Timing of Eocene compressional plate failure during subduction initiation, northern Zealandia, southwestern Pacific
Type | Article | ||||||||
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Date | 2022-02 | ||||||||
Language | English | ||||||||
Author(s) | Stratford W R1, Sutherland R2, Dickens G R3, Blum P4, Collot J5, Gurnis M6, Saito S7, Bordenaveg A8, Etienne S J G5, Agnini C9, Alegret L10, Asatryan G11, Bhattacharya J12, Chang L13, Cramwinckel M J14, Dallanave E15, Drake M K16, Giorgioni M17, Harper D T16, Huang H-H M18, Keller A L19, Lam A R20, Li H21, Matsui H22, Morgans H E G1, Newsam C21, Park Y-H22, Pascher K M1, Pekar S F23, Penman D E24, Westerhold T25, Zhou X26 | ||||||||
Affiliation(s) | 1 : GNS Science, New Zealand 2 : Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand 3 : Trinity College Dublin, Ireland 4 : Department of Geology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA 5 : Geological Survey of New Caledonia, New Caledonia 6 : California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA 7 : Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Japan 8 : Université Bordeaux Montaigne / EA 4592 Géoressources & Environnement, 1 allée Fernand Daguin, 33607 Pessac cedex, France 9 : Università degli Studi di Padova, Italy 10 : Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain 11 : Leibniz-Institut für Evolutions und Biodiversitätsforschung, Berlin, Germany 12 : Rice University, USA 13 : School of Earth and Space Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China 14 : Utrecht University, The Netherlands 15 : Faculty of Geosciences, University of Bremen, Germany 16 : University of California, Santa Cruz, USA 17 : Universidade de Brasília, Brazil 18 : National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, USA 19 : University of California, Riverside, USA 20 : Binghamton University, USA 21 : Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China 22 : Tohoku University, Japan 23 : Queens College (CUNY), USA 24 : Department of Geosciences, Utah State University 25 : MARUM, University of Bremen, Germany 26 : Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, USA |
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Source | Geophysical Journal International (0956-540X) (Oxford University Press (OUP)), 2022-02 , Vol. 229 , N. 3 , P. 1567-1585 | ||||||||
DOI | 10.1093/gji/ggac016 | ||||||||
WOS© Times Cited | 4 | ||||||||
Keyword(s) | New Zealand, Pacific Ocean, Continental margins: convergent, Intra-plate processes, Subduction zone processes | ||||||||
Abstract | Y Rapid onset of subduction tectonics across the western Pacific convergent margins in the early Eocene was followed by a slower phase of margin growth of the proto Tonga-Kermadec subduction system north of Zealandia during a middle Eocene phase to tectonic adjustment. We present new age constraints from International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 371 borehole data on deformation events in northern Zealandian sediments that document the formation of the convergent margin boundary northwest of New Zealand. The deformation shows a shortening event that lasted up to 20 myr and acted over distances of ∼1000 km inboard of the evolving plate margin, just northwest of New Zealand. Multichannel seismic profiles tied to our new borehole sites show shortening occurred predominantly between 45 Ma and 35 Ma with some deformation related to slope failure continuing into the Oligocene. The termination of shortening is linked to opening of the backarc basins of the southwest Pacific and the migration of the Tonga-Kermadec Trench to the east which may have removed the structural evidence of the Eocene plate margin. Paleogene deformation observed inboard of the evolving proto Tonga-Kermadec subduction system indicates that the lithosphere of northern Zealandia, a region of thin continental crust, was strong enough to act as a stress guide. Compressive stresses that caused intra plate folding and faulting developed behind the initiating subduction system with the finite period of deformation indicating the time frame over which an active convergent margin lay along the northern margin of Zealandia. |
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