| The new bathymetric, magnetic and mainly seismic data acquired during the Zoesis cruise, reveal the presence of compressional features in the ''Fairway Ridge-Fairway Basin-Lord Howe Rise (northern part)'' area, west of New Caledonia. The compressive strain is especially responsible for the formation of the Fairway Ridge. The compression is emphasized by a regional unconformity that could be dated late Eocene, according to DSDP data in the area, and therefore synchronous with the late Eocene obduction of the New Caledonia ophiolites. The westward extension of the late Eocene compressive strain in the New Caledonia area is more developed than previously thought. |
