Jj. Veevers, Change of tectono-stratigraphic regime in the Australian plate during the 99 Ma (mid-Cretaceous) and 43 Ma (mid-Eocene) swerves of the Pacific, GEOLOGY, 28(1), 2000, pp. 47-50
The clockwise bend at 99 Ma (mid-Cretaceous) in linear volcanic chains in t
he tropical Pacific coincides with a change from pre-99 Ma head-on Chilean-
type subduction of the Pacific plate beneath eastern Gondwana to 99-43 Ma s
inistral oblique Mariana-type subduction and strike-slip breakup by simple
sea-floor spreading between Australia and Antarctica and by backarc spreadi
ng in the southwest Pacific. The 99 Ma breakup of Australia from Antarctica
is documented by a mid-Cretaceous unconformity, This tectono-stratigraphic
change founded modern Australia, with a mountain chain along an upper plat
e margin in the east and lowlands on the lower plate margin in the south. T
he counterclockwise bend at 43 Ma (mid-Eocene)-the Emperor-Hawaiian bend-co
incides with the onset of structure in the Challenger Rift of New Zealand,
the Eromanga-Cooper basin of central Australia, and the oil-shale grabens o
f coastal Queensland.