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119-688: Fiji lies in a tectonically complex area between the Australian Plate and the Pacific Plate . The Fiji Platform lies in a zone bordered by active extension fault lines, around which most of the shallow earthquakes in the area have been centred. These fault lines are: the Fiji Fracture Zone (FFZ) to the north; the 176° Extension Zone (176°E EZ) to the west; and the Hunter Fracture Zone (HFZ) and Lau Ridge to

238-500: A population of 93,970, and Suva's metropolitan area, which includes its independent suburbs, had a population of 185,913. The combined urban population of Suva and the towns of Lami , Nasinu , and Nausori that border it was around 330,000: over a third of the nation's population. (This urban complex, excluding Lami, is also known as the Suva-Nausori corridor .) Suva is the political, economic, and cultural centre of Fiji. It

357-439: A consequence, a powerful source generating plate motion is the excess density of the oceanic lithosphere sinking in subduction zones. When the new crust forms at mid-ocean ridges, this oceanic lithosphere is initially less dense than the underlying asthenosphere, but it becomes denser with age as it conductively cools and thickens. The greater density of old lithosphere relative to the underlying asthenosphere allows it to sink into

476-677: A favoured interest in Bollywood by all, some prominent singers and actors have held shows in the capital which include singers like Shaan , Sonu Nigam , Sunidhi Chauhan and movie artists like Shah Rukh Khan , Priyanka Chopra , Johnny Lever , Dino Morea , Rajpal Yadav , Sunny Leone and the like. Suva offers a varied and interesting culinary experience where almost every if not all major cuisines are represented. Particularly popular cuisines are Fijian , Indian , Chinese , American and foods from other cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Fijians of Indian descent have influenced Fiji's cuisine, in

595-450: A few tens of millions of years. Armed with the knowledge of a new heat source, scientists realized that Earth would be much older, and that its core was still sufficiently hot to be liquid. By 1915, after having published a first article in 1912, Alfred Wegener was making serious arguments for the idea of continental drift in the first edition of The Origin of Continents and Oceans . In that book (re-issued in four successive editions up to

714-579: A layer of basalt (sial) underlies the continental rocks. However, based on abnormalities in plumb line deflection by the Andes in Peru, Pierre Bouguer had deduced that less-dense mountains must have a downward projection into the denser layer underneath. The concept that mountains had "roots" was confirmed by George B. Airy a hundred years later, during study of Himalayan gravitation, and seismic studies detected corresponding density variations. Therefore, by

833-414: A lord mayor and deputy lord mayor, who served one-year terms and were eligible for re-election. However, in 2009, the military -backed interim Fijian government dismissed all municipal government officials throughout Fiji and appointed special administrators to run the urban areas. As of 2015 , elected municipal government had not been restored. The special administrator of Suva, along with nearby Nasinu ,

952-400: A misnomer as there is no force "pushing" horizontally, indeed tensional features are dominant along ridges. It is more accurate to refer to this mechanism as "gravitational sliding", since the topography across the whole plate can vary considerably and spreading ridges are only the most prominent feature. Other mechanisms generating this gravitational secondary force include flexural bulging of

1071-410: A mix of modern buildings and colonial-period architecture. Suva is located around a harbour on a hilly peninsula in the southeast corner of Viti Levu Island, between Laucala Bay and Suva Harbour. The mountains to its north and west catch the southeast trade winds, producing year-round moist conditions. Although Suva is on a peninsula, and almost surrounded by sea, its coast is lined with mangroves -

1190-627: A scenic walk along Suva's foreshore. Many city residents go to the Colo-i-Suva Forest Reserve , a short drive from the city centre, to swim under the waterfalls . Many concerts are held in Suva, some coming from other countries to enjoy world-class performances. Concerts and shows are usually staged at one of the above-mentioned venues on a monthly basis. Some of the famous music artists to hold shows in Suva include UB40 , Lucky Dube , O'Yaba , Sean Kingston and many others. Due to

1309-558: A secondary phenomenon of this basically vertically oriented mechanism. It finds its roots in the Undation Model of van Bemmelen . This can act on various scales, from the small scale of one island arc up to the larger scale of an entire ocean basin. Alfred Wegener , being a meteorologist , had proposed tidal forces and centrifugal forces as the main driving mechanisms behind continental drift ; however, these forces were considered far too small to cause continental motion as

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1428-510: A sole flight to Sydney , with the main operator out of the airport being Fiji Link . Fiji Link provides services to domestic locations within Fiji such as Savusavu and Rotuma . Suva has a public transport system consisting of buses (Central Transport Co.) and taxis servicing the metropolitan area as well as the cities of Nasinu, Nausori, and Lami town. There are bus services connecting Suva with other towns and cities on Viti Levu by way of either

1547-407: A solid crust and mantle and a liquid core, but there seemed to be no way that portions of the crust could move around. Many distinguished scientists of the time, such as Harold Jeffreys and Charles Schuchert , were outspoken critics of continental drift. Despite much opposition, the view of continental drift gained support and a lively debate started between "drifters" or "mobilists" (proponents of

1666-478: A static Earth without moving continents up until the major breakthroughs of the early sixties. Two- and three-dimensional imaging of Earth's interior ( seismic tomography ) shows a varying lateral density distribution throughout the mantle. Such density variations can be material (from rock chemistry), mineral (from variations in mineral structures), or thermal (through thermal expansion and contraction from heat energy). The manifestation of this varying lateral density

1785-566: Is Chandu Umaria , a former lord mayor of Suva. A well-known landmark is the Suva City Carnegie Library , which was built in 1909. It is one of many colonial-period buildings in the city. Another landmark is Suva's governmental building complex. It sits on what was once the flowing waters of a creek. In 1935, the creek was drained, and the complex's foundations were created by driving more than five kilometres of reinforced concrete pilings into its bed. The foundation stone

