Chapter 1

Introduction to NewCaledonia: geology, geodynamic evolution andmineralresources

P. Maurizot1*, B. Robineau1, M. Vendé-Leclerc1 and D. Cluzel21Service Géologique de Nouvelle-Calédonie (New Caledonia Geological Survey), BP M2, 98 849 Nouméa,New Caledonia

2University of New Caledonia, ISEA-EA 7484, BP R4, 98 851 Nouméa, New Caledonia

PM, 0000-0002-4038-6791; MV-L, 0000-0003-2586-8087; DC, 0000-0002-4362-5516*Correspondence: pierre.maurizot@gouv.nc

Supplementary material: List and content of the GIS files (ESRI format) corresponding to the geological map (Fig. 1.2) and the databasestructure of Figure 1.3 are available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4984385

New Caledonia is a French overseas territory in the SWPacific, located in the southern tropical zone between 19 and24° S. The country consists of several islands that are theemergent parts of two parallel submarine ridges: the NorfolkRidge to the SW and the Loyalty Ridge to the NE (Fig. 1.1).The total area of the country is 18 350 km2. Grande Terre,the largest and main island, is mountainous, c. 400 km longand c. 50 km wide. The highest points are Mont Panié(1628 m) in the north and Mont Humboldt (1618 m) in thesouth. Grande Terre is surrounded by a 1500 km long barrierreef complex, the second longest in the world, with parts listedas a UNESCO World Heritage site. By contrast, the LoyaltyIslands have a low elevation (127 m maximum height onMaré). As well as Grand Terre and the Loyalty Islands, theNew Caledonia archipelago includes the isolated and uninhab-ited Matthew and Hunter islands to the east and the sandyChesterfield islets to the west. The New Caledonia ExclusiveEconomic Zone covers an area of 1 360 000 km2.

The Norfolk and Loyalty ridges are part of a complex set ofsubmarine continental and/or volcanic arcs and chains,mostly submerged, that developed between the Australiancontinent and the Pacific Ocean and usually referred to as Zea-landia (Mortimer et al. 2017). Grande Terre is a complexmosaic of Phanerozoic geology, including ophiolitic units,monotonous volcaniclastic sedimentary rocks, and volcanicand metamorphic terranes. The oldest rocks are Carbonifer-ous. The most distinctive and emblematic geological unit ofGrande Terre is the 5400 km2 Peridotite Nappe, which isone of the largest ultramafic terranes on Earth. Weatheringof the peridotites in the Late Cenozoic resulted in the forma-tion of a thick lateritic regolith with important supergenenickel deposits. The Loyalty Islands are composed largely ofuplifted Neogene to Present carbonate platform deposits.The Matthew and Hunter islands are volcanoes located onthe southern tip of the active Vanuatu island arc, whereasthe Chesterfield islets are atolls built on subsided intra-oceanicvolcanoes of the Lord Howe seamount chain.

This Memoir

This Memoir summarizes our current knowledge of NewCaledonia geology, geodynamics and mineral resources

based on published and unpublished information. Exceptfor a short paper timed for the 34th International GeologicalCongress (Cluzel et al. 2012b), there has been no review ofthe geology of New Caledonia since Paris (1981) – that is,for more than 35 years. As such, it is timely that this Memoiris published.

This Memoir comprises a collection of ten self-containedchapters written by 28 researchers from New Caledonia,France, New Zealand, Australia and Papua New Guinea.This work is not simply a summation of the factual materialacquired since Paris (1981). The purpose of each chapter isto present: (1) a data synthesis from which the reader canmake his or her own interpretations and (2) an interpretationby the authors incorporating contemporary datasets andgeoscientific concepts. Onshore–offshore connections areemphasized, as are the geological relations with New Zealand,Australia and Papua New Guinea, although this Memoircertainly is not a synthesis of the geodynamics of the SWPacific.

This introductory chapter is a starting point for understand-ing how the current state of geoscientific knowledge of NewCaledonia was reached. It includes a small-scale geologicalmap and proposes a general stratigraphic scheme for NewCaledonia. It reviews the advances in knowledge of the geol-ogy of the country since the last synthesis of Paris (1981). Italso summarizes current problems and issues and the analysesstrengths and weaknesses in the state of knowledge of thecountry’s geology.

Chapter 2 reviews the geodynamics of the SW Pacific andits relations with New Caledonian geology (Collot et al.2020). The onshore geology of New Caledonia cannot beseparated from its regional and offshore context. This chapteridentifies the major geological structures of the SW Pacificfrom the eastern Australian coast to the Tonga–KermadecTrench. This mostly submerged system of basins, ridges andseamounts of various ages is interpreted as oceanic andthinned continental crust, continental ridges, volcanic arcs,intra-plate volcanic chains and oceanic plateaus. Part of thisregion, including New Caledonia, is a submerged continentreferred to as Zealandia (Mortimer et al. 2017). This chapterpresents and compares tectonic models that attempt to explainthe formation and development of this complex area.

Chapter 3 considers the Pre-Late Cretaceous basement ter-ranes of the Gondwana active margin (Maurizot et al. 2020a).

