About: Hjort Trench

The Hjort Trench is a linear topographic depression south of Macquarie Island in the southwest Pacific Ocean. Geologically, the depression is considered to be the seafloor expression of an ocean-ocean subduction zone, where the Australian plate is thrusting beneath the Pacific Plate. As the southernmost portion of the Macquarie Ridge Complex, the Hjort Trench lies in an area of diagonal convergence produced by the transform fault evolution of the Emerald Fracture Zone. Frequent seismic events, most less than 20 km (12 mi) deep, characterize the transpression along this plate boundary.