1904-438: Is mantle convection from buoyancy forces. How mantle convection directly and indirectly relates to plate motion is a matter of ongoing study and discussion in geodynamics. Somehow, this energy must be transferred to the lithosphere for tectonic plates to move. There are essentially two main types of mechanisms that are thought to exist related to the dynamics of the mantle that influence plate motion which are primary (through

2023-585: Is English, but Fijian , Fiji Hindi , and other languages are also spoken by their respective communities. Suva's inhabitants are representative of all the major indigenous Pacific groups: it is sometimes referred to as the “ New York of the Pacific". The city has a reputation as a major economic centre in the region and is the site of University of the South Pacific 's main campus. This has led to an influx of Pacific migrants, who study, work, and live in

2142-408: Is a popular spot for viewing sunrise and sunset. Thurston Gardens , which opened in 1913, features flora from throughout the South Pacific. Suva has many shopping and retail areas, notably Cumming Street, which has been a vibrant and colourful shopping area since colonial times. The Cumming Street area features original colonial buildings and narrow roads. Suva also has modern shopping malls, such as

2261-522: Is also the economic and cultural capital of the South Pacific, hosting the majority of the regional headquarters of major international corporations, international agencies, and diplomatic missions. The city also has a thriving arts and performance scene, and a growing reputation as the region's fashion capital . In 1868, when Suva was still a small village, the Bauan chieftain , Seru Epenisa Cakobau , granted 5,000 km (1,900 sq mi) of land to

2380-570: Is archaeological evidence contradicting this account. Ferry service, provided by the Patterson Brothers Shipping Company , connects Viti Levu to the rest of the islands. Nausori International Airport is on the main island. It has service on 3 domestic commercial passenger airlines. Plate tectonics Plate tectonics (from Latin tectonicus , from Ancient Greek τεκτονικός ( tektonikós )  'pertaining to building')

2499-527: Is based on their modes of formation. Oceanic crust is formed at sea-floor spreading centers. Continental crust is formed through arc volcanism and accretion of terranes through plate tectonic processes. Oceanic crust is denser than continental crust because it has less silicon and more of the heavier elements than continental crust . As a result of this density difference, oceanic crust generally lies below sea level , while continental crust buoyantly projects above sea level. Average oceanic lithosphere

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2618-406: Is called a plate boundary . Plate boundaries are where geological events occur, such as earthquakes and the creation of topographic features such as mountains , volcanoes , mid-ocean ridges , and oceanic trenches . The vast majority of the world's active volcanoes occur along plate boundaries, with the Pacific plate's Ring of Fire being the most active and widely known. Some volcanoes occur in

2737-533: Is called the geosynclinal theory . Generally, this was placed in the context of a contracting planet Earth due to heat loss in the course of a relatively short geological time. It was observed as early as 1596 that the opposite coasts of the Atlantic Ocean—or, more precisely, the edges of the continental shelves —have similar shapes and seem to have once fitted together. Since that time many theories were proposed to explain this apparent complementarity, but

2856-421: Is home to Fiji’s tropical moist forests . The western side (colloquially called the "burning west") is in the mountain range's rain shadow and is noticeably drier; it is home to Fiji’s tropical dry forests . Accordingly, sugar cane production thrives in the west, while a dairy industry is being developed in the east. Fiji's largest cattle ranch, with 7000 head of cattle on 70 square kilometres (17,000 acres),

2975-625: Is home to the national radio broadcasters Fiji Broadcasting Corporation (FBC) and Communications Fiji Limited (CFL), between them providing 12 national radio stations. The two dailies, The Fiji Times and The Fiji Sun are printed here (and, formerly, the Fiji Post ). Many other weekly newspapers are headquartered and published in Suva, including Inside Fiji , Nai Lalakai (iTaukei language weekly), Shanti Dut (Fiji Hindi weekly), national magazines such as Repúblika and Mai Life as well as regional magazines such as Islands Business . Suva

3094-450: Is host to more international and regional intergovernmental agencies and NGOs than any other Pacific Island capital. Some of the bodies with a presence in Suva are: Suva is the cultural and entertainment capital of Oceania and is host to many regional, national, and local events. The city has a very developed and advanced entertainment and event infrastructure and hosts a busy calendar of events every year. Suva has many multipurpose venues,

3213-545: Is in Yaqara, midway between Tavua and Rakiraki . The island of Viti Levu is the only known home of one of the world's largest insects, the Giant Fijian long-horned beetle . The island is susceptible to the effects of climate change. It is estimated that the compound effects of sea level rise and storm surge may result in a temporary relocation of a relatively high numbers of the inhabitants of Viti Levu, predominantly

3332-492: Is in motion, presents a problem. The same holds for the African, Eurasian , and Antarctic plates. Gravitational sliding away from mantle doming: According to older theories, one of the driving mechanisms of the plates is the existence of large scale asthenosphere/mantle domes which cause the gravitational sliding of lithosphere plates away from them (see the paragraph on Mantle Mechanisms). This gravitational sliding represents

3451-408: Is invoked as the major driving force, through slab pull along subduction zones. Gravitational sliding away from a spreading ridge is one of the proposed driving forces, it proposes plate motion is driven by the higher elevation of plates at ocean ridges. As oceanic lithosphere is formed at spreading ridges from hot mantle material, it gradually cools and thickens with age (and thus adds distance from

3570-521: Is located on the southeast coast of the island of Viti Levu , in Rewa Province , Central Division . In 1877, the capital of Fiji was moved to Suva from Levuka , the main European colonial settlement at the time, due to the restrictive geography and environs of the latter. The administration of the colony was transferred from Levuka to Suva in 1882. As of the 2017 census, the city of Suva had