From: Maurizot, P. and Mortimer, N. (eds) 2020. New Caledonia: Geology, Geodynamic Evolution and Mineral Resources.Geological Society, London, Memoirs, 51, 1–12, https://doi.org/10.1144/M51-2019-33© 2020 The Author(s). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Published by The Geological Society of London.Publishing disclaimer: www.geolsoc.org.uk/pub_ethics

Grande Terre comprises three accreted terranes that span theLate Paleozoic to Early Cretaceous. They are all submarine,arc-related and developed offshore from the south Gondwanaactive margin during marginal basin development. Thischapter describes the different terranes, compares them withpossible correlative terranes in New Zealand and Australia,and proposes a model for the oceanwards evolution of proto-New Caledonia from the Phanerozoic subduction boundarythat lay along south Gondwana.

Chapter 4 considers the Late Cretaceous to Eocene coverand the transition from rifting to convergence (Maurizotet al. 2020b). The Late Cretaceous to Paleogene cover of sedi-mentary rocks overlies the Late Paleozoic to Early Cretaceousbasement above a pronounced unconformity and structurallyunderlie the allochthonous Eocene nappes. The first periodof cover bed deposition (Late Cretaceous to Late Paleocene)was controlled by plate divergence and rifting, whereas thesecond period (latest Paleocene to Late Eocene) was domi-nated by plate convergence and contraction. This chapterdescribes the two-fold evolution and explains and integratesit into the wider framework of the tectonic evolution of theSW Pacific.

Chapter 5 discusses the Eocene subduction–obduction com-plex (Maurizot et al. 2020c). The subduction–obduction com-plex of Grande Terre is the result of a period of convergence ofthe northern part of the Norfolk Ridge and the obduction of anophiolitic complex. This is the most extensively studied geo-logical topic for NewCaledonia and, as such, the scientific out-put has been prolific. The two main allochthonous andmetamorphic units are the obducted Peridotite Nappe and the

high-pressure–low-temperature metamorphic belt. The othertwo components of the subduction–obduction assemblageare the Poya Terrane and the Montagnes Blanches Nappe.

Chapter 6 describes the onshore geology of the LoyaltyIslands and the current state of knowledge of theLoyalty Ridge (Maurizot et al. 2020d). The three main Loy-alty Islands are the emergent part of the Loyalty Ridge. Theyare composed of thick Miocene to Present carbonate platformdeposits. Minor basalts are exposed on the island of Maré.The geology of most of the submarine Loyalty Ridgeremains unknown.

Chapter 7 considers the post-obduction evolution of NewCaledonia (Sevin et al. 2020). The post-obduction formationsin New Caledonia comprise a variety of disparate and areallyrestricted Neogene geological units. They include granitoidintrusions, regolith cover, and terrestrial and marine deposits.Neogene extensional tectonic collapse of the margins ofGrande Terre explains the meagre geological record preservedonland and suggests that more extensive and informativemarine successions may be present offshore. The onland ter-restrial deposits are important, but are difficult to characterizeand date. The regolith on the Peridotite Nappe is a distinctivefeature of New Caledonian geology.

Chapter 8 describes New Caledonia’s geological and bio-logical evolution afresh in an up-to-date, multi-disciplinaryscheme (Maurizot and Campbell 2020). An isolated islandtoday, New Caledonia was probably entirely submerged forsignificant periods of time following the break-up of Gond-wana. As a result of its isolation and widespread ultramaficsubstrate, the archipelago has inherited and/or developed a

Fig. 1.1. (a) New Caledonia in the SWPacific. (b) New Caledoniaarchipelago. (c) Map of NewCaledonia with 1:50 000 scalegeological map series (grey rectangle)and index numbers. 1, Îles Bélep; 2,Poum–Yandé; 3, Paagoumène; 4,Pam-Ouégoa; 5, Pouébo; 6, Koumac,7, Paimboas; 8, Hienghène; 9,Ouaco-Voh; 10, Goyéta-Pana; 11, 12,Touho-Poindimié; 13, Pouembout;14, Paéoua; 15, Ponérihouen; 16, BaieLebris; 17, Poya-Plaine des Gayacs;18, Mé Maoya; 19, Houaïlou; 20,Kouaoua; 21, Bourail; 22, Moindou;23, Canala-La Foa; 24, Thio; 26,Oua-Tom; 27, Boulouparis; 25–28,Humboldt–Port Bouquei; 29,Kouakoué; 30, La Tontouta; 31,Nouméa; 32, Saint Louis; 33, Yaté;34, Mont Dore; 35, Prony; 36, Îles desPins; 37, Ouvéa; 38, Lifou; 39, Maré.1:25 000 geological and suitability tourbanization map: 40, Nouméa.

P. Maurizot et al.2

unique and unusual biota with outstanding endemism. In thepast, incorrect geological information has fed into biogeo-graphical misinterpretations.

