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Diffuse back-arc deformation in the southwestern Pacific

Nature volume 332, pages 599–604 (1988)Cite this article

Abstract

Earthquake distribution and focal mechanisms from the Lau and North Fiji back-arc basins indicate a diffuse and shear-dominated system of deformation, at odds with traditional plate tectonic models of lithospheric accretion in back-arc basins. The entire back-arc region between the Tonga and New Hebrides arcs is more realistically modelled as a giant, internally deformed, pull-apart basin, formed along a left step in the transform boundary between the Pacific and Indo-Australian plates.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, 47405, USA

    Michael W. Hamburger

  2. Department of Geological Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, 14853, USA

    Bryan L. Isacks

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  1. Michael W. Hamburger
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  2. Bryan L. Isacks
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Hamburger, M., Isacks, B. Diffuse back-arc deformation in the southwestern Pacific. Nature 332, 599–604 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1038/332599a0

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