Paleomagnetic constraints on Cenozoic deformation along the northwest margin of the Pacific‐Australian plate boundary zone through New Zealand

Abstract

New Zealand straddles the boundary between the Australian and Pacific plates, a zone of oblique continental convergence and transform motion. The actively deforming region offers a unique opportunity to study the dynamics of deformation, including vertical‐axis rotation of rigid blocks within a transcurrent plate boundary zone. We present and interpret paleomagnetic data from three new and three previously published sites from the NW part of the South Island (NW Nelson region), where sedimentary strata dated between 36 and 10 Ma overlie the crystalline Paleozoic basement assemblages of the Gondwana margin. Compared with reference directions from the Australian apparent polar wander path, none of the results provide evidence of post‐Eocene vertical‐axis rotation. This suggests that for the past 36 Myr NW Nelson has remained a strong, coherent block that has moved as a contiguous part of the Australian plate. This is in marked contrast to the strongly rotated nature of more outboard accreted terranes to the east. For example, the Hikurangi Margin in the North Island (NW of the Alpine Fault) and the Marlborough region in the NE of the South Island (SE of the Alpine Fault), have both undergone diverse clockwise rotations of up to 140° since the early Paleogene. The NW tip of the South Island seems to have acted as a rigid backstop relative to these more complex oroclinal deformations. We infer that, because of its relatively stiff bulk rheology, it has not been drawn into the distributed plate boundary rotational deformation associated with the New Zealand Orocline.