Mineral resources have always been important to the econ-omy of NewCaledonia. Chapter 9 (Maurizot et al. 2020e) andChapter 10 (Maurizot et al. 2020f) provide an exhaustivereview of the metallic, non-metallic, gemstone, hydrocarbonand thermal resources of the archipelago and its ExclusiveEconomic Zone (EEZ). Both chapters deal with nickel andcobalt, which are actively mined, as well as resources whichare not currently exploited.

Previous work

Since the 1850s, our knowledge of the geology of New Cale-donia has progressed in step with technological advances inthe geosciences and the development of the country’s infra-structure. Grand Terre has restricted road and track accessand, as in all tropical lands, the outcrops are often deeplyweathered and masked by abundant vegetation. UnveilingNew Caledonia’s complex geology is therefore not an easytask. From an historical perspective, three phases of dataacquisition can be identified: (1) a pioneering explorationphase, which began shortly after the French settlement in thelate nineteenth century and finished at the end of the SecondWorld War; (2) a more systematic survey phase, extendingfrom the post-war period to the 1980s; and (3) the currentperiod, in which the correlation of onshore and offshore dataand the integration of New Caledonia into the wider SWPacific geodynamic context has been undertaken – and isstill in progress.

Pioneering exploration phase

The first phase of geological investigation was closely linkedto the assessment of the mineral resources of the then-newFrench colony (cf. Chapters 9 and 10). It was marked by thediscovery of abundant and high-grade nickel deposits hostedby the regolith developed on the Peridotite Nappe (Garnier1867a, b, c), as well as other resources such as chromium,coal, base metals and gold (Heurteau 1876; Pelatan 1891;Glasser 1904). The earliest formal scientific publication onNew Caledonia’s geology was published shortly after thebeginning of colonization by an artillery captain reportingon a geological excursion in the south of Grande Terre (Lom-bardeau 1860). The first geomorphological analysis of thecountry was made by Davis (1899). The first major mono-graph on the general geology of Grande Terre and the firstsynthetic geological map at the scale of 1:1 000 000 was pub-lished by Piroutet (1917). Most of the major geological fea-tures, notably the outlines of the ultramafic massifs, weredescribed in this document. Throughout this early phase, thepetrography and mineralogy of many metamorphic, volcanicand ultramafic rocks from the New Caledonia archipelagowere described by Lacroix (1897, 1905, 1918, 1940, 1941,1942), although he never visited the islands.

Systematic survey phase

This second phase of data acquisition led to two generations ofgeological maps. The first coverage, drawn on an incompletetopographic map at a scale of 1:100 000, was made during the1950s. At that time, Grande Terre was subdivided into threestudy areas, from which arose three major monographs (allwritten in French): Avias (1953) for the central part; Routhier(1953) for the NW part; and Arnould (1958) for the NE part.

During this phase many important second-order features ofNew Caledonia geology were recognized. These included:the individual Boghen metamorphic units (Routhier 1953),which were, however, mistakenly considered as a pre-Permian‘sialic core’; the establishment of a first lithostratigraphic out-line of Permian to Jurassic rocks (Avias 1953); the existence oftectonic events that predated the Late Cretaceous deposits(Routhier 1953); the Paleogene age of the northern meta-morphic belt (Arnould 1958); a description of the basalticunit of the west coast (Routhier 1953); the overthrust natureof the Peridotite Nappe (Avias 1967); and the assignmentof the Népoui carbonate formations to the Miocene (Routhier1948).

The second generation of geological mapping took placebetween 1970 and 1990 and was directed by the Bureaude Recherches Géologiques et Minières (BRGM). New1:50 000 scale topographic maps were now available and use-ful contributions by university researchers were incorporatedinto the maps. Among the many geologists who contributedadvances were New Zealand geologists working on theEocene high-pressure–low-temperature metamorphic belt ofnortheastern Grande Terre (e.g. Black 1977; Brothers andBlack 1973) and the Paleozoic–Mesozoic Téremba Terranestratigraphy (Campbell 1984; Campbell et al. 1985; Grant-Mackie 1985). There were also important contributions byCoudray (1977) on the stratigraphy of the Eocene to Neogeneformations and the evolution of the Plio-Quaternary coastalreef complex and by Gonord (1977) on the Eocene syn-tectonic turbidites. Before the end of the BRGM geologicalmapping programme, the synthesis of Paris (1981) waspublished (again in French) and had an accompanying1:200 000 scale geological map. Both the monograph andmap are now out of print. Although Paris (1981) was an impor-tant step, it was published when the uptake of global platetectonic principles by onshore geological map-makers was atan early stage.

From the early 1980s, new concepts in geoscience –

including plate tectonics, terrane analysis and the recognitionof ophiolites as former oceanic lithosphere – gave new per-spectives to the geology of this region. Similarly, there wereimportant technical advances in remote sensing and geophys-ical and analytical methods, notably isotope geochemistryand geochronology.

