Abstract
The northwestern continental margin of New Zealand offers one of the finest examples of a continent-backarc transform. This transform, part of the Vening Meinesz Fracture Zone (VMFZ), accommodated about 170 km of sea-floor spreading in the Norfolk backare basin together with eastward migration of a volcanic arc, the Three Kings Ridge, in the Mid- to Late Miocene. Before the onset of spreading, strain along the VMFZ may have been linked to a major Early Miocene obduction event — the emplacement of the Northland Allochthon. The transform is manifested by a belt up to 50 km wide of left-stepping, linear fault scarps up to 2000 m high within an approximately 100 km-wide deformed zone. A marginal ridge, the Reinga Ridge, which includes a faulted, folded and uplifted Miocene sedimentary basin, occurs within the high-standing continental side of the deformed zone, whereas a narrow strip of linear detached blocks occupies the deep backarc oceanic side. Prespreading uplift and erosion of crust in the proto-backarc region, are volcanism, and obduction of the allochthon, supplied clastic sediments to the basin on the continental side. This basin was complexly deformed as the transform evolved. The transform was initiated as a dextral strike-slip fault zone, which developed right-branching splays and left-steps along its length, uplifting and cutting the continental margin into left-hand, en echelon blocks and relays. Folds formed locally within relay blocks and at the distal ends of the splays. Only the high continental side of this zone (the Reinga Ridge) remains, the formerly adjacent crust (the Three Kings Ridge) having been displaced towards the southeast. As the Three Kings block moved and the Norfolk Basin opened, opposing rift margins of the backarc basin foundered to form terraces. The oceanic side of the transform also subsided to produce the belt of detached blocks (some laterally displaced by strike slip) and linear troughs along the main escarpment system.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Andrews, J. E., Packham, G. et al., 1975, Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project 30. Washington, U.S. Government Printing Office.
Australian Gulf Oil, 1973, Geophysical Data from M.V. GULFREX Cruises 94–98, October 1972–January 1973, Inst. Geol. and Nuclear Sci. Open File Petroleum Rep. 614, Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, Lower Hutt, New Zealand.
Ballance, P. F., 1974, An Inter-Arc Flysch Basin in Northern New Zealand: Waitemata Group (Upper Oligocene to Lower Miocene), J. Geol. 82, 439–471.
Ballance, P. F., 1976, Evolution of the Upper Cenozoic Magmatic Arc and Plate Boundary in Northern New Zealand, Earth and Planet. Sci. Lett. 28, 356–370.
Ballance, P. F., Pettinga, J. R. and Webb, C., 1982, A Model of the Cenozoic Evolution of Northern New Zealand and Adjacent Areas of the Southwest Pacific, Tectonophysics 87, 37–48.
Ballance, P. F. and Spörli, K. B., 1979, Northland Allochthon, J. Roy. Soc. New Zealand 9, 259–275.
Brook, F. J. and Thrasher, G. P., 1991, Cretaceous and Cenozoic Geology of Northernmost New Zealand, New Zealand Geol. Survey Rep. 41.
Brothers, R. N., 1974, Kaikoura Orogeny in Northland, New Zealand, New Zealand J. Geol. Geophys. 17, 1–18.
Brothers, R. N., 1983, Tertiary Accretion of Ophiolite Seamounts, North Island, New Zealand, in Hashimoto, M. and Uyeda, S. (eds.), Accretion Tectonics in the Circum-Pacific Regions, 307–318, Terra Scientific Publishing Company (TERRAPUB), Tokyo.
Brothers, R. N. and Delaloye, M., 1982, Obducted Ophiolites of North Island, New Zealand: Origin, Age, Emplacement and Tectonic Implications for Tertiary and Quaternary Volcanicity, New Zealand J. Geol. Geophys. 25, 257–274.
Burns, R. E., Andrews, J. E. et al., 1973, Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project 21, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington.
Cole, J. W. and Lewis, K. B., 1981, Evolution of the Taupo-Hikurangi Subduction System, Tectonophysics 72, 1–21.
Cullen, D. J., 1970a, A Tectonic Analysis of the South-West Pacific, New Zealand J. Geol. Geophys. 13, 7–20.
Cullen, D. J., 1970b, Tectonic Map of the Southwest Pacific, 1: 10 000 000, New Zealand Oceanogr. Inst. Chart, Miscellaneous Series 20.