3689-423: Is not an equatorial climate. The city sees a copious amount of precipitation throughout the year, with no true dry season; no month has an average rainfall below 60 mm (2 in). Suva averages 3,000 mm (118 inches) of precipitation annually. Its driest month, July, averages 125 mm (4.92 in). As in many other cities with a tropical rainforest climate, temperatures are relatively constant throughout

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3808-600: Is one of the most shopper-friendly cities in the Pacific. The city offers its shops in a cluster that is referred to as Suva Central. Areas like Cumming Street and Marks Street are for clothing, jewellery, food, electronics, pharmaceuticals and more. Terry Walk and the Flea Market offer handicrafts and local ware. Close by, huge, new shopping complexes dominate the canal area, such as MHCC (Morris Hedstrom City Center), Tappoo City and Suva Central. There are telecommunication and electronic stores, as well as sporting gear stores in

3927-415: Is still advocated to explain the break-up of supercontinents during specific geological epochs. It has followers amongst the scientists involved in the theory of Earth expansion . Another theory is that the mantle flows neither in cells nor large plumes but rather as a series of channels just below Earth's crust, which then provide basal friction to the lithosphere. This theory, called "surge tectonics",

4046-576: Is the scientific theory that Earth 's lithosphere comprises a number of large tectonic plates , which have been slowly moving since 3–4 billion years ago. The model builds on the concept of continental drift , an idea developed during the first decades of the 20th century. Plate tectonics came to be accepted by geoscientists after seafloor spreading was validated in the mid-to-late 1960s. The processes that result in plates and shape Earth's crust are called tectonics . Tectonic plates also occur in other planets and moons. Earth's lithosphere,

4165-488: Is to consider the relative rate at which each plate is moving as well as the evidence related to the significance of each process to the overall driving force on the plate. One of the most significant correlations discovered to date is that lithospheric plates attached to downgoing (subducting) plates move much faster than other types of plates. The Pacific plate, for instance, is essentially surrounded by zones of subduction (the so-called Ring of Fire) and moves much faster than

4284-407: Is typically 100 km (62 mi) thick. Its thickness is a function of its age. As time passes, it cools by conducting heat from below, and releasing it raditively into space. The adjacent mantle below is cooled by this process and added to its base. Because it is formed at mid-ocean ridges and spreads outwards, its thickness is therefore a function of its distance from the mid-ocean ridge where it

4403-435: Is used. It asserts that super plumes rise from the deeper mantle and are the drivers or substitutes of the major convection cells. These ideas find their roots in the early 1930s in the works of Beloussov and van Bemmelen , which were initially opposed to plate tectonics and placed the mechanism in a fixed frame of vertical movements. Van Bemmelen later modified the concept in his "Undation Models" and used "Mantle Blisters" as

4522-601: Is valued at US$ 25.7 million (FJD50 million). Construction work began in January 2011 for a FJD30 -million mini-mall complex at Grantham Road, behind the Sports-City Complex and close to the Suva campus of the University of the South Pacific . It was scheduled to be completed in 2012, and to house restaurants, retail outlets, and cinemas. Unlike most cities and towns in Fiji, and many around

4641-567: The Appalachian Mountains of North America are very similar in structure and lithology . However, his ideas were not taken seriously by many geologists, who pointed out that there was no apparent mechanism for continental drift. Specifically, they did not see how continental rock could plow through the much denser rock that makes up oceanic crust. Wegener could not explain the force that drove continental drift, and his vindication did not come until after his death in 1930. As it

4760-658: The Cunningham area at its northern edge. Since then, urban sprawl has led to the growth of a number of suburbs that remain outside the city limits. Together with the city, they form the metropolitan area known as the Greater Suva Area . Suva hosted the South Pacific Games in 2003 for the third time in the event's 40-year history. In preparation for hosting the event, the Fijian government , with

4879-679: The Suva Urban Complex , and sometimes informally known as Suva, even though it encompasses a total of four areas with their own town or city names and their own separate local governments. This conurbation stretches from Lami (immediately west of the city of Suva) along the Queens Highway, through Nasinu (immediately east of the city of Suva), to the Rewa River , along the Kings Highway, and then to Nausori across

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4998-470: The Westpac . In addition, most Fijian financial institutions, non-governmental organisations , and government ministries and departments are headquartered here. At one point, both Air Pacific (now Fiji Airways ) and Air Fiji were headquartered in Suva. A large part of Fiji's international shipping , as well as the docking of international cruise ships, takes place at Suva's Kings Wharf. This has led to

5117-422: The chemical subdivision of these same layers into the mantle (comprising both the asthenosphere and the mantle portion of the lithosphere) and the crust: a given piece of mantle may be part of the lithosphere or the asthenosphere at different times depending on its temperature and pressure. The key principle of plate tectonics is that the lithosphere exists as separate and distinct tectonic plates , which ride on

5236-485: The colonial authorities decided to move the capital to Suva from Levuka , Ovalau, Lomaiviti, because Levuka's location between a steep mountain and the sea made any expansion of the town impractical. Colonel F. E. Pratt of the Royal Engineers was appointed Surveyor-General in 1875 and designed the new capital in Suva, assisted by W. Stephens and Colonel R. W. Stewart. The transfer of the administration to Suva

5355-736: The fluid-like solid the asthenosphere . Plate motions range from 10 to 40 millimetres per year (0.4 to 1.6 in/year) at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (about as fast as fingernails grow), to about 160 millimetres per year (6.3 in/year) for the Nazca plate (about as fast as hair grows). Tectonic lithosphere plates consist of lithospheric mantle overlain by one or two types of crustal material: oceanic crust (in older texts called sima from silicon and magnesium ) and continental crust ( sial from silicon and aluminium ). The distinction between oceanic crust and continental crust

