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Sonic Imaging Reveals New Plate Boundary Structures Offshore New Eos, Vol. 76, No. 1, January 3, 1995 EOS, TRANSACTIONS, AMERICAN GEOPHYSICAL UNION VOLUME 76 NUMBER 1 JANUARY 3,1995 EOS PAGES 1-8 of rotation for this plate boundary lies to the Sonic Imaging Reveals New southeast (60.1°S, 178.3°W) [DeMetsetaL, 1990], the high-angle convergence along the Kermadec Trench changes to oblique conver­ Plate Boundary Structures gence of opposite polarity along the Puysegur Trench (Figure 1). Offshore New Zealand Between the trenches, the plate boundary crossing the New Zealand continental crust PAGES 1,4-5 is characterized by strike-slip and compres­ sive (i.e., transpressive) deformation along J.-Y. Collot, J. Delteil, R. H. Herzer, R. Wood, K. B. Lewis, and the Alpine Fault (Figure 1). On the GEODYNZ- Shipboard Party SUD cruise we studied the variations in deformation and sedimentation associated with changes from oceanic subduction to in- Recent bathymetry and sonar imagery were produced for each survey line. Swath tra-continental transpression. The following studies of offshore portions of the plate data were augmented by geopotential data observations were among the highlights: boundary transecting New Zealand allow the and six-channel seismic reflection data shot • widespread tectonic erosion along first confident mapping of detailed tectonic with two 75 cu in SODERA GI guns. the northern Hikurangi-Kermadec margin and sedimentary patterns of the region. The active margins of New Zealand re­ caused by the collision of ridges and vol­ Working in late 1993 aboard the R/V flect complex temporal and spatial canic seamounts; L'Atalante of the Institut Francais de Recher­ interactions between subduction and strike- • extensive offshore strike-slip faulting che pour TExploitation de la Mer (IFREMER), slip regimes along the Pacific-Australian along segments of the Hikurangi-Kermadec we recorded soundings of a wide swath of plate boundary. Because the PAC-AUS pole margin; seabed to elucidate major structural transi­ tions along the plate boundary. Results of the study, part of the GEODYNZ-SUD program developed jointly by institutions in France and New Zealand, will be complemented by New Zealand cruises to the Puysegur and Hikurangi margins. The total data set will be Fig. 1. Map of the processed and interpreted during the next areas surveyed during two years. the Geodynz-Sud A shipboard SIMRAD EM12Dual (EMI2D) cruise of the R/V multibeam system recorded 160,000 km2 of L'Atalante along New swath bathymetry and imagery over the Ker- Zealand's active mar­ madec-Hikurangi margin to the northeast gins with linearly and the Fiordland-Puysegur margin to the color-coded swath southwest of New Zealand (Figure 1). The bathymetry; red ar­ rows = PAC-AUS plate EM12D consists of separate multibeam echo- convergence direction sounders, each generating 81 stabilized [DeMetsetaL, 1990]; beams at frequencies of 12.6-13 kHz. This sys­ HP'=Hikurangi Pla­ tem allows simultaneous determination of teau; FM=Fiordland 162 measurements of phase giving depth and Margin; sawtooth 162 measurements of the energy back-scat­ lines = subduction tered. After on-board processing, swath maps fronts; heavy lines = of bathymetry and side scan sonar imagery major strike-slip faults; over a maximum 22 km-wide strip of seabed light blue = continen­ tal rocks, depth <1.5 J.-Y. Collot, Institut Francais de Recherche km; and dark blue = Scientifique pour le Developement en Coopera­ seafloor depth >1.5 tion, Villefranche s/mer, France; J. Delteil, In­ km. Original color im­ stitut de Geodynamique, Nice, France; R. age appears at the Herzer and R. Wood, Institute of Geological back of this volume. and Nuclear Sciences; and K.W. Lewis, Na­ tional Institute of Water and Atmospheric Re­ search, Wellington, New Zealand This page may be freely copied. Eos, Vol. 76, No. 1, January 3, 1995 Mets, 1990]. On the Pacific plate, the 10-15 partitioning across the margin. The compres­ km thick Hikurangi Plateau, which has areas sive component is taken up mainly within of abundant seamounts and sediment-filled off-scraped Plio-Pleistocene trench sediment troughs, is subducted westward at the south­ of the accretionary wedge. Behind this wedge ern Kermadec Trench and Hikurangi Trough the Cenozoic slope sediment takes up much of [Davy, 1992]. On the Australian plate, south the strike-slip component of the strain. of the Kermadec island arc, the eastern edge At the southern end of the accretionary of the New Zealand continental crust is a wedge, where the margin is almost parallel to compressed wedge of mid-Cenozoic slope the convergence direction, strike-slip faults sediments, with local outgrowth of an accre- in the upper margin converge southwestward tionary wedge of off-scraped trench in a horse tail tectonic pattern. Farther south, sediments [Lewis and Pettinga, 1993]. in the zone of continental collision, the mar­ The GEODYNZ-SUD cruise focused on the gin is deformed mainly by compression. On above-mentioned transition zones of the Ker­ the adjacent land a wide zone of transpres- madec-Hikurangi margin (Figure 1) to clarify sion links south with the Alpine Fault that the relationships between subduction and extends to Fiordland. strike-slip motion and to assess the impact of seamount and scarp subduction on the evolu­ The Flordland-Puysegur Margin tion of the margin. Observations in the northern part of the Southwest of New Zealand, the Austra­ survey area suggest that the 1000-m-high lian plate is subducted eastward along the scarp forming the northern edge of the Pacific-Australian plate boundary. The Hikurangi Plateau has swept southward GEODYNZ-SUD study focused on the struc­ along the trench. North of the scarp-trench tural transitions between the Fiordland junction, the sweep has left a collapsing in­ continental margin (trending N30°^45°E) at ner trench wall that is offset 15 km westward the southern end of the Alpine Fault, the con­ from the trench to the south. South of the tinent-to-ocean transition zone of the junction, the Hikurangi Plateau has uplifted Puysegur Bank (trending N10°-15°E), and the Kermadec forearc and trench axis by 1.5 the N20°-25° E trending Puysegur Ridge (the km to form a series of narrow en echelon, northern part of the Macquarie Ridge Com­ Fig. 2. Generalized multibeam bathymetric sediment-starved basins (Figure 2). On the plex) and Puysegur Trench (Figures 1 and 3). map (contour interval 250 m) of the northern northern Hikurangi Plateau, there are several Along these segments, the relative plate mo­ Hikurangi-Kermadec margin showing the up­ previously unrecognized, highly reflective, tion is very oblique (20^0°) to the lifted, en echelon southern Kermadec trench, presumably volcanic seamounts and ridges deformation front, and the convergence rate the indented northern Hikurangi margin and trending N140°-168°E and ranging up to 1000 is uniform (3.7-3.2 cm/yr) [De Mets etai, the location of strike-slip deformation; saw­ m high. Some of the seamounts lie in front of 1990]. On the lower plate, the Resolution tooth line = subduction front; large arrow = a newly recognized indentation of the mar­ Ridge (Figure 3) is thought to separate the PAC-AUS plate convergence direction; shaded gin that is 270 km long (37°45'to 40°S) and up Cretaceous-Paleocene Tasman Sea oceanic zone = ridge damming the sediment of the to 25 km wide. This indented margin has an crust (to the northwest) from a southeastern Hikurangi Trough; andNI=North Island. abnormally steep inner slope and abundant Eocene-Oligocene wedge of Indian Ocean slump and collapse features, suggesting ex­ oceanic crust [Weisseletal, 1977]. On the tensive tectonic erosion of the margin by upper plate, the dextral transpressive Alpine • a ridge forming a dam that prevents seamount collisions. This process causes fault [Wellman, 1953] is thought to lie along movement of turbidity from the Hikurangi slope failures that feed the Hikurangi Trough the continental shelf of Fiordland (Figure 1). Trough to the Kermadec Trench with avalanche deposits. These deposits, Beneath Fiordland, an 80°SE dipping Benioff • a major strike-slip fault zone extend­ ponding in the Hikurangi Trough, fail to zone [Smith and Davey, 1984] defines the ing along the summit of the Puysegur Ridge reach the Kermadec Trench because they morphology of the subducting Australian (the Puysegur Fault); are impeded by a ridge at 37°45'S. plate. South of Fiordland, although subduc­ • a relay zone of splay faults linking the We recognized strike-slip faulting, pre­ tion is marked by the Puysegur Trench and a Alpine Fault and the Puysegur Fault; and viously known only onshore, at least 70 km single, Quaternary andesitic volcano, there is • seafloor spreading fabric with three east of the shore. This faulting appears to be no clear Benioff zone. Focal mechanisms distinct orientations on oceanic crust west of widespread along the northern and southern show both strike-slip and thrust type deforma­ the Puysegur Trench. Hikurangi margins that accommodate part of tion [Anderson etai, 1993]. the oblique subduction of the Hikurangi Pla­ New data collected in the area adjacent teau (Figure 2). In the north, the evidence for to Fiordland show that submarine canyons, The Kermadec-Hikurangi Margin strike-slip faults includes scarps and mor­ which incise the upper margin west of the East of New Zealand, changes in structure phologic lineaments that define northward presumed Alpine Fault trace, appear to be lat­ and sedimentation along the PAC-AUS plate diverging horse tail tectonic patterns near erally offset from the mouths of fiords. This boundary reflect transitions from intra-ocean 37°Sand near40°S. offset indicates recent dextral strike-slip dis­ subduction at the Kermadec Trench, to sub­ In the south, dextral strike-slip is evident placement along the upper margin. Several continental subduction at the Hikurangi as offset ridges with small "pull apart" basins linear fault scarps, (presumably strike-slip), Trough, to continental collision of the behind the accretionary wedge.
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