SEDIMENTOLOGY ASSIGNMENT

S UBMITTED BY: RIDA AZHAR S UBMITTED TO: DR. I.U.CHEEMA DATE OF SUBMISSION: 26/10/2011 DAY OF SUBMISSION: WEDNESDAY

2|P age

Do all the islands in pacific including New Zealand and Australia moving northwards? Answer: Pacific Plate

The Pacific plate, shown in pale yellow 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. The north-eastern side is a divergent boundary with the Explorer Plate, the Juan de Fuca Plate and the Gorda Plate forming respectively the Explorer Ridge, the Juan de Fuca Ridge and the Gorda Ridge. In the middle of the eastern side is a transform boundary with the North American Plate along the San Andreas Fault, and a boundary with the Cocos Plate. The south-eastern side is a divergent boundary with the Nazca Plate forming the East Pacific Rise. The southern side is a divergent boundary with the Antarctic Plate forming thepacific-Antarctic Ridge. The western side, the plate is bounded by the Okhotsk Plate at the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench and the Japan Trench, forms a convergent boundary by subducting under thephilippine Sea Plate creating the Mariana Trench, has a transform boundary with thecaroline Plate, and has a collision boundary with the North Bismarck Plate. In the south-west, the Pacific Plate has a complex but generally convergent boundary with the IndoAustralian Plate, subducting under it north of New Zealand forming the Tonga Trench and the Kermadec Trench. The Alpine Fault marks a transform boundary between the two plates, and further south the Indo-Australian Plate subducts under the Pacific Plate forming the Puysegur Trench.

3|P age The southern part ofzealandia, which is to the east of this boundary, is the plate's largest block of continental crust. The northern side is a convergent boundary subducting under the North American Plate forming the Aleutian Trench and the correspondingaleutian Islands. The Pacific Plate contains an interior hot spot forming the Hawaiian Islands. Hillis and Mller are reported to consider the Bird's Head Plate to be moving in unison with the Pacific Plate.[1] Bird considers them to be unconnected.[2]

Paleo-geology of the Pacific Plate;

The Pacific Plate has the distinction of showing one of the largest areal sections of the oldest members of seabed geology being entrenched into eastern Asian oceanic trenches. A geologic map of the Pacific Ocean seabed shows not only the geologic sequences, and associatedring of Fire zones on the ocean's perimeters, but the various ages of the seafloor in a stair-step fashion, youngest to oldest, the oldest being consumed into the Asian oceanic trenches. The oldest member disappearing by way of the Plate Tectonics cycle is early-Cretaceous (145 to 137 million years ago).[3] All maps of Earth's ocean floor geology show ages younger than 145 million years, only about 1/40 of the Earth's 4.55 billion year history.

The pacific islands:

The Pacific Islands comprise 20,000 to 30,000 islands in the Pacific Ocean. The islands are also sometimes collectively called Oceania,[1] although Oceania is sometimes defined as also including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago. The Pacific Islands lying south of the tropic of Cancer are traditionally grouped into the three divisions of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia: Melanesia means black islands. These include New Guinea (the largest Pacific island, which is divided into the sovereign nation of Papua New Guinea and the Indonesianprovinces of Maluku (maluku Province) Papua and West Papua), New Caledonia, Zenadh Kes (Torres Strait Islands), Vanuatu, Fiji, and the Solomon Islands. Micronesia means small islands. These include the Marianas, Guam, Wake Island,Palau, the Marshall Islands, Kiribati, *Nauru, and the Federated States of Micronesia. Most of these lie north of the equator. Polynesia means many islands. These include New Zealand, the Hawaiian Islands,Rotuma, the Midway Islands, Samoa, American Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, the Cook Islands, Wallis and Futuna, Tokelau, Niue, French Polynesia, and Easter Island. It is the largest of the three zones. The region's islands are classified into two groups, high islands and low islands. Volcanoes form high islands, which generally can support more people and have a more fertile soil. Low islands

