| Ocean: | Pacific |
| Spreading centre type: | Large-scale extinct mid-ocean ridge |
| Time of cessation: | Ca. 86 Ma (Chandler et al., 2012) |
| Cessation style: | Not constrained by available data |
| Later deformation or volcanism: | Significant plume related volcanism likely |
The Ontong Java extinct spreading centre is proposed in the (Seton et al., 2012) north of Fiji and is situated between the Ontong Java Plateau to the west and the Manihiki Plateau to the south east. The spreading centre may have been part of the Pacific-Phoenix plate boundary and is thought to have ceased spreading during early stages of the Cretaceous Quiet Zone (CTQZ).
A major plate-boundary reorganization in the Pacific in the Cretaceous (Mammerickx and Sharman, 1988).
There are insufficient constraints on the location of the past spreading centre in this region and no convincing linear surface bathymetric or gravity feature that has similarity with an extinct ridge. Therefore this ridge was not included in our statistical analysis and further work is required to identify the extinct spreading centre.
Chandler, M.T. et al., 2012. Reconstructing Ontong Java Nui : Implications for Pacific absolute plate motion, hotspot drift and true polar wander. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 331-332, pp.140–151.
Mammerickx, J., and Sharman, G. F., 1988, Tectonic evolution of the North Pacific during the Cretaceous quiet period, Journal of Geophysical Research, v. 93, no. B4, p. 3009–3024.
Seton, M. et al., 2012. Global continental and ocean basin reconstructions since 200Ma. Earth-Science Reviews, 113(3-4), pp.212–270.
