Geology of the Solomon and New Hebrides Islands, as Part of the Melanesian Re-entrant, Southwest Pacific

Abstract

The Solomon Islands and the New Hebrides Archipelago are examples of fractured island "arcs," autochthonous geological systems, in which pattern s of straight-line fractures and vertical and horizontal movement of blocks are the dominant structural feature . The two groups have similar but yet distinctive geologies. They have been studied systematically only over the last 20 years, so that many of their features are still not understood, but it is clear that the results so far obtained amount to a significant contribution to the understanding of fractured island arcs and, by extrapolation, to the understanding of the genesis and development of the southwestern Pacific.