Oceanic plateau

An oceanic or submarine plateau is a large, relatively flat elevation that is higher than the surrounding relief with one or more relatively steep sides.

[2] The South Pacific region around Australia and New Zealand contains the greatest number of oceanic plateaus (see map).

Oceanic plateaus produced by large igneous provinces are often associated with hotspots, mantle plumes, and volcanic islands — such as Iceland, Hawaii, Cape Verde, and Kerguelen.

Other oceanic plateaus, however, are made of rifted continental crust, for example the Falkland Plateau, Lord Howe Rise, and parts of Kerguelen, Seychelles, and Arctic ridges.

Such terranes are often better preserved than the exposed parts of continental flood basalts and are therefore a better record of large-scale volcanic eruptions throughout Earth's history.

Map showing the location of oceanic plateaus (in green) in the Australia-New Zealand region of the South Pacific
The Rockall Plateau in the North Atlantic is underlain by continental crust. It rifted from Greenland during the opening of the North Atlantic . [ 6 ]