A wide variety of different rock types were dredged from the Tonga fore arc and trench between 8000 and 3000 m water depths by the 1996 Boomerang voyage. ⁴⁰Ar-³⁹Ar whole rock and U-Pb zircon dating suggest that these fore arc rocks were erupted episodically from the Cretaceous to the Pliocene...
New seafloor mapping and sampling demonstrates that the eruption of the high-Ca boninites is clearly associated with rifting of the northern Tonga ridge and the northern Lau Basin at the northern termination of the Tonga Trench. There is very strong evidence for OIB plume related mantle sources involved in the...
We report new geochemical data for boninites and backarc basin-type basalts recovered from the northern termination of the Tonga trench and Lau Basin. Boninitic pillow lavas, ranging from high-Mg compositions to andesites and dacites, have been erupted within large submarine volcanic edifices (calderas and volcanoes) associated with active rifting of...