The Geological History of New Caledonia in its Australasian Context

Abstract

New Caledonia is one of the older land masses in Australasia. Its stratigraphic column ranges from the Permian to the Miocene with relatively few breaks in the sequence (Lillie & Brothers, 1970). The first emergence of land in the area was probably in the Upper Jurassic, an event possibly associated with the Rangitata Orogeny of New Zealand. The sedimentary sequence in some areas is broken then, with some evidence of metamorphism, and does not resume until the Upper Cretaceous (Guillon, 1974). Where Cretaceous deposits do occur they contain coal (Formation à Charbon) in some strata (Lillie amp; Brothers, 1970: figure 2), suggesting alternation of land and marine facies until further episodes of uplift occurred in the Eocene. From then onwards land in the area was probably significant to substantial, as will be seen when the geology is discussed in more detail.