The systematic survey period involved programmes coordi-nated by the various geoscience institutions in NewCaledonia.In the early 1980s, the BRGM initiated a systematic MineralResources Survey programme, which had several mainoutputs. Notably, it led to advances in the metallogeny ofchromite deposits (Cassard et al. 1981), the platinum groupelements (Augé and Maurizot 1995; Augé et al. 1998), basemetals and gold deposits. During this programme, systematicsampling and geochemical analyses of stream sediments(about three samples per square kilometre) and alluvial con-centrates (about one sample per square kilometre) wereachieved across most of Grande Terre. Increasingly detailedgeological mapping of the main units of the PeridotiteNappe took place in parallel with the BRGM MineralResources Survey. Much data on the mantle fabric, hypogenechromium mineralization and the kinematics of the ultramaficterrane were acquired during this period (Prinzhofer andNicolas 1980; Prinzhofer et al. 1980; Prinzhofer 1981; Sécher1981; Moutte 1982; Podvin 1983; Nicolas 1989).

The Office de la Recherche Scientifique et TechniqueOutre-Mer (Overseas Scientific and Technic Research Office,ORSTOM), now the Institut de Recherche pour le Développe-ment (Research Institute for Development), focused effortson the ultramafic regolith and associated nickel deposits(Trescases 1975, 1985; Latham 1986) and on the regionalgeodynamics of the offshore SW Pacific domain (Equipe

Introduction 3

ORSTOM 1982). There were noteworthy publications on therooting of the Peridotite Nappe in the Loyalty Basin (Collotet al. 1987), the lithospheric bulge of the Loyalty Islandsin response to the east-dipping active Vanuatu subduction(Dubois et al. 1974) and the petrology of arc volcanics (Monz-ier et al. 1984). Several offshore boreholes were drilled in theSW Pacific by the Deep Sea Drilling Project during this period(Burns et al. 1973).

The Université de Nouvelle-Calédonie (University of NewCaledonia) was founded in 1987. It included a geosciencedepartment from the start, which provided education, trainingand research on the onshore geology. The date of founding ofthe university also effectively marks the beginning of tecto-nostratigraphic terrane analysis of New Caledonia backed bythe increasing use of geochronology and geochemistry (Aitch-ison et al. 1995, 1998; Cluzel et al. 1995, 2001, 2005, 2006;Meffre 1995; Meffre et al. 1996; Cluzel and Meffre 2002).By the end of the 1990s, the terrane nomenclature of the coun-try was effectively fixed and this nomenclature persists to thepresent day.

Current phase of work

It is impossible to precisely define a year that marks the changefrom the second to the current phase of geological investiga-tion. However, attention to the offshore geology presenteda new and valuable perspective that was lacking in earlierdecades. Several research and exploration programmes ofNew Caledonia’s EEZ were launched from the 1970s to the1990s to assess the offshore biological and mineral resources,notably the hydrocarbon potential. These had acronymssuch as Zonéco, Extraplac, Noucaplac and Austradec (for acompilation, see Sutherland et al. 2012). These programmesproduced essential contributions that led to the integration ofthe onshore and offshore geology of New Caledonia and abetter appreciation of its context in the broader SW Pacificenvironment (Lafoy et al. 1998, 2005; Van De Beuque1999; Auzende et al. 2000; Collot 2009). The Pleistocene–Holocene lagoon–reef complex of New Caledonia was thor-oughly investigated from the early 1990s to the early 2000s(Cabioch et al. 2008a, b).

One of the more recent institutional developments was thefounding in 2006 of the Service Géologique de Nouvelle-Calédonie (New Caledonia Geological Survey, SGNC). TheSGNC was set up as a government department to create andmaintain the geological databases of New Caledonia and itsEEZ. The SGNC has promoted and participated in severalimportant international marine geoscience initiatives. Therehave been useful collaborations with the geological surveysof New Zealand (GNS Science) and Australia (GeoscienceAustralia) and Ifremer in France. Collaboration is ongoing.This joint work took the form of several research voyageswith the R/V Tangaroa and N/O l’Atalante oceanographicships and culminated in the International Ocean DiscoveryProgramme Leg 371 of research drilling in North Zealandia’sTasman Frontier. At the time of writing, international projectsare still currently ongoing and planned to explore the ‘hiddencontinent’ of Zealandia in the areas between New Caledonia,New Zealand and Australia (Collot et al. 2015; Mortimer andPatriat 2016; Sutherland et al. 2016, 2017). A synthesis mapand explanatory note of the structural provinces of the SWPacific is available at https://dimenc.gouv.nc/ressources/geologie (Collot et al. 2011).

Surprisingly, scientific research on New Caledonia’snickel–cobalt deposits, which generate the main wealth ofthe country, was not active until the 2000s, or was not public.However, since then, the growing global demand for nickel, aswell as depletion of the resource and environmental issues,

have boosted scientific research. In 2007 the Centre Nationalde Recherche et Technologie Nickel et son Environnement(National Centre for Research and Technology Nickel andits Environment, https://www.cnrt.nc) was created. Thisfunding agency supports research projects (more than 50from 2008 to 2019) devoted to the geology, natural environ-ment and social sciences related to nickel. A selection of themany publications of this period includes Beauvais et al.(2007), Cathelineau et al. (2016), Chardon and Chevillotte(2006), Chevillotte et al. (2006), Dublet et al. (2012), Fritschet al. (2016), Quesnel et al. (2017), Robineau et al. (2007) andTraoré et al. (2005).