4|P age are reefs or atolls, and are relatively small and infertile. Melanesia, the most populous of the three regions, contains mainly high islands, while most of Micronesia and Polynesia are low islands. In addition, there are many other islands located within the boundaries of the Pacific Ocean that are not considered part of Oceania. These islands include the Galpagos Islands of Ecuador; the Aleutian Islands in Alaska, United States; the Russian islands of Sakhalin and Kuril Islands; Taiwan and other islands of the Republic of China; the Philippines; islands in the South China Sea, which includes the disputed South China Sea Islands; most of the islands of Indonesia; and the island nation of Japan, which includes the Ryukyu Islands and the Japanese Archipelago. Nauru (along with Kiribati's Banaba island) could be counted as somewhat of an exception. The indigenous Nauruans are both a mosaic and mixture of groups from all three categories- with cultural influence stemming primarily from Micronesia. The island was also said to be an extreme point of the "Tongan Empire" and may as a result share subtle cultural and, obviously, historical aspects with Polynesia. Lastly, the people speak a language and have a number of genes not in common with any of the three regions. Of the three, Nauru is least like Polynesia and Melanesia and for practical applications, Nauru is either assigned to Micronesia or designated as a separate entity (with the former being the most common). This is a list of many of the major Pacific islands, organized by archipelago or political unit. In order to keep this list of moderate size, links are given to more complete lists for countries with large numbers of small or uninhabited islands.
Note: many Polynesian languages have a glottal stop, which in most of them is seldom written, however. If a name with a <  > cannot be found, try to rewrite it without it. See 'okina for more info.  American Samoa (eastern part of the Samoa Islands, United States territory)          Aunu u Ofu Olosega Rose Atoll Swains Island (Olosenga, Olohega) (disputed) Ta u Tutuila

Baker Island (United States) British Columbia, Canada (many islands). All of Canada's Pacific islands are located in the province of British Columbia. Vancouver Islandis Canada's largest Pacific island.

Caroline Islands (Federated States of Micronesia; Palau)  Federated States of Micronesia

5|P age

 

Pohnpei Yap  Ulithi

Chuuk  Puluwat

 

Kosrae

Palau   Babeldaob Ioueldaob   Koror

Southwest Islands

 

Clipperton Island (France) Cook Islands                Aitutaki Atiu Pamati (Palmerston) Mangaia Manihiki (Humphrey) Manuae (Hervey) Mauke (Parry) Mitiaro Nassau Pukapuka (Danger) Rakahanga (Reirson) Rarotonga Suwarrow (Anchorage) Takutea Tongareva (Penrhyn)

 

Desventuradas Islands (Chile) East Timor  Timor

6|P age

 

Easter Island/Rapa Nui (Chile) Fiji Islands  Principal islands:    Viti Levu Vanua Levu

Significant outliers:     Conway Reef Kadavu Island Taveuni Rotuma Island

Archipelagos:           Kadavu Group Lau Islands Lomaiviti Islands Mamanuca Islands Moala Islands Ringgold Isles Rotuma Group Vanua Levu Group Viti Levu Group Yasawa Islands

French Polynesia ("Tahiti", Autonomous Overseas Territory of France)  Austral Islands   Tubuai

Society Islands  Iles du Vent (Windward Islands)       Moorea Tahiti Tetiaroa Maiao Mehetia

Iles Sous le Vent (Leeward Islands)

7|P age

        

Bora Bora Huahine Maupiti Raiatea & Tahaa Tupai Mopelia (aka Maupihaa) Manuae (aka Scilly Atoll) Motu One (aka Bellinghausen)

Marquesas       Fatu Hiva Hiva Oa Nuku Hiva Tahuata Ua Huka Ua Pou

Tuamotus     Rangiroa Fakarava Moruroa Fangataufa

Gambier Islands   Mangareva Helena Island

  

Galapagos Islands (Ecuador) Gilbert Islands (Kiribati) Hawaii (United States; see also Hawaiian Islands)  Main islands       Hawai i Kaho olawe Kaua i Lana i Maui Moloka i

8|P age

  

Ni ihau O ahu

Northwestern Hawaiian Islands            Ka ula Nihoa Necker French Frigate Shoals Gardner Pinnacles Maro Reef Laysan Lisianski Pearl and Hermes Reef Midway Kure

    

Howland Island (United States) Indonesia Johnston Atoll (United States) Juan Fernndez Islands (Chile) Kermadec Islands (New Zealand)   Macauley Island Raoul Island

