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The Chatham Rise is an area of ocean to the east of New Zealand. It stretches for some 1000 kilometres from the continental shelf around New Zealand to the west, and culminates in the Chatham Islands in the east.
Relative to the rest of the Pacific Ocean waters around New Zealand, the Chatham Rise is relatively shallow, no more than 1000 metres deep at any point. This shallowness is made more remarkable by the depth of the ocean immediately to the north and south. To the north, the Hikurangi Trench, an extension of the much deeper Kermadec Trench, drops to below 3000 metres close to the New Zealand coast. To the south, similar depths are achieved by the Bounty Trough.
Geologically and tectonically, the Chatham Rise can be thought of as an extension of the eastern South Island.
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