Geological maps

At the time of writing, the geological map coverage of NewCaledonia consists of 39 geological maps at 1:50 000 scaleand their explanatory notes, written in French (Fig. 1.1). Cov-erage is of Grande Terre and the Loyalty Islands, but not theislands of Chesterfield, d’Entrecasteaux, Matthew or Hunter.The Grande Terre maps are of variable detail and were pub-lished at different times (Espirat and Millon 1965, 1967,1971; Millon 1965; Carroué and Espirat 1967; Noesmoen1970a, b, 1971; Carroué 1971a, b, c, 1972a, b, c; Espirat1971a, b, c; Guillon and Trescases 1972, 1976; Lozes andYerle 1976; Lozes and Guérangé 1977; Paris 1977; Trescasesand Guillon 1977; Guy et al. 1979; Arène et al. 1980; Faureand Paris 1982; Paris and Guy 1982; Faure et al. 1983; Vogtand Podvin 1983; Maurizot et al. 1984, 1986, 1989; Guillonet al. 1986; Maurizot and Gasc 1986; Tessarolo et al. 1986).The geological mapping of the three Loyalty Islands(https://dimenc.gouv.nc/ressources/geologie) was carriedout more recently (Maurizot and Lafoy 2003, 2004a, b). Allthese 1:50 000 geological maps were digitized, edge-matchedand merged in the early 2000s. The maps are still beingimproved and regularly updated, notably by regolith mappingon the ultramafic massifs. There is also a 1:25 000 urban geo-logical map of the Nouméa Peninsula (Maurizot and Gasc1986).

Figure 1.2 is a small-scale geological map synthesis basedon this set of 1:50 000 scale sheets and based on the followingstratigraphic scheme. This map is provided in geographicalinformation system format in the Supplementary material(available online). It is an updated version of the 1:500 000geological map (Maurizot and Vendé-Leclerc 2009) andits short explanatory note (https://dimenc.gouv.nc/ressources/la-géologie), which is available in both paper and digital form.An A3 size geological map of New Caledonia was also pub-lished in the 2012 Research Institute for Development Atlas(Maurizot and Vendé-Leclerc 2012).

A regularly updated multi-scale geological map, along withmany other datasets, a catalogue, and metadata, can be viewedin online at the portal https://georep.nc. This online geo-graphical information system includes a digitized version ofthe Paris (1981) 1:200 000 geological map. The availabilityof, and progress on, New Caledonia geological maps aresummarized in Table 1.1.

High-level stratigraphic scheme for New Caledonia

Geological models and hypothesis are transient. However, ifgeological units are well defined in time and space and arearranged in a consistent scheme, that scheme may provide astable and useful framework for the earth science communityprovide common terms when discussing a specific geologicaltopic or place. The coherent classification of geological units

P. Maurizot et al.4

Fig. 1.2. Geological map of New Caledonia (1:1 300 000 scale). Numerical ages after the International Chronostratigraphic Chart v2018/08 (Cohen et al. 2013; updated). Units with an asterisk are undated.

Grande Terre

Subduc�on-Obduc�on Assemblage

Post-obduc�on Assemblage

Nép

oui G

roup

Fluvio-lacustrine Forma�onFluvio-lacustrine Forma�on

Re

go

lit

h

Maré Basalts

Plio-Pleistocene atollstage reef system

Pleistocene -Holocene forma�ons

Rhodolith LimestoneRawa Limestone

Reef and Lagoon system Fluvio-li�oral forma�onsPresent Reef and Lagoon systemupli�ed reef

Late Oligocene granitoidsSaint LouisKoum

HP-LT Metamorphic BeltDiahot-PaniéMetamorphic

Complex

Basement AssemblageKoh-Central Terrane

Central Range Volcaniclas�c Rocks

Koh Ophiolite

Koh Unit

Nouméa-Dumbéa Unit

Gondé-Nétéa sub-terranes

Ponérihouen-Goipin UnitPouembout Unit

Thio UnitSarraméa UnitLa Foa Unit

Cantaloupai UnitTarouimba-Sphynx Unit

Pocquereux-Nassirah-Koua Unit

Boghen TerraneTéremba TerraneBaie de Saint Vincent Group

Bour

ail G

roup

Syntectonic Sequence

Grande Terre Sequence Loyalty Sequence

Ri� Sequence

Lower Bourail Turbidites Fm

Uitoé Limestone Mb

Volcaniclas�c sandstone and breccia MbRed sandstone and conglomerate Mb

Adio Limestone MbLower Micrite and chert Mb

Black Cherts Forma�on‘Mamelons Rouges’ Fm

Black Cherts Forma�on Black Cherts Forma�on

Meta-basalt (Pic Ougne Zone)

‘Mamelons Rouges’ Fm ‘Mamelons Rouges’ Fm

Diahot Volcanic Rocks‘Forma�on à charbon’

Congo ConglomerateDumbéa Gp

(Syn-Ri�)

Maré Gp

Som

met

Khi

an G

p

Col de Boghen Gp(Post-Ri�)

