Ontong Java Plateau

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Ontong Java Plateau is a huge undersea plateau located in the Pacific Ocean, lying north of the Solomon Islands. The plateau covers an area of approximately 2,000,000 km², or roughly the size of Alaska, and reaches a thickness of up to 30 km. The plateau is of volcanic origin, composed mostly of flood basalts, and is the world's largest large igneous province. The plateau was formed under the Pacific, and most of the plateau still lies under the sea, although the collision of the Solomon Islands with the plateau has lifted some of the plateau above sea level on the islands of Santa Isabel, Makira, and Malaita. Ontong Java Atoll is located in northern Malaita Province. Some of the rocks that make up the plateau have been dated to 120 million years ago (mya), and others to 90 mya.