New Hebrides Trench

The trench was first described in 1962 by the U.S. research vessel "Spencer F. Baird", in the Scripps Institution of Oceanography Proa Expedition[2] and was explored in more detail in 2013 by the University of Aberdeen's Oceanlab team.

[9] From 3 million years ago the southernmost Central Spreading Ridge of the North Fiji Basin propagated southward and has now intersected with the New Hebrides Trench and the Hunter fracture zone to form a triple junction with the Conway Reef plate.

[5] There have been multiple earthquakes including swarms of magnitude Mw 7.0+ during recent decades impacting on New Caledonia and Vanuatu.

[5] The 5 December 2018 Mw 7.5 normal faulting earthquake generated a tsunami of more than 2 m (6 ft 7 in) in southern New Caledonia and Vanuatu.

[15] Fish species known include those from the genus Pachycara (e.g. Pachycara moelleri at 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) depth), Ilyophis robinsae or large Synaphobranchid, Synaphobranchus brevidorsalis, Hydrolagus spp., Bathyraja spp., Bassozetus spp., Antimora rostrata multiple species of Coryphaenoides, members of the Zoarcidae family and members of the family Alepocephalidae.