Pic Jacob Volcanic Rocks

Upper Micrite MbCalciturbidite MbCalciturbidite Mb

Fine Grained Turbidites Mb

Buadio Breccia

Népoui - Koumac Gp

Creek Aymes Limestone Mb

Upper Bourail Turbidites Fm

Koumac LimestoneForma�on

Koumac LimestoneForma�on

Olistostrome

Upper Népoui Forma�on

Muéo Forma�on

Lower Népoui Forma�on

Baie de Téremba Group

Mara Forma�onMoindou Forma�on

Ouaraï Forma�onOuamoui Forma�onLeprédour Shell BedsBouraké Forma�onTani Forma�on

Ilot Testard Forma�on

Testard MemberMoziman Member

Chapeau Chinois Limestone MemberOperculina Green SandXuudhen Limestone Member

Pindaï ConglomerateWharf MemberNepu Member

Perido�te NappePouéboTerrane

Koné Facies

Poya Terrane Basalts

Montagnes BlanchesNappe

Pre-obduc�on AssemblagePoya Terrane

Loyalty Islands

Member

Terrane, Nappe, or SequenceAssemblage

Group

Forma�on

Hierarchical level

Major unconformity

105

300

0

34

Ma

Gwa N’Doro Forma�onGwa N’Doro Forma�on

Me

so

zo

ic

Ce

no

zo

ic

Pa

le

oz

oi

c

Fig. 1.3. Formal nomenclature of geological units of New Caledonia. Excludes the Hunter–Matthew and Chesterfield island groups. Numerical ages after the International Chronostratigraphic Chart v2018/08 (Cohen et al. 2013; updated).

using consistently applied biostratigraphic, lithostratigraphic,chronostratigraphic or other criteria is not an easy task in acountry where the geology is highly complex and wheremost stratigraphic names, to date, are informal. There is nospecific committee to approve New Caledonian geologicalmap units or stratotypes. By convention, the names of geolog-ical units are generated in published papers and a test of theirusefulness is simply how well, or if, they are cited.

Here, we formalize a basic stratigraphic hierarchy of theNew Caledonia geological units that are used in the differentchapters of this Memoir, in the legend of the geologicalmap (Fig. 1.2) and in the attribute table of the digital geo-logical map provided in the Supplementary material for thischapter. The basis of the hierarchy is tectonostratigraphicbecause such schemes have remained stable and have beenapplied usefully in New Caledonia since the end of the1990s (Aitchison and Meffre 1992; Cluzel et al. 1994), evenif some issues still remain. A summary of the units is presentedin Figure 1.3. The scheme is hierarchically organized intofour high-level ‘Assemblages’ (which match the individualchapters of this Memoir) then, in increasing detail, ‘Terrane,Nappe or Sequence’, ‘Group’, ‘Formation’ and ‘Member’.The lower three ranks are only populated by coherent sedi-mentary successions. The general terms ‘unit’ and ‘com-plex’ are not included in this new formal hierarchy, but arestill useful synonyms. So are the terms ‘basement’ and‘cover’, which are in common use in New Zealand (Mortimeret al. 2014); these are also occasionally used in NewCaledonia(instead of Basement Assemblage and Pre-ObductionAssemblage).

The four major tectostratigraphic assemblages of New Cal-edonia are: (1) the Basement Assemblage (Chapter 3), whichconsists of three amalgamated terranes lying beneath the LateCretaceous unconformity; (2) the Pre-Obduction Assemblage(Chapter 4), Late Cretaceous to Paleogene sedimentarysuccessions that unconformably overlie the basement andstructurally underlie the allochthonous terranes; (3) The Sub-duction–Obduction Assemblage (Chapter 5), consisting ofmostly allochthonous units emplaced during the Eoceneperiod of convergence, which involved subduction followedby obduction; and (4) the Post-Obduction Assemblage,which consists of a variety of Late Oligocene to Holocene geo-logical units on both Grande Terre and the Loyalty Islands(Chapters 6 and 7).

Thirty-nine years of advances

A comparison of the last synthesis of New Caledonia geologyby Paris (1981) with the present Memoir highlights severalmajor advances in knowledge that have been made duringthe last 39 years.

Three terranes are now defined in the basement (Chapter3) and constitute a stable and much-used scheme. The Bog-hen Terrane was formerly termed the ‘pre-Permian sialiccore’ of Grande Terre on the basis of its metamorphicnature and a putative unconformity below unmetamor-phosed Permian rocks (Avias and Gonord 1973). The proto-lith of the unit was proven to be Mesozoic by U–Pb datingon zircons (Cluzel and Meffre 2002; Cluzel et al. 2010) andis now interpreted as a Mesozoic subduction complex. Thetwo other terranes, the Téremba and Koh-Central terranes,are interpreted to be proximal and distal forearc basindeposits, respectively. They are related to an intra-oceanicvolcanic arc located to the west, offshore from the easternGondwana margin, and probably separated from it by amarginal basin.