5474-473: The lithosphere and asthenosphere . The division is based on differences in mechanical properties and in the method for the transfer of heat . The lithosphere is cooler and more rigid, while the asthenosphere is hotter and flows more easily. In terms of heat transfer, the lithosphere loses heat by conduction , whereas the asthenosphere also transfers heat by convection and has a nearly adiabatic temperature gradient. This division should not be confused with

5593-699: The Australian-based Polynesia Company, in exchange for the company's promise to pay off debts owed to the United States. More than a tenth of this land area, 575 km (222 sq mi), was located near Suva. The company's original intention was to develop a cotton farming industry, but the land and climate proved unsuitable. In 1874, control of the Fiji Islands was ceded to the United Kingdom. In 1877,

5712-598: The Earth's rotation and the Moon as main driving forces for the plates. The vector of a plate's motion is a function of all the forces acting on the plate; however, therein lies the problem regarding the degree to which each process contributes to the overall motion of each tectonic plate. The diversity of geodynamic settings and the properties of each plate result from the impact of the various processes actively driving each individual plate. One method of dealing with this problem

5831-622: The Fiji Ministry of Information, which produces government programs as well as national news and current affairs bulletins. Fiji One produces and airs its evening 'National News' bulletin from its studios in Gladstone Road in Central; FBC TV airs its 'FBC News' bulletin from its studios, also on Gladstone Road. Sky Pacific and Pacific Broadcasting Services Fiji are the two pay satellite television company headquartered here. Suva

5950-643: The Independence of Fiji, the landing by Kingsford Smith on the Southern Cross and many parades and carnivals. Sukuna Park, also in the CBD is a popular recreational park and has many performances and events on a weekly basis. Thurston Gardens (named for Governor of Fiji John Bates Thurston ) is the city's main botanical garden and the location of the Fiji Museum. Queen Elizabeth Drive is popular as

6069-768: The South Pacific islands), the New Years Street Party , and the Fiji Show Case tradeshow that includes carnival rides, food as well as magic and circus performances. Suva plays host to many regional and national sporting events, most notably at the HFC Bank Stadium . A special highlight is the Coca-Cola Games, the largest secondary school athletics meet in the world. The Capital City is represented in major sporting events by its respective rugby , netball and football teams. Suva

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6188-661: The Suva Central Shopping Mall, the Mid-City Mall, and MHCC, along with other developments give much of the city a modern and sophisticated look. TappooCity is one of Fiji's shopping mall, and the largest in the South Pacific outside of Australia and New Zealand. This low-rise (six-storey) building was constructed in December 2009 in a joint venture by FNPF and the Tappoo Group of Companies. It

6307-540: The Suva group are found mainly in the river valleys, such as those formed by the Nadi River and Navua River . The Plio- Pleistocene Mba group is found in the northern portion of the island. It consists of porphyritic basalt flows and volcaniclastics, grading into greywacke . Geographically, it includes the peaks of Koroyanitu (at 3921 feet), Malua (at 3294 feet), Monavatu (at 3708 feet), Mount Tomanivi (at 4341 feet), and Ndelamendamu (at 2540 feet). It extends along

6426-541: The actual motions of the Pacific plate and other plates associated with the East Pacific Rise do not correlate mainly with either slab pull or slab push, but rather with a mantle convection upwelling whose horizontal spreading along the bases of the various plates drives them along via viscosity-related traction forces. The driving forces of plate motion continue to be active subjects of on-going research within geophysics and tectonophysics . The development of

6545-478: The assumption of a solid Earth made these various proposals difficult to accept. The discovery of radioactivity and its associated heating properties in 1895 prompted a re-examination of the apparent age of Earth . This had previously been estimated by its cooling rate under the assumption that Earth's surface radiated like a black body . Those calculations had implied that, even if it started at red heat , Earth would have dropped to its present temperature in

6664-399: The asthenosphere. This theory was launched by Arthur Holmes and some forerunners in the 1930s and was immediately recognized as the solution for the acceptance of the theory as originally discussed in the papers of Alfred Wegener in the early years of the 20th century. However, despite its acceptance, it was long debated in the scientific community because the leading theory still envisaged

6783-476: The base of the lithosphere. Slab pull is therefore most widely thought to be the greatest force acting on the plates. In this understanding, plate motion is mostly driven by the weight of cold, dense plates sinking into the mantle at trenches. Recent models indicate that trench suction plays an important role as well. However, the fact that the North American plate is nowhere being subducted, although it

6902-495: The bathymetry of the deep ocean floors and the nature of the oceanic crust such as magnetic properties and, more generally, with the development of marine geology which gave evidence for the association of seafloor spreading along the mid-oceanic ridges and magnetic field reversals , published between 1959 and 1963 by Heezen, Dietz, Hess, Mason, Vine & Matthews, and Morley. Simultaneous advances in early seismic imaging techniques in and around Wadati–Benioff zones along

7021-533: The city and its boroughs. Suva has municipal status and, until 2009, was governed by a lord mayor and a 20-member city council . The Suva City Council was the municipal law-making body of the city of Suva, Fiji's capital. It consisted of 20 councillors, elected for three-year terms from four multi-member constituencies, called wards. Councillors were elected by residents, landowners, and representatives of corporations owning or occupying taxable property in Suva councillors in turn elect, from among their own members,

