This project is an ongoing investigation of magma generation processes in subduction zones and back-arc basins in the southwest Pacific, and their links with the tectonic evolution of this region.

In 2019, a paper was published in collaboration with IFREMER and the University of Melbourne on the subduction initiation processes at the southern termination of the North Fiji Basin, as inferred from trace element and isotopic compositions of modern volcanic rocks in this region. Research focus during 2019 was on understanding the processes leading to formation of adakite magmas in the modern subduction zones. This study is based on samples from active adakite volcanoes within the underwater section of the Hunter Ridge. A paper is planned for publication in 2020.

This project is an ongoing investigation of magma generation processes in subduction zones and back-arc basins in the southwest Pacific, and their links with the tectonic evolution of this region.

In 2018 the focus was on magma genesis at the southern termination of the Hunter Ridge, a unique tectonic setting associated with a recent initiation of subduction of the South Fiji Basin crust under the actively spreading North Fiji Basin. A paper published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters has described the unique associations of magmatic rock erupted in this setting, and their implications for the models of processes occurring within subduction zones.