[2] It is named after the Russian research vessel Vityaz that discovered it in 1958.
[2] It was formed during the middle Neogene (activity stopped about 8 million years ago), when its location was the then convergent plate boundary between the Pacific and Indo-Australian Plates.
[2] At this time the Vitiaz Arc was a continuous east-facing volcanic arc extending from the region of Tonga to the region of the Solomon Islands.
Now it is inactive (i.e. fossil) but has geological importance as it separates the northern Cretaceous crust of the Pacific Plate from the Cenozoic basalts of the North Fiji and Lau Basins.
[2] To its south west is the East Melanesian Rise and onward, deep under the present North Fiji Basin is a zone of deep earthquakes believed to be associated with the slab of Pacific Crust subducted previously at the trench.