7140-413: The concept was of continents plowing through oceanic crust. Therefore, Wegener later changed his position and asserted that convection currents are the main driving force of plate tectonics in the last edition of his book in 1929. However, in the plate tectonics context (accepted since the seafloor spreading proposals of Heezen, Hess, Dietz, Morley, Vine, and Matthews (see below) during the early 1960s),

7259-415: The deep mantle at subduction zones, providing most of the driving force for plate movement. The weakness of the asthenosphere allows the tectonic plates to move easily towards a subduction zone. For much of the first quarter of the 20th century, the leading theory of the driving force behind tectonic plate motions envisaged large scale convection currents in the upper mantle, which can be transmitted through

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7378-534: The discussions treated in this section) or proposed as minor modulations within the overall plate tectonics model. In 1973, George W. Moore of the USGS and R. C. Bostrom presented evidence for a general westward drift of Earth's lithosphere with respect to the mantle, based on the steepness of the subduction zones (shallow dipping towards the east, steeply dipping towards the west). They concluded that tidal forces (the tidal lag or "friction") caused by Earth's rotation and

7497-466: The driving force for horizontal movements, invoking gravitational forces away from the regional crustal doming. The theories find resonance in the modern theories which envisage hot spots or mantle plumes which remain fixed and are overridden by oceanic and continental lithosphere plates over time and leave their traces in the geological record (though these phenomena are not invoked as real driving mechanisms, but rather as modulators). The mechanism

7616-580: The east. The oldest rocks on the island are those formed during the Eocene and Early Miocene epochs that belong to the Wainimala group . The lower portion of the group is made up of volcanic flows and volcaniclastics , which grade from basalt to trachyte and rhyolite . Geographically, this group is found south of Nadi , including on the peaks of Koromba (at 3528 feet high) and Natambumgguto (at 1242 feet high), and down to Sigatoka . From Sigatoka,

7735-568: The eastern coast, almost to Nausori, and includes the Emperor Mine near Vatukoula . Viti Levu is the largest island in the Republic of Fiji — home to 70% of the population (about 600,000 people) — and is the hub of the entire Fijian archipelago. It measures 146 kilometres (91 mi) long and 106 kilometres (66 mi) wide, and has an area of 10,389 square kilometres (4,011 sq mi). Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions account for

7854-473: The final one in 1936), he noted how the east coast of South America and the west coast of Africa looked as if they were once attached. Wegener was not the first to note this ( Abraham Ortelius , Antonio Snider-Pellegrini , Eduard Suess , Roberto Mantovani and Frank Bursley Taylor preceded him just to mention a few), but he was the first to marshal significant fossil and paleo-topographical and climatological evidence to support this simple observation (and

7973-695: The forces acting upon it by the Moon are a driving force for plate tectonics. As Earth spins eastward beneath the Moon, the Moon's gravity ever so slightly pulls Earth's surface layer back westward, just as proposed by Alfred Wegener (see above). Since 1990 this theory is mainly advocated by Doglioni and co-workers ( Doglioni 1990 ), such as in a more recent 2006 study, where scientists reviewed and advocated these ideas. It has been suggested in Lovett (2006) that this observation may also explain why Venus and Mars have no plate tectonics, as Venus has no moon and Mars' moons are too small to have significant tidal effects on

8092-588: The geographical latitudinal and longitudinal grid of Earth itself. These systematic relations studies in the second half of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century underline exactly the opposite: that the plates had not moved in time, that the deformation grid was fixed with respect to Earth's equator and axis, and that gravitational driving forces were generally acting vertically and caused only local horizontal movements (the so-called pre-plate tectonic, "fixist theories"). Later studies (discussed below on this page), therefore, invoked many of

8211-493: The group extends almost all the way to Lodoni, and includes the peaks of Tuvutau (at 3060 feet) and Tikituru (at 3071 feet). Along the southern coast it extends almost to Nausori . The group is intruded by the Tholo Plutonics , which consist of similar-age stocks of tonalite , granodiorite , gabbro and diorite . Mio - Pliocene sandstones , and marl , grading into epiclastics and andesitic Volcanic rocks of

8330-466: The growth of Suva's tourism industry . The largest of Suva's several industrial areas is Walu Bay, which is home to factories, warehouses , import-export companies, shipyards , container yards, a brewery, and many printeries. Other notable industrial areas are Vatuwaqa, Raiwaqa, and Laucala Beach. Suva boasts many thriving markets and shopping complexes. Among the most popular areas for shopping and commerce are Cumming Street and Victoria Parade. Suva

8449-456: The help of a $ 16 million aid package from the People's Republic of China, funded the construction of a new gymnasium, indoor sports centre, swimming pool, stadium, field hockey pitch, and grandstands in the area around Suva. In addition to being the capital of Fiji, Suva is also its commercial and political centre (though not necessarily its cultural centre), and its main port city. It has

8568-718: The interiors of plates, and these have been variously attributed to internal plate deformation and to mantle plumes. Tectonic plates may include continental crust or oceanic crust, or both. For example, the African plate includes the continent and parts of the floor of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Some pieces of oceanic crust, known as ophiolites , failed to be subducted under continental crust at destructive plate boundaries; instead these oceanic crustal fragments were pushed upward and were preserved within continental crust. Three types of plate boundaries exist, characterized by

8687-470: The island from India as indentured workers between 1879 and 1916), whereas eastern Viti Levu has a high concentration of indigenous Fijians (except in its urban areas, which are more racially diverse). Viti Levu is believed to have been inhabited longer than the island of Vanua Levu , which lies to its north. According to oral tradition, the first Melanesian settlers landed at Vuda Point and established Viseisei as Fiji's first oldest settlement. There

8806-412: The large scale convection cells) or secondary. The secondary mechanisms view plate motion driven by friction between the convection currents in the asthenosphere and the more rigid overlying lithosphere. This is due to the inflow of mantle material related to the downward pull on plates in subduction zones at ocean trenches. Slab pull may occur in a geodynamic setting where basal tractions continue to act on

