Frontal accretion and thrust wedge evolution under very oblique plate convergence: Fiordland Basin, New Zealand

Abstract

ABSTRACTA thrust wedge with unusual geometry has developed under very oblique (50–60°) convergence between the Pacific and Australian Plates, along the 240‐km length of the Fiordland margin, New Zealand. The narrow (25 km‐wide) wedge comprises three overlapping components, lying west of the offshore section of the Alpine Fault, and straddles a change of > 30° in the regional strike of the plate boundary. Swath bathymetry, marine seismic reflection profiles, and dated samples together reveal the stratigraphy, structure, and evolution of the wedge and the underthrusting, continental, Caswell High (Australian Plate). Lateral variations in the composition and structure of the accretionary wedge, and the depth of the décollement thrust, result partly from variations in crustal structure and basement relief of the underthrust plate, and from associated variations in the thickness of turbidites available for frontal accretion. In the southern Fiordland Basin the underthrust plate is undergoing flexural uplift and extension, and a thick turbidite section is available for accretion. Along‐strike, a structurally elevated portion of the underthrust plate is very obliquely colliding with the central part of the accretionary wedge, the turbidite section available for accretion is condensed, and structural inversion occurs in the underthrust plate. Growth of the thrust wedge is inferred to have commenced in the Pliocene prior to 3 ± 1 Ma, but much of the wedge developed in the Quaternary. The spatial distribution of thrusting has varied through time, with most late Quaternary shortening occurring on structures within 10 km of the right‐stepping deformation front. Estimates of the magnitude and rates of deformation indicate that the wedge accommodates a significant component of the oblique convergence between the Pacific and Australian Plates. Shortening of up to 7.3 ± 1.4 km and 9.1 ± 1.8 km within the southern and central parts of the wedge, respectively, represent about 5–15% of the total 70–140 km of shortening predicted across the plate boundary since 6.4 Ma, and about 10–30% since 3 Ma. Late Quaternary shortening rates of the order of 1–5 mm yr−1, estimated across both the northern and southern parts of the wedge, represent about 10–50 and 5–21% of the total NUVEL‐1 A shortening across the plate boundary at these respective latitudes, implying that most shortening is occurring onshore. Furthermore, possible oblique‐slip thrusting within the wedge may be accommodating boundary‐parallel displacement of 0–6 mm yr−1, representing 0–17% of the total predicted within the plate boundary.