Neogene history of the northeastern New Caledonia continental margin from multichannel reflection seismic profiles

Reflection seismic profiles acquired from the outer shelf to the lagoon along the northeastern margin of the New Caledonia Ridge constrain the main events that punctuated its development since the mid-Miocene. These are: (i) Late Miocene extensional faulting that disrupted an Early–Mid-Miocene clastic wedge and its lateritic abandonment surface; (ii) fluvial erosion of the collapsed distal part of the wedge before its burial under an aggradational fluvial-deltaic sequence abandoned in the Early(?) Pliocene; (iii) deposition of a transgressive carbonate sequence on the top of the low-level Early Pliocene fluvial-deltaic sedimentary system and (iv) Late(?) Pliocene–Quaternary sea-level rise and aggradation of a 250- to 450-m-thick carbonate platform topped by the barrier reef. The results also confirm that the floor of the northeastern lagoon records two successive incision/aggradation cycles related to recent (the last two?) glacial/interglacial eustatic stages.