THE TECTONIC AND GEODYNAMIC EVOLUTION OF NEW-CALEDONIA - A VIEW

The microcontinent of New Caledonia is a patchwork of continental terr anes and ophiolites formed during two main periods. From the Permian t o late Jurassic, plutonic and volcanosedimentary terranes were formed in intra-oceanic arc settings; then, these were obducted onto the ''pr e-Permian'' metamorphic terrane and finally accreted to the east Gondw ana margin in latest Jurassic times. In the late Cretaceous and Paleoc ene, the continuing breakup of the Gondwana margin resulted in the rif ting of oceanic plateaus which finally reached the Eocene subduction z one of the Loyalty basin. Consequently, the subduction was blocked, op hiolitic rocks were obducted in the late Eocene, and several intraocea nic thrusts occurred.