coast of New Britain forced the basalts, some of which date back to
Plate moving west. The floor of are found some distance inland. evacuation of the nearby city Rabaul in 1994. 120 million years ago.

A B C D E F
Equator 120˚E Pulau 130˚E 140˚E 150˚E
Gulf of Molucca Sea Halmahera
Tomini Halmahera New Guinea Trench Manus Trench
Palu Kepulauan M o l u c c a s Sea Manokwari
Jazirah
Sula
Makassar Strait T eluk Bone Pulau Ambon Pulau Seram Sungai Mamberamo Sepik Wewak Bismarck Sea Ireland
22m
164m
1 Celebes (538ft) Ceram Sea Doberai (72ft) Manus Island
Jayapura
New
Buru
Umboi
Island
Makassar Bone INDONESIA New Guinea PAPUA NEW GUINEA Rabaul
Madang
Basin Banda Sea Kepulauan Kepulauan Aru Sungai Digul New Britain
Kai
Flores Kepulauan Lae
Sea Pulau Kepulauan Tanimbar New Britain Trench
Flores Basin Wetar Damar
Lesser Sunda Islands Pulau Yos Fly Solomon Sea
Arafura Sudarso Gulf of
2 Sumbawa Flores Dili Sea Papua Port D‘Entrecasteax
EAST TIMOR
Savu Basin Moresby Islands
Palau Sumba Savu Sea Timor Arafura Shelf Torres Strait
10˚S Timor Trough Melville Cape York
Island Wessel Papua Plateau
Islands
Timor Bathurst Cape Arnhem 1,337m
Island
Sea
Sahul Banks Darwin Cape (4,387ft)
INDIAN Londonderry Arnhem Groote York Coral Sea
Cape
Basin
Joseph
OCEAN Bonaparte Land Eylandt Gulf of Peninsula
3 Rowley Sahul Shelf Gulf Sir Edward Carpentaria Cooktown G r ea t Ba rr ier Ree f (10ft) Coral
ATLAS OF THE OCEANS 4 20˚S SCALE 200 300 400 Broome Derby A US TRALIA Islands Cairns Mackay Whitsunday
Pellew Group
3m
Queensland Plateau
Wellesley
Sea
Islands
Shoals
Rowley Shelf
Townsville
Group
0
100
500 km
0
100
A 120˚E 200 300 400 500 miles 130˚E C D 140˚E E F 150˚E
B