D. Cluzel summarize as follows the events which have led to the current geology of New Caledonia. "Two super-cycles can be distinguished in the geological history of New Caledonia.- a "Rangitata" or ante-Senonian cycle which covers a period from Permian to Jurassic, characterized by the evolution of a group of intra-oceanic arcs and basins on Gondwana margin. - a "New Caledonian" cycle which covers a period from Cretaceous to Oligocene, corresponding, in the upper Cretaceous, with the scattering of these units when peri-Australian marginal basins opened (Tasman sea), then at their coalescence with intra-oceanic arcs, first at the Eocene in the Loyalty Arc and finally at their collision with the New-Hebrides islands arc."