Late Miocene to Recent formation of the Aure‐Moresby fold‐thrust belt and foreland basin as a consequence of Woodlark microplate rotation, Papua New Guinea

Abstract

AbstractThe Aure‐Moresby fold‐thrust belt and Aure‐Moresby foreland basin are located in the eastern Gulf of Papua (GOP), Papua New Guinea (PNG), and formed during late Miocene‐Recent as the result of large‐scale, counterclockwise rotation of the 355,000 km2 Woodlark microplate. To document the structure, stratigraphy, and age of convergent deformation along the poorly studied, western edge of the rotating Woodlark microplate, we integrate results of 2,538 km of previously unpublished 2‐D seismic reflection data with onshore geologic and GPS studies from previous workers. The late Miocene Aure‐Moresby fold‐thrust belt is a 400 km long, northwest‐trending fold‐belt exposed onshore in Papua New Guinea that plunges to the southeast, where continuous folds and northeast‐dipping thrusts can be imaged in the subsurface for more than 250 km. The arcuate trend of the Aure‐Moresby fold‐thrust belt along the southwestern coast and offshore areas of the Papuan peninsula parallels the shape of the adjacent, offshore Aure‐Moresby foreland basin and the strike of the transpressional segment of the left‐lateral Owen‐Stanley fault zone (OSFZ) passing along the center of the Papuan peninsula. As the OSFZ becomes more transtensional east of 148°E, folds of the Aure‐Moresby fold‐thrust belt along southern coast of the peninsula become less prominent, and the adjacent Aure‐Moresby foreland basin transitions into an undeformed Cenozoic passive margin setting. These observations of convergent an left‐lateral deformation along the Aure‐Moresby fold‐thrust belt are consistent with: (1) counterclockwise rotation of the Woodlark microplate known from regional GPS studies; (2) coeval opening of the Woodlark basin along its southern edge in the late Miocene; and (3) rapid subduction at the New Britain trench along its northern edge. The kinematics of the rotating Woodlark microplate are driven by slab pull forces acting on the actively subducting northern edge of the microplate.