Kenn Plateau Geology: Continental Fragment Evolution in the Southwest Pacific

The Australian Ocean Data Network provides a geological description of the Kenn Plateau, a submarine continental fragment with an area of about 140,000 km². The description details its tectonic history from the Cretaceous to the present, including rifting, volcanic activity, and sediment deposition. The dataset was last updated on 2026-06-05.

Use Cases

• Modeling plate tectonic reconstructions based on described fault structures and rotation.
• Studying sedimentary basin evolution using described sequences of siliciclastic and carbonate deposits.
• Analyzing hotspot volcanic chains and seamount formation based on the described Tasmantid and Lord Howe chains.
• Investigating regional unconformities and their correlation to tectonic events described for the Late Paleocene and Late Eocene.

Strengths

• Description provides specific quantitative facts, such as the plateau's area of about 140,000 km² and subsidence of 2000 m or more.
• The geological narrative is detailed, covering multiple epochs and processes from the Late Triassic to the present.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to data_gov_au, focusing on a specific region.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Time Range

Cretaceous to present (geological time scale)

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-05 07:11:14.231944; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Kenn Plateau, northeast of Australia in the Southwest Pacific