[1] The subduction of the DER is responsible for the anomalous morphology of the central part of New Hebrides arc whose movement more closely matches the north-east direction of the subducting Australian Plate (the rest of the New Hebrides arc rotate west in front of the southward expanding North Fiji Basin).
[2] The name honours French naval officer Antoine Bruni d'Entrecasteaux, explorer of the south-west Pacific in the late 18th century.
[3] These are separated by the Central d'Entrecasteaux Basin [4] This has a smooth surface covered by sediments, which is deepening eastward to 4,000 m (13,000 ft) west of Santo Island.
The seamounts, including the Sabine Bank which reaches 7 m (23 ft) bsl, are the volcanic remnants of an old island arc.
The western platform has experienced an Eocene compressional phase followed by Middle Miocene to Quaternary uplift and tilt,[1] and indeed the next dredged sample to the north east has a poorly constrained age that is greater than 21 Ma and of primitive arc tholeiite composition consistent with subduction related formation.