Caroline Plate
My Blogs (olelog) are mainly based on my daily reading of earth science news. Here on whatonearth.olehnielsen.dk I try to weave some of the pieces together to a greater whole with added background info.

The Caroline Plate is an oceanic plate which lies near the equator in the western Pacific. It is surrounded by three major plates: the Pacific Plate to the north and to the east, Philippine Sea Plate to the west, and Australian Plate to the south. It may not be older than about 25 million years. The Paleogene arc along the southern margin of the Caroline plate was juxtaposed against Papua New Guinea Mobile Belt in the early Miocene, coeval with locking up of the west dipping Solomon subduction zone by the Ontong Java Plateau. These events initiated wrenching along the northern Papua New Guinea margin and increased westward subduction of the Solomon Sea plate beneath the eastern margin. A change in plate motion at ~12–10 million years ago terminated the arc and caused Papua New Guinea -Caroline plate convergence, creating the orogenic belt in New Guinea from 12 to 4 million years ago. Early studies suggest that the Caroline Plate has undergone a counterclockwise rotation with respect to the Philippine Sea Plate.

Caroline plate treated in Olelog

p.m.

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