Sopacmaps Project, Final Report, Alexa/Charlotte Banks Area
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EX.ECUTIVE SUMMARY [SDPRC) I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I The SOPACMAPS Project was designed to investigate as much area as possible of the EEZs of the SOPAC member countries: Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji and Tuvalu.The main objectives were to map the bathymetry, investigate the resource potential and to study geological processes, including geological hazards. A total area of approximately 730,000 k.m2 was mapped during a total of 87 days at sea, using the Dual Multibeam Swath echo sounder on the research vessel L'Atalante, operated by IFREMER under contract to SOPAC and funded by the European Union. The data are a very important source of information for the understanding of the nature of the seafloor of the South Pacific, and establish an understanding of seafloor process and resources at a level which could not have been imagined as recently as 20 years ago. During the three legs of 29 days each, multibeam (bathymetry and acoustic imagery), 6- channel reflection seismic, magnetics, gravimetry and sub-bottom profiler data were collected along 439 profiles totalling 15,680 nautical miles. All data are of very fair to excellent quality: Preliminary reports and on-board processed charts at 1:250,000 scale were delivered to SOPAC shortly after each leg. Reprocessing of the data by IFREMER produced several sets of charts: navigation, bathymetry and acoustic imaging at 1:250,000 scale, and bathymetry, acoustic imaging and morpho-structural interpretation at 1:500,000 scale. Interpretation of the data, conducted for SOPAC by IFREMER and ORSTOM, produced comprehensive fmal reports focused on eight areas: - Central Solomon Trough, - Malaita Area, - Melanesian Arc Gap Area, - North New Hebrides Back Arc Area, - New Hebrides Intra-Arc Basin, - Pandora Bank Area, - Alexa/Charlotte Banks Area, - South Tuvalu Banks Area. ~ Final Report - ACBA - SOPACMAPS (5DPRC) This repon describes the Alexa/Charlotte Banks Area (ACBA) which is mainly included in Fiji EEZ and panly in Solomon Islands EEZ. From a geological point of view, it is a large zone of about 30,000 km2, belonging partly to the Melanesian Border Plateau and partly to the North Fiji Basin, which has been mapped and imaged. The area includes the Alexa and Charlotte banks, the Viti as Trough and the domain extending east of the Pandora Bank. Seismic reflexion, magnetic and gravity data have been also collected. The almost full coverage bathymetric and imagery charts and the collected geophysical data largely increase our geological understanding of this almost unknown area. Previously reported different banks (Alexa and Charlotte banks) have been precisely located and contoured. New highs and seamounts have been found (Kroenke and Atalante seamounts). These shallow water areas could represent good targets for fishing activities which are by the far the best economic potentialities of the area. The only area which might be of potential interest for polymetallic nodules is the deepest basin (4,500 m) located at the junction of the Pandora Bank Area and the Alexa/Charlotte Banks Area and which corresponds to a section of the Vitias Trench: on the contrary of the surrounding zones which present a mid grey and heterogeneous acoustic reflectivity, the sediments of this basin are controlled by specific deposition processes as revealed by a continuous and darker acoustic facies which may be related to finer grained deposits under or at the limit of CCD. Polymetallic crusts may be found in a few places such as the upper flank (and possibly the top) of the Kroenke and Atalante seamounts. On an other hand. the Alexa and Charlotte banks might be concerned, but as no investigation has been conducted on the banks and their boundaries, the occurence of polymetallic crusts must be considered as hypothetic. The Alexa/Charlotte Banks Area is not a good area for the occurence of oil potential, due to the reduced sediments thickness and the volcanic character of the area. ~ Final Report - ACBA· SOPACMAPS C,:0: ONI ;; '"TENTS'.fi· j. 'I :. I (SDPRC) I CONTENTS I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY CONTENTS 1 CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION 1·1 1.1 - SOPACMAPS Project presentation 1-1 1.2 - Preliminary notes 1-2 1.2.1 - Sheet assemblage 1-2 1.2.2 - Specific aspects relative to the coastline 1-3 CHAPTER 2 • GEOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK •••.••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••2-1 2.1 - Regional setting: the Southwest Pacific 2-1 2.1.1 - Present plate boundaries 2-1 2.1.2 - Subduction of the Pacific Plate 2-1 2.1.3 - Subduction of the Indo-Australian Plate 2-7 2.1.4 - The active marginal basins .....................................................•........................... 