Line Islands        Caroline Island Flint Island (Kiribati) Jarvis Island (United States) Kingman Reef (United States) Kiritimati/Christmas Island (Kiribati) Malden Island (Kiribati) Palmyra Atoll (United States)

9|P age

       

Starbuck Island (Kiribati) Tabuaeran/Fanning Island (Kiribati) Teraina/Washington Island (Kiribati) Tongareva/Penhryn Island (Cook Islands) Vostok Island (Kiribati)

Lord Howe Island (Australia) Marcus Island (Japan) Marianas Islands (United States)   Guam Northern Marianas Islands        Saipan Rota Tinian Maug Pagan Island Alamagan Farallon de Pajaros

Marshall Islands      Bikini Enewetak Kwajalein Rongelap Majuro

 

Norfolk Island (Australia) Federated States of Micronesia (Caroline Islands)  Chuuk (Truk)    Puluwat

Pohnpei Kosrae

10 | P a g e

Yap  Ulithi

 

Nauru New Caledonia ("Kanaky", France)    Chesterfield Islands Ilots du Mouillage New Caledonia     Isle of Pines Belep Islands New Caledonia

Loyalty Islands      Bagao Lifou Island Mar Island Ouva Island Tiga Island

New Zealand ("Aotearoa", see also Islands of New Zealand)  Chatham Islands          Chatham Island Pitt Island

D'Urville Island Great Barrier Island Kapiti Island North Island South Island Stewart Island/Rakiura Waiheke Island

 

Niue (Savage Island) Okinotori Islands (Japan)

11 | P a g e

Papua New Guinea  Bismarck Archipelago         Admiralty Islands New Britain New Ireland Saint Matthias Group

Bougainville D'Entrecasteaux Islands Louisiade Archipelago Trobriand Islands

 

Phoenix Islands (Kiribati) Pitcairn Islands (UK)    Henderson Island Oeno Island Ducie Island

 

Revillagigedo Islands (Mexico) Samoa (western part of the Samoa Islands)      Savai i  Upolu Apolima Manono Nuutele

Solomon Islands (see also Islands of the Solomon Islands)        Bellona Choiseul Florida Island Guadalcanal Malaita Maramasike New Georgia Islands

12 | P a g e

          

Rennell Russell Islands San Cristobal Santa Cruz Islands Santa Isabel Shortland Islands Sikaiana (Stewart Islands) Tulagi Ulawa Uki

Tokelau     Atafu (Duke of York Island) Fakaofo (Bowditch Island) Nukunonu (Duke of Clarence Island) Olohega (Swains island) (disputed)

Tonga (only main islands or groups, on north-south order. See also complete list of islands in Tonga)         Niuafo ou Niuatoputapu (Keppel's Island) Vava u Kao Tofua Ha apai Tongatapu  Eua

 

Torres Strait Islands (Australia) Tuvalu (see also Islands of Tuvalu)      Funafuti (atoll of at least 30 islands) Nanumanga (or Nanumaga) Nanumea (atoll of at least 6 islands) Niulakita Niutao

13 | P a g e

    

Nui (atoll of at least 21 islands) Nukufetau (atoll of at least 33 islands) Nukulaelae (atoll of at least 15 islands) Vaitupu (atoll of at least 9 islands)

Vanuatu (New Hebrides; see also Islands of Vanuatu)                Ambrym Anatom Aoba fat Erromango Espiritu Santo Futuna Hunter (claimed by France and Vanuatu) les Banks les Torres Mawo Matthew (claimed by France and Vanuatu) Malakula Pentecte Tanna

 

Wake Island (United States) Wallis and Futuna (France)    Alofi Futuna Wallis ( Uvea)

Willis Island (Australia)

PACIFIC PLATE MOTION:

The Pacific Plate is moving northwest relative to the North American Plate at a rate of 45 mm/year. This movement occurs along faults, mainly the San Andreas Fault. The San Andreas Fault system is the

14 | P a g e major fault system found in California. Fault systems running parallel to the San Andreas include the San Jacinto, Elsinore and Imperial. Faults are breaks in rock masses along which movement has occurred. A fault zone can be identified by a band of crushed rock. The length of a fault may vary from a few centimeters to thousands of kilometers. The Pacific Plate moves Northwest relative to the North American Plate at approximately the same rate that your fingernails grow. If you never cut your fingernails and you lived to be 100 years old, your fingernails would be approximately ten and a half feet long.

