New Hebrides Trench

Geographical and geological relationships of the New Hebrides Trench in the central and southern Vanuatu subduction zone. Subduction is towards the north east and this map does not show the North New Hebrides (Torres) Trench. Zealandia is outlined in black.

Approximate surface projection on Pacific Ocean of New Hebrides Trench (dark blue).

The New Hebrides Trench (perhaps better termed the South New Hebrides Trench)^[1]^[2] is an oceanic trench which is over 7.1 km (4.4 mi) deep in the Southern Pacific Ocean.^[3] It lies to the northeast of New Caledonia and the Loyalty Islands, to the southwest of Vanuatu (formerly known as the New Hebrides), east of Australia, and south of Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. The trench was formed as a result of a subduction zone. The Australian plate is being subducted under the New Hebrides plate causing volcanism which produced the Vanuatu archipelago.

The trench was first described in 1962 by the U.S. research vessel "Spencer F. Baird", in the Scripps Institution of Oceanography Proa Expedition^[2] and was explored in more detail in 2013 by the University of Aberdeen's Oceanlab team. They found cusk-eels, prawns, and other eels, and crustaceans. This is significantly different from other deep sea trenches that have been studied.^[4]

^ GEBCO:Hebrides
^ ^a ^b Marine Gazetteer:South New Hebrides Trench
^ Linley et al. 2017, Section:2.1. Study sites
^ Morelle, Rebecca (3 March 2014). "New Hebrides trench: First look at unexplored deep sea". BBC News. Retrieved 25 January 2022.

[1] GEBCO:Hebrides

[MG-2] Marine Gazetteer:South New Hebrides Trench

[3] Linley et al. 2017, Section:2.1. Study sites

[4] Morelle, Rebecca (3 March 2014). "New Hebrides trench: First look at unexplored deep sea". BBC News. Retrieved 25 January 2022.

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New Hebrides Trench

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