2-8 2.2 - The New Hebrides Island Arc 2-9 2.3 - Geological setting of Solomon Islands 2-14 2.3.1 - The Solomon Islands Arc 2-14 2.3.1.1 _ Plates Reconstruction and the Solomon Islands Arc 2-14 2.3.1.2 - Morphology 2-15 2.3.1.3 - Seismicity 2-15 2.3.1.4 - Crustal structure 2-17 2.3.1.5 - Geodynamic evolution 2-18 2.3.1.6 - Sedimentary deposition and vertical evolution 2-19 2.3.1.7 - Plio-Pleistocene volcanism 2-20 2.32 - The Melanesian Arc Gap (MAG) 2-21 2.3.3 - The North New Hebrides Back Arc Area (NNHBAA) ...............•........................ 2-23 2.3.3.1 - Regional Geography 2-23 2.3.3.2 - Geological framework/Previous works 2-23 2.3.3.3 - Petrology and age 2-26 2.4 - Tectonic setting of the Melanesian Borderland 2-28 2.4.1 - The North Fiji Basin 2-28 2.4.2 - The Fiji Platform, The Fiji Fracture Zone and the northern part of the Lau Basin 2-31 2.4.3 - The Vitias Trench lineament 2-33 2.4.4 - The Melanesian Border Plateau 2-36 ~ Final Report - ACBA - SOPACMAPS . page 1 (SDPRC) CHAPTER 3 - DATA ANALYSIS 3-1 3.1 - Previous work 3-1 3.2 - Bathymetry 3-2 3.3 - Imagery 3-6 3.4 - Seismic reflection profiles 3-7 3.5 - Magnetism 3-13 3.6 - Gravimetry 3-15 CHAPTER 4 - GEOLOGICAL SyNTHESiS 4-1 CHAPTER 5 - POTENTIAL RESOURCES 5-1 5.1 - Uving Resources 5-1 5.1.1 - Preliminary considerations ...................................................................•............. 5-1 5.1.2 - SOPACMAPS results 5-4 5.2 - Mineral Resources 5-4 5.2.1 - Polymetallic nodules 5-4 5.2.2 - Polymetallic crusts ., 5-6 5.2.3 - Hydrothermal sulfides 5-7 5.3 - Oil Potential 5-7 CHAPTER 6 - CONCLUSIONS 6-1 CHAPTER 7 - SURVEY EQUIPMENT 7-1 7.1 - Data processing on board AN L'Atalante .......................................................................•. 7-2 7.2 - Bathymetry and imagery processing 7-4 7.2.1 - Bathymetry 7-4 7.2.2 - Post-processing navigation ...........•..................................................................... 7-5 7.2.3 - Post-processing EM 12 Dual bathymetric data 7-5 7.2.4 _ EM12 Dual image processing .............................................................•............... 7-6 7.2.5 - Setting up of the celerity files 7-6 7.3 - Seismic reflection 7-8 7.3.1 - Seismic Reflection on AN LAtalante .7-9 7.3.2 - G.!. Gun - Model 150 7-9 7.3.3 - Air gun principle 7-11 7.3.4 - Compressor 7-12 7.3.5 - Streamer Specifications 7-13 7.3.6 - Recording data 7-13 7.4 - Instrumentation 7-14 a) Barringer magnetometer 7-15 b) Bodenseewerk seagravimeter system KSS 30 7-16 c) 3.5 kHz hull-mounted sub-bottom profiler 7-20 ~ Final Report - ACBA - SOPACMAPS .. page 11 (SDPRC) d) Ocean-meteorology station 7-22 e) Acoustic Doppler current profiler (VM-ADCP) 7-27 f) Thermo-salinometer - CTD+ 100 7-29 CHAPTER 8 - ENCLOSURES 8-1 ENCLOSURE 1 - Staff 8-2 ENCLOSURE 2 - Cruise chronology 8-6 ENCLOSURE 3 - Logbook 8-19 ENCLOSURE 4 - Environmental conditions 8-32 ENCLOSURE 5 - Document table 8-41 ENCLOSURE 6 - Profile table 8-46 ENCLOSURE 7 - Bibliography 8-58 ~ FinaIRepon-ACBA-SOPACMAPS ... page in (SDPRC) LIST OF FIGURES Fig. 1.1 - General navigation map of SOPACMAPS - Leg 1 1-6 Fig.1.2 - General navigation map of SOPACMAPS - Leg 2 1-7 Fig.1.3 - General navigation map of SOPACMAPS - Leg 3 1-8 Fig.1.4 - General sheet assemblage (11250,000) 1-9 Fig. 1.5 - General sheet assemblage (1/500,000 and details) 1-10 Fig. 2.1 - General map of the Southwest Pacific region 2-2 Fig. 2.2 - Morphotectonic map of the Southwest Pacific 2-3 Fig. 2.3a - Shallow seismicity of the Southwest Pacific 2-4 Fig.2.3b - Intermediate and deep seismicity of the Southwest Pacific 2-5 Fig.2.4 - Proposed quantitative model for present-day relative motions in the Southwest Pacific 2-6 Fig. 2.5 - Bathymetric map of the New Hebrides Arc and location of the NHIAB sheet 2-10 Fig. 2.6 - Sedimentary basins and faults in the central and northern New Hebrides Arc 2-11 Fig.2.7 - Place names, tectonic features and bathymetry of the central and western Solomon Islands area 2-16 Fig. 2.8 - Bathymetry of the Melanesian Arc Gap 2-22 Fig.2.9 - Islands forming the Eastern Outer Islands Group, Solomon Islands 2-24 Fig. 2.10 - Sketch map of the Northern New Hebrides Back Arc Area 2-25 Fig. 2.11 - Structural sketch 2-27 Fig. 2.12 - Tectonic setting of the South West Pacific 2-29 Fig. 2.13 - Evolution of the North Fiji Basin ...........................................•.............................. 2-30 Fig. 2.14 - Petrologic provinces of the South West Pacific 2-35 Fig. 3.1 - Survey location and profiles identification ................................................•............ 3-3 Fig.3.2 - Bathymetry in Alexa/Charlotte Banks Area 3-4 Fig.3.3 - Magnetism in ACBA (computer contouring) - Contour interval 100 nT 3-14 Fig.3.4 - Gravity in ACBA (computer contouring) - Contour interval 10 mGal 3-16 LIST OF PLATES Plate 1 - Interpreted seismic profiles in ACBA (PR 284, 285 and 286) 3-8 Plate 2 - Interpreted seismic profiles in ACBA (PR 278, 280, 282, 283) 3-9 Plate 3 - Interpreted seismic profiles in ACBA (PR 289, 290, 291,292) ..•............................