Movement of AUSTRALIA and NEW ZEALAND towards north:

The onset of seafloor spreading west of Australia at ~130 Ma marks the breakup between India and Australia. Roughly at the same time, subduction east of Australia ceased. The break between Australia and Antarctica was the last event in the Gondwana breakup. It began about 80 million years ago when a deep rift valley formed along the southern edge of Australia; this widened to form the present Southern Ocean. Since then Australia has been moving steadily north at the rate of about 5 cm per year. Prior to 43 million yhears ago a triple junction formed north of the Ross Sea, accommodating motion between East and West Antarctica. At the same time spreading between India and Australia ceased and the northward motion of Australia accelerated as it separated from Antarctica. The Southeast Indian Ridge now completely separated the Australian and Antarctic Plates. At the same time spreading between India and Australia ceased and subduction north of Papua New Guinea was initiated.

15 | P a g e Major plate tectonic events since the early Miocene (~20 Ma) include the breakup of the IndoAustralian plate, and various collisional processes and plate boundary reorganizations north and east of Australia. The sector of oceanic crust containing Macquarie Island, between Tasman Sea oceanic crust and continental crust of the Campbell Plateau, was generated from 39 to 10.5 million years ago at the Proto-Macquarie Spreading Ridge, that propagated from the Pacific/Antarctic spreading ridge. The Proto-Macquarie Spreading Ridge evolved with time from long ridge segments of NNE-trend to short ridge segments of E-trend in the vicinity of Macquarie Island and generated during the latest episodes of seafloor spreading. The overall trend of the Proto-Macquarie Spreading Ridge was NNE-SSW throughout and roughly coincided with the present day Macquarie Ridge. Plate reconstructions suggest coincident seafloor spreading and strike-slip movements at the Proto-Macquarie Spreading Ridge between 14 and 10.5 Ma. The present day Australian/Pacific plate margin is coincident with the Macquarie Ridge, a 2100 km long crustal fracture system connecting the Pacific/Antarctic and Indo-Australian/Antarctic spreading ridges with the Alpine Fault system in New Zealand. Volcanoes in New Zealand result from the subduction of the Pacific Plate under the Australian Plate. South of the North Island the tectonic boundary between the Indian-Australian and Pacific plates changes to a transform fault. New Zealand straddles the boundary of the Australian and Pacific plates. Along New Zealand, the Australian plate moves to the northeast at a rate of 35 to 45 mm/yr relative to the Pacific plate. In the central South Island, this plate motion results in predominantly strike-slip movement along the Alpine Fault. In southwestern South Island, relative plate motion is accommodated by oblique subduction of the Australian plate along the Puysegur trench and deformation of the overriding Pacific plate inland of the trench. The Southern Alps of New Zealand result from this oblique plate convergence.

Personal

openionabout

the

movement

of

the

PACIFIC

plate:

so, at the end I would like to conclude that the pacific plate has been moving towards the northwest relative to the North American Plate at a rate of 45 mm/year. This movement occurs along faults, mainly the San Andreas Fault. The onset of seafloor spreading west of Australia at ~130 Ma marks the breakup between India and Australia. Since then Australia has been moving steadily north at the rate of about 5 cm per year. . The present day Australian/Pacific plate margin is coincident with the Macquarie Ridge, a 2100 km long crustal fracture system connecting the Pacific/Antarctic and Indo-Australian/Antarctic spreading ridges with the Alpine Fault system in New Zealand. New Zealand straddles the boundary of the Australian and Pacific plates. Along New Zealand, the Australian plate moves to the northeast at a rate of 35 to 45 mm/yr relative to the Pacific plate. So this shows that the pacific plate is continuously moving towards north& Australia was initially not a part of the pacific plate but later on it separated from indo-Australian plate and started moving toward north. now it share its margins with the pacific plate and is moving towards north. Moreover newzealand also shares the boundary with the Australian and Pacific plate and is moving along with them.

16 | P a g e

References:
Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Islands Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Plate Http://visearth.ucsd.edu/vise_Int/aralsea/tutorial.html