Manihiki Plateau
Encyclopedia
The Manihiki Plateau is an oceanic plateau
in the southwest Pacific Ocean
. The Manihiki Plateau was formed by volcanic activity 125 to 120 million years ago during the mid-Cretaceous
period at a triple junction
plate boundary called the Tongareva triple junction
.
Oceanic plateau
An oceanic plateau is a large, relatively flat submarine region that rises well above the level of the ambient seabed. While many oceanic plateaus are composed of continental crust, and often form a step interrupting the continental slope, some plateaus are undersea remnants of large igneous...
in the southwest Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
. The Manihiki Plateau was formed by volcanic activity 125 to 120 million years ago during the mid-Cretaceous
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous , derived from the Latin "creta" , usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide , is a geologic period and system from circa to million years ago. In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the...
period at a triple junction
Triple junction
A triple junction is the point where the boundaries of three tectonic plates meet. At the triple junction a boundary will be one of 3 types - a ridge, trench or transform fault - and triple junctions can be described according to the types of plate margin that meet at them...
plate boundary called the Tongareva triple junction
Tongareva triple junction
The Tongareva triple junction, also called the Pacific-Farallon-Phoenix triple junction, was a geologic triple junction in the southwestern Pacific Basin where three tectonic plates met: the Pacific Plate, the Farallon Plate, and the Phoenix Plate. It existed throughout the mid-Cretaceous period...
.