U–Pb dating of zircon in hydrothermally altered rocks of the Kawerau Geothermal Field, Taupo Volcanic Zone, New Zealand

Abstract

Crystallisation-age spectra have been obtained by SIMS techniques (SHRIMP-RG) on zircons from altered volcanic units penetrated by drillholes at Kawerau Geothermal Field in the central Taupo Volcanic Zone (TVZ), New Zealand. Drillholes penetrate 700–1300m of volcanic rocks and sediments before reaching the basement Mesozoic greywacke. Twenty-seven samples of altered volcanic lithologies and two surficial, fresh rock units have been studied in order to constrain ages of the major stratigraphic units. Within the volcanic/sedimentary pile the oldest in-situ ignimbrites that can be widely correlated have ages of ~1.45Ma. Between them and the basement greywacke is a variable thickness of sediments, mostly greywacke gravels and minor volcaniclastic units, reflecting localised basinal deposition associated with strike–slip faulting. Two ignimbrites within this sequence yield age estimates of c. 2.4 and 2.1Ma, consistent with these being distal southern Coromandel Volcanic Zone deposits, pre-dating TVZ activity. Below the regional marker plane of the 0.32Ma Matahina ignimbrite, three main ignimbrite groups occur, with ages around 1.45Ma, 1.0Ma and 0.6–0.5Ma, which are separated by sediment-dominated intervals and andesite volcanics. All of these ignimbrites represent marker horizons from other volcanic centres and do not reflect the presence of local magmatic heat sources.Numerous bodies of coherent rhyolite, previous labelled as Caxton and Onepu rhyolites, have been intersected at all pre-Matahina ignimbrite levels (including within the basement greywacke) and reflect earlier local magmatic heat sources. Our geochronological data resolve these rock bodies into three packages. The youngest is represented by the surficial rhyodacite Onepu domes, 40Ar/39Ar dated at 0.138±0.007Ma. U–Pb ages on zircons from dome material yield a spectrum that can be matched (consistent with petrography) with two dikes intersected at 880m and 2.67km depth, and with an estimated age of 0.15±0.01Ma (Onepu Formation). The older two packages consist of older crystal rich (~15%) and younger crystal-poor (~5%) rhyolite, here grouped as Caxton Formation and with eruption/intrusion age of 0.36±0.03Ma. The shallowest Caxton rhyolite bodies are interpreted to be domes, whilst deeper intersections are inferred to be sills based on the lateral extents relative to thicknesses.Net subsidence rates inferred from depths to key units do not reflect the present-day situation. Modern rates of subsidence (2±1mm/yr) associated with TVZ rifting processes can have been active for no more than ~50,000years, based on elevation differences of the Matahina ignimbrite top surface. An inferred change in intrusion geometry from sill (Caxton) to dike (Onepu) indicates a change in principal stress orientations reflecting onset of the modern Whakatane Graben. This change is dated at ~0.37Ma in coastal sedimentary sequences 23km to the north of Kawerau, consistent with our age data. Although previously interpreted to be a long-lived system, the modern Kawerau Geothermal Field is a Holocene entity reflecting the rejuvenation of magmatic heat flux associated with Putauaki volcano superimposed on an area of multiple reactivated fault structures, sporadic magmatism and variable rates of subsidence.