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Recent dredging of a 100 km long ridge along the northernmost part of the Louisiade Plateau (LP) recovered serpentinized peridotites, MORB (mid‐ocean‐ridge basalt) and volcaniclastic breccia–conglomerates. Clinopyroxene, Cr‐spinel and bulk rocks show that the serpentinites are harzburgites to dunites, whereas hornblende phenocrysts from volcaniclastic rocks reflect hydrous, andesitic volcanism. The association of MORB, depleted mantle rocks and fingerprints of hydrous arc magmatism is typical of supra‐subduction zone ocean lithosphere formed above a nascent subduction zone. Seismic and high‐resolution bathymetry data reveal structures consistent with an extensive east–west elongated ophiolite estimated to have obducted onto the LP between 53 and 80 Ma. This represents a major eastwards continuation of the Papuan Ultramafic Belt and forms a crucial link with ophiolites farther south in New Caledonia, providing support for major subduction initiation events in marginal basins along the northern and eastern margins of Australia and Zealandia in the Palaeocene–Eocene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International Ocean Discovery program (IODP) Site U1438 is located within the Amami‐Sankaku Basin, ~50 km SW of the Kyushu‐Palau Ridge and ~500 km SE of the present‐day volcanic front of the Kyushu‐Ryukyu arc. Thirty‐eight rhyolitic tephra layers (1–15 cm thick) deposited over the last 4 Myr were recovered at this site. Representative ash layers dominated by unaltered, colorless glass shards reaching 100–300 μm in size, in association with rare pyroxene, amphibole, biotite, and zircon, were sampled for isotopic analysis. The isotopic compositions of the tephra have a narrow range in 87Sr/86Sr (0.704 to 0.706), 206Pb/204Pb (18.32 to 18.46), 207Pb/204Pb (15.57 to 15.62), and 208Pb/204Pb (38.46 to 38.75) and are more variable in εNd (−3.5 to +4.8) and εHf (+2.0 to +13.3). This record indicates the tephra were not sourced from the Izu‐Bonin‐Mariana arc or from Central Japan but derived from felsic volcanism from the Kyushu‐Ryukyu arc. The 4.8‐km‐deep Amami‐Sankaku Basin was located up to 600–900 km from the Kyushu‐Ryukyu arc over the last 4 Ma, which is significantly more distal than other drill sites from which extensive tephra layers sourced from SW Japan have been recovered. Site U1438 tephra are thus likely related to widely distributed (M > 6) rhyolitic eruptions. We propose the unique tephra record and high‐precision isotope analysis of recovered tephra from Site U1438 can be used as an important marker to identify submerged calderas within the Ryukyu arc and/or constrain the history of activity (>1 Ma) of major calderas‐forming eruptions within the Kyushu‐Ryukyu arc. Key Points: IODP Site U1438 records a unique 4‐Ma history of rhyolite eruptions from the Kyushu‐Ryukyu arcExplosive (>6 M) eruptions at 4 Ma, 2–2.5 Ma and <1 Ma in southwest Japan recorded in deep ocean basin (Amami‐Sankaku Basin)Radiogenic isotopes of tephra might be key to distinguish the source of eruptive products [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]