Woodlark Basin
| Woodlark Basin | |
|---|---|
| Type | Oceanic basin |
| Location | |
| Coordinates | 10°15′S 153°45′E / 10.25°S 153.75°E |
| Region | Southwestern Pacific Ocean |
| Country | Papua New Guinea |
The Woodlark Basin is a young geologic structural basin located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, found to the southeast of the island country of Papua New Guinea. The basin is an extensional basin that is actively spreading and has a seafloor spreading center. The basin formed between the then Indo-Australian plate and the Solomon microplate creating the presently independent Woodlark plate. The Woodlark Basin has a complex geologic history dating back twenty million years to the initial opening of the basin but most of the spreading has happened in the last 3.6 million years.
The subduction under the New Britain Trench to the north and the northern San Cristobal Trough to the east in the Woodlark Basin is unusual because the new crust is very young and light unlike most oceanic crust that gets subducted which is older and of higher density with higher sedimentary load.