In what is now the Pre-Obduction Assemblage (Chapter 4),the Late Cretaceous basal unconformity was already

recognized in the 1950s as a geological horizon of regionalfirst-order importance, equivalent with that of New Zealand(Avias 1953; Routhier 1953; Laird 1981). Ubiquitous base-ment rift structures have been traced throughout Zealandiain seismic profiles (Bache et al. 2012; Rouillard et al. 2014,2015; Mortimer et al. 2017). Although the syn-tectonic natureof most of the Eocene deposits was recognized in the 1980s(Gonord 1977), a coherent interpretation for the whole Eoceneflysch was still missing. The Bourail Group is now interpretedas having been deposited in a typical foreland basin, synchro-nous with the Eocene convergence and subduction (Cluzelet al. 1998; Maurizot 2011, 2013, 2014; Maurizot and Cluzel2014). The Late Eocene Népoui–Koumac Flysch, formerlyregarded as post-dating the obduction of the PeridotiteNappe (Paris et al. 1979; Paris 1981), is now interpretedas a pre-obduction syn-tectonic infill of piggy-back basinstransported on the Poya Terrane during its forearc accretion(Cluzel 1998).

Three separate allochthonous units in the subduction–obduction complex (Chapter 5) are now clearly defined intheir successive stacking order – namely, the MontagnesBlanches Nappe (Maurizot 2011), the Poya Terrane (Cluzelet al. 2001), including the Koné facies (Cluzel et al. 2017),and the Peridotite Nappe (Avias 1967). Numerous radiomet-ric ages constrain (1) the beginning of convergence at thePaleocene–Eocene boundary (Cluzel et al. 2006, 2012a, b,2016; Maurizot 2013), (2) subduction spanning the wholeEocene (Ghent et al. 1994; Rawling 1998; Cluzel et al.2001; Spandler et al. 2005; Baldwin et al. 2007; Pirardand Spandler 2017) and (3) the final obduction and exhuma-tion at the end of the Eocene (Ghent et al. 1994; Rawling1998; Baldwin et al. 2007). The Pouébo Terrrane has beenrecognized in the high-pressure–low-temperature metamor-phic belt as the metamorphosed equivalent of the Poya Ter-rane (Cluzel et al. 2001). A number of radiometric ages andgeothermobarometry on various mineral assemblages hasconstrained the P–T–t metamorphic path (Black 1974;Clarke et al. 1997; Carson et al. 1999; Fitzherbert 2002;Fitzherbert et al. 2003, 2004; Agard and Vitale-Brovarone2013; Vitale Brovarone and Agard 2013, Taetz et al.2016). The gabbronorite cumulates of the Massif du Sud,which were originally thought to be the products of a mid-oceanic spreading ridge (Prinzhofer et al. 1980; Prinzhoferand Allegre 1983), are now reassessed as a supra-subductionforearc crust (Marchesi et al. 2009; Pirard et al. 2013; Cluzelet al. 2016; Secchiari et al. 2018).

Many advances have also been made in the Post-ObductionAssemblage (Chapters 6 and 7). The Loyalty Islands werealmost ignored in 1980s publications. Geological mappingof the islands was carried out in the 2000s (Maurizot andLafoy 2003, 2004a, b, 2006) and the Loyalty Ridge is nowintegrated in the geology of New Caledonia (Chapter 6).The Koum and Saint Louis granitoids, which intrude the Peri-dotite Nappe and its substrate, have been dated at 27–24 Ma(Cluzel et al. 2005). Systematic mapping of the regolith isstill in progress, while indirect dating of the main ferricreteof the Goro and Tiébaghi ultramafic massifs by palaeomag-netic methods has been interpreted at c. 25 Ma (Sevin et al.2012). The discovery by drilling of a new c. 100 m thick reefallimestone underlying the so-called ‘basal conglomerate’ of theMiocene Népoui Formation led to the reinterpretation of thelatter as a consequence of short-lived uplift due to post-obduction slab break-off (Sevin et al. 2014). The siliciclasticand carbonate-dominated Népoui Group is now dated asAquitanian–Burdigalian by its foram content and strontiumisotope stratigraphy (Maurizot et al. 2016). The older exposedsequence of the carbonate platform of the Loyalty Islands hasbeen dated in Maré as Mid-Miocene (Maurizot and Lafoy2003).

Introduction 5

Remaining problems

Although many advances have been made in the last 39 years,there remain many shortcomings in our knowledge of NewCaledonia geology.

• Refining the stratigraphy of all the Paleozoic–EarlyMesozoic basement terranes of Grande Terre is hamperedby the rarity of fossils and detrital zircons. Both arescarce because of the dominantly volcaniclastic prove-nance. The Koh-Central Terrane in particular lacks goodlithostratigraphic subdivision and the protolith age of theareally extensive metamorphic Boghen Terrane relies onlyon a few samples (Cluzel and Meffre 2002; Cluzel et al.2010). Knowledge of the Basement Assemblage could begreatly improved by more detailed cross-sections, geologi-cal mapping, systematic sampling and detrital zirconanalysis.

• The P–T–t path of the Boghen Terrane is still poorlydefined.