8925-421: The lithosphere before it dives underneath an adjacent plate, producing a clear topographical feature that can offset, or at least affect, the influence of topographical ocean ridges. Mantle plumes and hot spots are also postulated to impinge on the underside of tectonic plates. Slab pull : Scientific opinion is that the asthenosphere is insufficiently competent or rigid to directly cause motion by friction along

9044-403: The lower mantle, there is a slight westward component in the motions of all the plates. They demonstrated though that the westward drift, seen only for the past 30 Ma, is attributed to the increased dominance of the steadily growing and accelerating Pacific plate. The debate is still open, and a recent paper by Hofmeister et al. (2022) revived the idea advocating again the interaction between

9163-677: The main ones being the Vodafone Arena , which can seat up to 5,000 people, the HFC Bank Stadium , which can seat up to 30,000 people, the FMF National Gymnasium Suva, which can seat up to 2,000 people, and the Civic Auditorium, which can seat up to 1,000 people. Suva has a number of parks and a few gardens. Albert Park , in the City centre, is famous as the stage for many national-historical events such as

9282-405: The many geographical, geological, and biological continuities between continents. In 1912, the meteorologist Alfred Wegener described what he called continental drift, an idea that culminated fifty years later in the modern theory of plate tectonics. Wegener expanded his theory in his 1915 book The Origin of Continents and Oceans . Starting from the idea (also expressed by his forerunners) that

9401-429: The matching of the rock formations along these edges. Confirmation of their previous contiguous nature also came from the fossil plants Glossopteris and Gangamopteris , and the therapsid or mammal-like reptile Lystrosaurus , all widely distributed over South America, Africa, Antarctica, India, and Australia. The evidence for such an erstwhile joining of these continents was patent to field geologists working in

9520-399: The mid-1950s, the question remained unresolved as to whether mountain roots were clenched in surrounding basalt or were floating on it like an iceberg. Suva Suva ( Fijian pronunciation: [ˈsuβa] ; Fiji Hindi : सुवा ) is the capital and the most populous city of Fiji . It is the home of the country's largest metropolitan area and serves as its major port. The city

9639-568: The motion picture of the Atlantic region", processes that anticipated seafloor spreading and subduction . One of the first pieces of geophysical evidence that was used to support the movement of lithospheric plates came from paleomagnetism . This is based on the fact that rocks of different ages show a variable magnetic field direction, evidenced by studies since the mid–nineteenth century. The magnetic north and south poles reverse through time, and, especially important in paleotectonic studies,

9758-438: The motion. At a subduction zone the relatively cold, dense oceanic crust sinks down into the mantle, forming the downward convecting limb of a mantle cell , which is the strongest driver of plate motion. The relative importance and interaction of other proposed factors such as active convection, upwelling inside the mantle, and tidal drag of the Moon is still the subject of debate. The outer layers of Earth are divided into

9877-468: The nearest beach is 40 kilometres (25 mi) away, at Pacific Harbour . A significant part of the city centre, including the Parliament buildings, is built on reclaimed mangrove swampland. Below is a list of the city's five wards, beginning with the city centre, followed by the northwesternmost ward, and then in clockwise order: Suva sits in the middle of a metropolitan area, sometimes known as

9996-470: The north pole, and each continent, in fact, shows its own "polar wander path". During the late 1950s, it was successfully shown on two occasions that these data could show the validity of continental drift: by Keith Runcorn in a paper in 1956, and by Warren Carey in a symposium held in March 1956. The second piece of evidence in support of continental drift came during the late 1950s and early 60s from data on

10115-758: The northern and western parts, with an exposure of up to 6.75% of the islands' population in the future. Viti Levu is home to the capital city of Suva , and to nearly three quarters of the population of the Republic of Fiji (about 580,000 people). Other important towns and cities, which are spread out all along the coast, include Ba , Lautoka , Nadi , Nausori , Rakiraki, and Sigatoka . Two other well-known localities are Natadola Beach in Natadola (a luxurious Intercontinental Fiji Golf Resort and Spa & boutique accommodation at Natadola Beach Resort & Yatule Beach Resort), and Pacific Harbour (a resort centre about 50 kilometers from Suva). A single major road runs around

10234-407: The oceanic crust is suggested to be in motion with the continents which caused the proposals related to Earth rotation to be reconsidered. In more recent literature, these driving forces are: Forces that are small and generally negligible are: For these mechanisms to be overall valid, systematic relationships should exist all over the globe between the orientation and kinematics of deformation and

10353-437: The oceanic lithosphere and the thicker continental lithosphere, each topped by its own kind of crust. Along convergent plate boundaries , the process of subduction carries the edge of one plate down under the other plate and into the mantle . This process reduces the total surface area (crust) of the Earth. The lost surface is balanced by the formation of new oceanic crust along divergent margins by seafloor spreading, keeping

10472-609: The outer areas of this radius. Suva also hosts the headquarters of the Fashion Council of Fiji, the region's most significant fashion organisation. The Fijian Fashion Festival, the region's largest trade and consumer fashion platform, occurs annually at the Grand Pacific Hotel in Suva. Nausori International Airport caters mainly to the domestic market, connecting Suva with Fiji's other international airport, Nadi International Airport . Fiji Airways operates

10591-655: The perimeter of Viti Levu. Eight of Fiji's fourteen Provinces are in Viti Levu. The Provinces of Ba , Nadroga-Navosa , and Ra comprise the Western Division , while Naitasiri , Namosi , Rewa , Serua , and Tailevu form the Central Division . The political dynamics of western Viti Levu are somewhat different from those of eastern Viti Levu, in part because western Vitu Levu has a high concentration of Indo-Fijians (many of whose ancestors came to

