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| Kenn Plateau | |
|---|---|
| Name | Kenn Plateau |
| Type | submarine plateau |
| Location | Coral Sea, southwest Pacific Ocean |
| Coordinates | approx. 10°S 160°E |
| Area | ~100,000 km² |
| Depth | shallowest ~200 m below sea level |
| Country | Australia; Papua New Guinea (proximal) |
Kenn Plateau is a large submerged continental fragment in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, situated north of Queensland and east of Papua New Guinea. It forms part of the complex geology of the Coral Sea region and lies adjacent to features such as the Lau Basin, the Louisiade Plateau, and the Tasmantid Seamount Chain. The plateau is significant for studies involving plate tectonics, continental breakup, seafloor spreading, and paleoceanography.
The plateau occupies an area north of Great Barrier Reef waters and east of the Gulf of Papua, extending toward the maritime approaches of Torres Strait and the Solomon Sea. Its margins adjoin the New Guinea Trench system and are proximal to the Australia–Pacific Plate boundary and the Indo-Australian Plate junction. Nearby named features include the Louisiade Archipelago, D'Entrecasteaux Islands, Woodlark Island, Bismarck Sea, Coral Sea Islands Territory, and the submerged rises that lead toward the Banda Sea. Political and marine jurisdictional contexts involve Australia and Papua New Guinea exclusive economic zones, with mapping influenced by agencies such as Geoscience Australia and the National Mapping Division of Papua New Guinea.
Geologic investigations link the plateau to Mesozoic and Cenozoic rifting episodes associated with the breakup of eastern Gondwana and the separation of the Tasman Sea and Coral Sea basins. Models invoke processes related to the Pacific Plate evolution, Cretaceous Normal Superchron magnetic anomalies, and the emplacement of continental fragment suites similar to the Lord Howe Rise and the Tasman Plateau. Lithologies recovered from nearby wells and dredges are compared to exposures in Queensland and Papua New Guinea terranes, with stratigraphic ties to the Great Artesian Basin basins and correlations to the Lachlan Orogenic Belt sequences. Researchers reference analogues such as the Sahul Shelf, the Galapagos Rise, and the Kerguelen Plateau to interpret magmatic and rift-related histories involving hotspots like the inferred Tasmantid hotspot and interactions with the Ontong Java Plateau events.
Bathymetric surveys show a broad, relatively shallow topographic high with depths often less than 1,000 m and shoals to ~200–500 m, contrasting with surrounding abyssal plains and trenches like the New Britain Trench. Oceanographic regimes over the plateau are influenced by the South Equatorial Current, the East Australian Current, and seasonal monsoonal shifts tied to the Intertropical Convergence Zone and the El Niño–Southern Oscillation. Water column structure interacts with features such as thermoclines and haloclines, affecting nutrient fluxes and upwelling comparable to patterns around the Tasman Front and the Solomon Sea. Hydrographic campaigns by institutions including the CSIRO, the Australian Institute of Marine Science, and the University of Papua New Guinea have used multibeam echosounders, seismic reflection profiles, and gravity surveys to map morphology alongside international projects by NOAA and the Institute of Oceanography, University of Southampton.
The plateau supports benthic habitats and pelagic ecosystems similar to those on submerged continental shelves like the Sunda Shelf and the Sahul Shelf. Its hard substrates and carbonate platforms sustain communities of scleractinian corals, sponges, and filter feeders paralleling assemblages recorded on the Great Barrier Reef and the Loyalty Islands. Pelagic fauna include migratory populations of tuna (Thunnus spp.), manta ray aggregations, cetaceans such as humpback whale and sperm whale, and apex predators like shark species monitored in regional tagging programs by CSIRO and WWF-Australia. Deep benthic fauna show affinities with bathyal communities studied at the Lord Howe Rise and abyssal fauna from the Clarion-Clipperton Zone. Marine biodiversity assessments reference databases maintained by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.
Scientific exploration has involved collaborations among Geoscience Australia, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, universities including the Australian National University, James Cook University, and international partners such as University of Tokyo, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Research methods include seismic stratigraphy, isotopic geochemistry, radiometric dating, and paleoceanographic coring with platforms like RV Franklin and research vessels from NOAA and France's IFREMER. Key research themes intersect with studies on continental margin evolution, plate reconstruction models by groups at the University of Sydney and Monash University, and comparisons to global large igneous provinces studied at Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory and the Bjerknes Centre.
The plateau's subsurface geology is of interest for hydrocarbon prospectivity, drawing attention from energy firms and regulatory authorities including the Petroleum Authority of Papua New Guinea and Australian leasing bodies; seismic surveys have targeted sedimentary depocenters analogous to plays in the Bowen Basin and Gunnedah Basin. Fisheries utilizing migratory stocks are important to communities in Papua New Guinea and Queensland and are managed through regional bodies like the Pacific Islands Forum fisheries programs and the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission. Environmental concerns engage NGOs such as Conservation International and Greenpeace Australia Pacific, focusing on biodiversity protection comparable to initiatives for the Coral Triangle and Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority management. Climate studies use plateau records to inform Paleoclimate reconstructions relevant to Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessments and regional resilience planning by the United Nations Development Programme.
Category:Underwater plateaus Category:Coral Sea Category:Geology of Oceania