• Although progress has been made in establishing a generalstratigraphy of the Eocene flysch (Maurizot 2011, 2013,2014; Maurizot and Cluzel 2014), dating has been basedonly on benthic and planktonic forams. This needs to berefined in key sections by integrated nannofossil, radiolar-ian, foram and magnetostratigraphy work (e.g. Dallanaveet al. 2018).

• A better knowledge of the Subduction–Obduction Assem-blage of New Caledonia is certainly desirable in terms ofthe scientific, economic and environmental benefits. Initia-tives such as the New Caledonia Drilling Project to promotea proposal (NCDP 2019) to international drilling organiza-tions (e.g. the International Ocean Discovery Program orthe European Consortium for Ocean Research Drilling)should be encouraged.

• The subduction–obduction complex of New Caledoniais one of the major occurrences of high-pressure–low-temperature metamorphic rocks worldwide, but contradic-tory tectonic models exist (Cluzel et al. 2001; Rawlingand Lister 2002; Lagabrielle et al. 2013; Gautier et al.2016). The high-pressure–low-temperature metamorphicbelt is under-investigated in the remote area of MontPanié. As explained in this Chapter 5, the nature of theboundary between the Diahot Terrane and the MontagneBlanche Nappe is poorly characterized.

• The study of Peridotite Nappe petrofabrics performed bylattice preferred orientation analysis with the universalstage dates back to the 1980s (Prinzhofer et al. 1980). Amore accurate and areally extensive appraisal of high-temperature mantle deformation could be obtained by sys-tematic back-scattered electron diffraction or anisotropyof magnetic susceptibility methods.

• The crustal sequence of the Peridotite Nappe is still undated.• Based on its morphology and geophysical anomalies, the

deep part of the Loyalty Ridge near New Caledonia isregarded as an Eocene volcanic arc (e.g. Cluzel et al.2001). However, no sample has ever been obtained andthe age and nature of the Loyalty Ridge basement remainsone of the main unknowns of SW Pacific tectonics. Deepdredging or drilling of this part of the ridge could test theEocene arc hypothesis.

• Reconstituting the spatio-temporal development of thePost-Obduction Assemblage evolution of Grande Terreis complicated by the fact that many of its formationsderive from the weathering of the Peridotite Nappe,which defy accurate and precise dating by any methodtried so far. Direct dating by palynomorphs could be a sol-ution in the Fluvio-lacustrine Formation and/or in theNépoui Group.

• The development of the Pleistocene–Holocene lagoon–reefcomplex is a potentially rich field of research that has beenlargely abandoned since the premature passing away of itsleader G. Cabioch (e.g. Cabioch et al. 2008a, b). Thisresearch theme should be taken forward as a result of itsimportance regarding climate change baselines.

From a more general standpoint, the geoscientific data infra-structure of New Caledonia still have some weaknesses.The oldest geological maps (1:50 000) date back to the1970s and are largely obsolete. A new generation of geo-logical maps is desirable. Systematic geophysical surveys(e.g. airborne electromagnetic, gravimetric and radiometriccoverage) are seriously lacking in a country that is dependenton its mineral resources and has many difficult to accessremote areas. The deep structure and nature of the crust andupper mantle underlying the New Caledonia area remains tobe investigated using seismic methods, including refraction,reflection and tomography. Such studies, combined withonshore and offshore investigations, will lead to a betterunderstanding of the geology of New Caledonia in the contextof the continent of Zealandia.

Acknowledgements The original idea of this Memoir was the ini-tiative of the Geological Survey of NewCaledonia in partnership withthe Earth Science department of the University of New Caledonia.However, it could not have been realized without the long-termco-operation and collaboration of many geologists from the widerSW Pacific region, mainly from New Zealand and Australia. Thesejoint efforts are both long-standing and valued. This Memoir is ded-icated to all those involved. We gratefully acknowledge the Govern-ment of New Caledonia for their support of this work, and itsappreciation that the importance of natural resources to the economyof the country was a major motivation of the project. We acknow-ledge the role played by editor Nick Mortimer in reviewing all the

Table 1.1. Information on geological maps of New Caledonia

Paper* Online digital†

Scale Date of publication Map Explanatory note Map Explanatory note

1:50 000 1967–86 Yes Yes Yes No1:200 000‡ 1981 Out of print Out of print Yes No1:500 000 (A1)§ 2009 Yes Yes Yes Yes1:1 300 000 (A3)¶ 2019 Yes Yes Yes Yes

*Paper versions are available at Direction de l’Industrie, des Mines, et de l’Energie de Nouvelle-Calédonie, Geological Survey of New Caledonia, 1 ter rue Unger, Vallée du Tir, B.P.M2, 98849 Nouméa CEDEX, New Caledonia.

†Online digital version downloadable at the portal https://georep.nc‡Paris (1981).§Maurizot and Vendé-Leclerc (2009).¶This Memoir.

P. Maurizot et al.6

submissions, co-ordinating referee comments and providing guidanceon revisions.

Funding This research was funded by the Geological Survey ofNew Caledonia, Government of New Caledonia.

Author contributions PM: conceptualization (equal); BR:supervision (lead); MV-L: data curation (lead); DC:conceptualization (lead).

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