10710-470: The planet. In a paper by it was suggested that, on the other hand, it can easily be observed that many plates are moving north and eastward, and that the dominantly westward motion of the Pacific Ocean basins derives simply from the eastward bias of the Pacific spreading center (which is not a predicted manifestation of such lunar forces). In the same paper the authors admit, however, that relative to

10829-399: The plate as it dives into the mantle (although perhaps to a greater extent acting on both the under and upper side of the slab). Furthermore, slabs that are broken off and sink into the mantle can cause viscous mantle forces driving plates through slab suction. In the theory of plume tectonics followed by numerous researchers during the 1990s, a modified concept of mantle convection currents

10948-426: The plates of the Atlantic basin, which are attached (perhaps one could say 'welded') to adjacent continents instead of subducting plates. It is thus thought that forces associated with the downgoing plate (slab pull and slab suction) are the driving forces which determine the motion of plates, except for those plates which are not being subducted. This view however has been contradicted by a recent study which found that

11067-408: The present continents once formed a single land mass (later called Pangaea ), Wegener suggested that these separated and drifted apart, likening them to "icebergs" of low density sial floating on a sea of denser sima . Supporting evidence for the idea came from the dove-tailing outlines of South America's east coast and Africa's west coast Antonio Snider-Pellegrini had drawn on his maps, and from

11186-497: The process creating the uniquely Fiji Indian curry. Indentured labourers brought with them spices, chilies, and other herbs and vegetables which now are part of the Fijian culinary experience. During the course of the year, arts, music and trade festivals are held in Suva, albeit on a small scale. There are a few large and notable festivals that occur annually and these include the Hibiscus Festival (largest carnival in

11305-459: The relationships recognized during this pre-plate tectonics period to support their theories (see reviews of these various mechanisms related to Earth rotation the work of van Dijk and collaborators). Of the many forces discussed above, tidal force is still highly debated and defended as a possible principal driving force of plate tectonics. The other forces are only used in global geodynamic models not using plate tectonics concepts (therefore beyond

11424-428: The relative position of the magnetic north pole varies through time. Initially, during the first half of the twentieth century, the latter phenomenon was explained by introducing what was called "polar wander" (see apparent polar wander ) (i.e., it was assumed that the north pole location had been shifting through time). An alternative explanation, though, was that the continents had moved (shifted and rotated) relative to

11543-399: The ridge). Cool oceanic lithosphere is significantly denser than the hot mantle material from which it is derived and so with increasing thickness it gradually subsides into the mantle to compensate the greater load. The result is a slight lateral incline with increased distance from the ridge axis. This force is regarded as a secondary force and is often referred to as " ridge push ". This is

11662-614: The rigid outer shell of the planet including the crust and upper mantle , is fractured into seven or eight major plates (depending on how they are defined) and many minor plates or "platelets". Where the plates meet, their relative motion determines the type of plate boundary (or fault ): convergent , divergent , or transform . The relative movement of the plates typically ranges from zero to 10 cm annually. Faults tend to be geologically active, experiencing earthquakes , volcanic activity , mountain-building , and oceanic trench formation. Tectonic plates are composed of

11781-727: The river. To the north and northeast are the rainforest-park areas of Colo-i-Suva and Sawani, along the Princes Road, which connect at the Rewa River Bridge . This whole area (excluding Lami) is also formally referred to as the Suva–Nausori Corridor. It is the most populous area in Fiji, with over 330,000 inhabitants. Suva has a tropical rainforest climate , according to the Köppen climate classification system. But because of its trade winds and occasional cyclones , it

11900-635: The site was built in 1882, but a fire caused by a lightning strike destroyed it in 1921. It was rebuilt in 1928. The Suva campus of the University of the South Pacific (USP) occupies what was originally a New Zealand military base. It is the largest of the many USP campuses dotted throughout the South Pacific. USP is the largest university in the Pacific Islands outside Hawaii, and its courses are internationally recognised and endorsed. The Fiji Museum , now located in Thurston Gardens ,

12019-402: The somewhat rugged terrain of the island, which is divided into roughly equal halves by a mountain range that runs north to south. The centre of the island is forested and includes the nation's highest peak Mount Tomanivi (otherwise known as Mount Victoria), which rises to 1,324 metres (4,344 ft). The eastern side of the island experiences heavy rainfall, particularly in the mountains, and

12138-491: The southern hemisphere. The South African Alex du Toit put together a mass of such information in his 1937 publication Our Wandering Continents , and went further than Wegener in recognising the strong links between the Gondwana fragments. Wegener's work was initially not widely accepted, in part due to a lack of detailed evidence but mostly because of the lack of a reasonable physically supported mechanism. Earth might have

12257-481: The theory of plate tectonics was the scientific and cultural change which occurred during a period of 50 years of scientific debate. The event of the acceptance itself was a paradigm shift and can therefore be classified as a scientific revolution, now described as the Plate Tectonics Revolution . Around the start of the twentieth century, various theorists unsuccessfully attempted to explain

12376-502: The theory) and "fixists" (opponents). During the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, the former reached important milestones proposing that convection currents might have driven the plate movements, and that spreading may have occurred below the sea within the oceanic crust. Concepts close to the elements of plate tectonics were proposed by geophysicists and geologists (both fixists and mobilists) like Vening-Meinesz, Holmes, and Umbgrove. In 1941, Otto Ampferer described, in his publication "Thoughts on

