A reappraisal of the stratigraphy, new regional kinematic analysis and thermobarometric data allow a new interpretation of
the metamorphic zoning and tectonic structure of the Upper Eocene high-pressure metamorphic core complex of northern
New Caledonia allow a three steps evolution to be proposed : 1) subduction and understacking of previously thinned
continental crust elements; 2) subduction blocking due to the crustal thickening; 3) crustal thinning and extensional
detachment during the diapir-like uplift and unroofing of the eclogitic core. Steps 2 and 3 may be partly
contemporaneous. Such a model accounts for the thermobarometric and radiochronologic data, and also for the weakness
of substratum deformation during the emplacement of the ophiolitic nappe.