The Hikurangi Trench (also called the Hikurangi Trough) is a linear deep in the Pacific Ocean off the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand, lying between the southern end of the Cook Strait and the Chatham Rise. Though much shallower, it is the southward continuation of the Kermadec Trench and forms part of the Kermadec-Tonga Subduction Zone. It represents the part of the subduction zone where the thick oceanic Hikurangi Plateau is subducting beneath continental crust of the Indo-Australian Plate.