Origin of dispersed Permian–Triassic fore-arc basin terranes in New Zealand: Insights from zircon petrochronology

Abstract

Permian–Triassic fore-arc basin terranes are exposed in New Zealand, but their original positions and tectonic configurations along the eastern Gondwanan margin are not fully understood. To better constrain late Paleozoic and Mesozoic reconstructions, we investigated the provenance of Permian–Triassic marine sandstone units from the Dun Mountain-Maitai Terrane (Maitai Group) and the Kaka Point Structural Belt (Willsher Group). The recognition of abundant volcanic lithic fragments in the sandstone samples, combined with the pattern of detrital zircon ages (unimodal to bimodal 280–240 Ma age distribution), demonstrate that the upper Permian to Middle Triassic volcaniclastic successions were derived from a proximal arc source. The detrital zircon age spectra match magmatic pulses in the adjacent Tuhua Intrusives (Median Batholith), a conclusion similar to that recently proposed for the Brook Street Terrane (Grampian Formation) and Murihiku Terrane (Murihiku Supergroup). Trace-element data from the dated zircon grains provide further evidence for a Median Batholith source and cross-terrane provenance links. The data indicate that 275–230 Ma zircon grains from the Maitai Group, Willsher Group, and Murihiku Supergroup were derived from a common magmatic source, and that the late Permian Longwood Suite (261–252 Ma) in the Median Batholith was a source region for these terranes. Based on the cross-terrane provenance links, we suggest that the Brook Street and Murihiku terranes were deposited in the proximal part of a fore-arc basin, whereas the Dun Mountain-Maitai Terrane represents the distal part of the same basin. Sedimentation in the Maitai Group ceased during the Middle Triassic (∼238 Ma), likely in response to a period of orogenesis at 235–230 Ma (Gondwanide Orogeny) that is widely recognized throughout the southwest Pacific.