12495-476: The total surface area constant in a tectonic "conveyor belt". Tectonic plates are relatively rigid and float across the ductile asthenosphere beneath. Lateral density variations in the mantle result in convection currents, the slow creeping motion of Earth's solid mantle. At a seafloor spreading ridge , plates move away from the ridge, which is a topographic high, and the newly formed crust cools as it moves away, increasing its density and contributing to

12614-429: The trenches bounding many continental margins, together with many other geophysical (e.g., gravimetric) and geological observations, showed how the oceanic crust could disappear into the mantle, providing the mechanism to balance the extension of the ocean basins with shortening along its margins. All this evidence, both from the ocean floor and from the continental margins, made it clear around 1965 that continental drift

12733-467: The way the plates move relative to each other. They are associated with different types of surface phenomena. The different types of plate boundaries are: Tectonic plates are able to move because of the relative density of oceanic lithosphere and the relative weakness of the asthenosphere . Dissipation of heat from the mantle is the original source of the energy required to drive plate tectonics through convection or large scale upwelling and doming. As

12852-543: The world, Suva did not grow up around a single industry. It has gradually developed to become the largest and most sophisticated city in the Pacific Islands, and a regional hub. Fijians of Indian descent have largely shaped the economy of Fiji, contributing immensely to the growth of Suva and to its status as the economic and political capital of Fiji. Suva is the commercial center of Fiji: Most international banks have their Pacific headquarters here, including ANZ and

12971-407: The year, with an average high of about 28 °C (82 °F) and an average low of about 22 °C (72 °F). Suva has a markedly higher rainfall than Nadi or the western side of Viti Levu (known to Suva inhabitants as "the burning west"). The second governor of Fiji, Sir Arthur Gordon , is said to have remarked that he had never seen it rain anywhere the way it rains in Suva and that there

13090-531: Was feasible. The theory of plate tectonics was defined in a series of papers between 1965 and 1967. The theory revolutionized the Earth sciences, explaining a diverse range of geological phenomena and their implications in other studies such as paleogeography and paleobiology . In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, geologists assumed that Earth's major features were fixed, and that most geologic features such as basin development and mountain ranges could be explained by vertical crustal movement, described in what

13209-599: Was formed. For a typical distance that oceanic lithosphere must travel before being subducted, the thickness varies from about 6 km (4 mi) thick at mid-ocean ridges to greater than 100 km (62 mi) at subduction zones. For shorter or longer distances, the subduction zone, and therefore also the mean, thickness becomes smaller or larger, respectively. Continental lithosphere is typically about 200 km (120 mi) thick, though this varies considerably between basins, mountain ranges, and stable cratonic interiors of continents. The location where two plates meet

13328-530: Was founded in 1904, and originally occupied the old town hall. It was moved to its present location in 1954. The museum houses the most extensive collection of Fijian artifacts in the world, and is also a research and educational institution, specialising in archaeology, the preservation of Fiji's oral tradition, and the publication of material on Fiji's language and culture. Suva has about 78 parks. The new Takashi Suzuki Garden , in Apted Park at Suva Point ,

13447-630: Was hardly a day without rain. The most copious rainfall is observed from November to May, while the slightly cooler months from June to October see considerably more moderate rainfall. Suva is a multiracial and multicultural city. Indigenous Fijians and Indo-Fijians , the two principal ethnic groups of Fiji, comprise the bulk of Suva's population, and the city is home to most of Fiji's ethnic minority populations, which include Rotumans, Lauans, Rambians, Europeans (known as Kaivalagi ), part-Europeans (of European and Fijian descent, known as “Kailoma") and Chinese , among others. The most widely spoken language

13566-444: Was laid in 1937, the building complex was completed in 1939, and a new wing was completed in 1967. However, in 1992, the seat of Fiji's parliament was moved out of that complex and into a new one on Ratu Sukuna Road . Government House was formerly the residence of Fiji's colonial governors and, after Fijian independence in 1970, governors-general . Today, it is the official residence of Fiji's president . The original house on

13685-619: Was made official in 1882. In 1910, Suva acquired the status of a municipality, under the Municipal Constitution Ordinance of 1909. Its area remained one square mile until 1952 when Suva annexed the Muanikau and Samabula wards , expanding its territory to 13 km (5.0 sq mi). In October of that year, Suva was officially designated a city – Fiji's first. Suva later annexed Tamavua . Most recently, Suva further extended its boundaries by incorporating

13804-424: Was observed early that although granite existed on continents, seafloor seemed to be composed of denser basalt , the prevailing concept during the first half of the twentieth century was that there were two types of crust, named "sial" (continental type crust) and "sima" (oceanic type crust). Furthermore, it was supposed that a static shell of strata was present under the continents. It therefore looked apparent that

13923-443: Was popularized during the 1980s and 1990s. Recent research, based on three-dimensional computer modelling, suggests that plate geometry is governed by a feedback between mantle convection patterns and the strength of the lithosphere. Forces related to gravity are invoked as secondary phenomena within the framework of a more general driving mechanism such as the various forms of mantle dynamics described above. In modern views, gravity

14042-575: Was supported in this by researchers such as Alex du Toit ). Furthermore, when the rock strata of the margins of separate continents are very similar it suggests that these rocks were formed in the same way, implying that they were joined initially. For instance, parts of Scotland and Ireland contain rocks very similar to those found in Newfoundland and New Brunswick . Furthermore, the Caledonian Mountains of Europe and parts of

14161-564: Was the host of the first Pacific Games , in 1963. Forty years later in 2003 the Games returned to Fiji's capital, with a full program of 32 sports introduced for the first time. Suva held the games for the second time in 1979. Having hosted the event three times, Suva has held the Pacific Games more often than any other city. Headquartered in Suva are the three main national television stations, Fiji One , FBC TV and MAI TV along with

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