Davey, F. J., 1982, The Structure of the South Fiji Basin, Tectonophysics 87, 185–241.
Dupont, J., Launay, J., Ravenne, C. and de, Broin, C. E., 1975, Données Nouvelles sur la Ride de Norfolk (Sud-Ouest Pacifique), C.R. Acad. Sci. Paris 281, Série D: 605–608.
Eade, J. V., 1971, Poor Knights Bathymetry, New Zealand Oceanogr. Inst. Chart, Coastal Series, 1:200,000.
Eade, J. V., 1988, The Norfolk Ridge System and Its Margins, in Nairn, A. E. M., Stehli, F. G. and Uyeda, S. (eds.) The Pacific Ocean. The Ocean Basins and Margins 7B, 303–324, Plenum Press, New York.
Hayward, B. W., 1993, The Tempestuous 10 Million Year Life of a Double Arc and Intra-Arc Basin-New Zealand's Northland Basin in the Early Miocene, in Ballance, P.F. (ed.) South Pacific Sedimentary Basins, Sedimentary Basins of the World 2, 113–142, Elsevier.
Hayward, B. W., Brook, F. J. and Isaac, M. J., 1989, Cretaceous to Middle Tertiary Stratigraphy, Paleogeography and Tectonic History of Northland, New Zealand, in Spörli, B. and Kear, D. (eds.) Geology of Northland: Accretion, Allochthons and Arcs at the Edge of the New Zealand Micro-Continent, Roy. Soc. New Zealand Bull. 26, 47–64.
Herzer, R. H., 1992, Subsurface Maps of the Northland Basin, New Zealand, New Zealand Geol. Survey Rep. G164, 14 Maps and Report.
Herzer, R. H., 1995, Seismic Stratigraphy of a Buried Volcanic Arc, Northland, New Zealand, and Implications for Neogene Subduction, Mar. Petroleum Geol. 12, 511–531.
Herzer, R. H. and Isaac, M. J., 1992, The Size of the Northland Allochthon, Research Notes, New Zealand Geol. Survey Record 44, 37–42.
Honnorez, J., Villeneuve, M. and Mascle, J., 1994, Old Continent-Derived Metasedimentary Rocks in the Equatorial Atlantic: An Acoustic Basement Outcrop Along the Fossil Trace of the Romanche Transform Fault at 6°30′ W, Mar. Geol. 117, 237–251.
Irwin, J. and Eade, J. V., 1984, Hokianga Bathymetry, New Zealand Oceanogr. Inst. Chart, Coastal Series, 1:200 000.
Isaac, M. J., Herzer, R. H., Brook, F. P. and Hayward, B. W., 1994, Cretaceous and Cenozoic Sedimentary Basins of Northland, New Zealand, Inst. Geol. Nuclear Sci. Monograph 8, 203 p., 4 map sheets. Institute of Geological & Nuclear Sciences, Gracefield Research Centre, Lower Hutt, New Zealand.
Jenkins, D. G. and Srinivasan, M. S., 1986, Cenozoic Planktonic Foraminifers from the Equator to the Sub-Antarctic of the Southwest Pacific, in Kennett J. P., von der Borch C. C. et al., Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project 90, 795–834, Washington, U.S. Government Printing Office.
Kamp, P. J. J., 1984, Neogene and Quaternary Extent and Geometry of the Subducted Pacific Plate Beneath North Island, New Zealand: Implications for Kaikoura Tectonics, Tectonophysics 108, 241–266.
Karig, D. E., 1970, Ridges and Basins of the Tonga-Kermadec Island Arc System, J. Geophys. Res. 75, 239–254.
Kroenke, L. W. and Dupont, J., 1982, Subduction-Obduction: A Possible North-South Transition Along the West Flank of the Three Kings Ridge, Geo-Marine Lett. 2, 11–16.
Kroenke, L. W. and Eade, J. V., 1982, Three Kings Ridge: A West-Facing Arc, Geo-Marine Lett. 2, 5–10.
Kroenke, L. W., Jouannic, C. J. and Woodward, P., 1983, Bathymetry of the Southwest Pacific, 1:6 442 192, CCOP/SOPAC, Suva, Fiji.
Lapouille, A., 1977, Magnetic Surveys Over the Rises and Basins in the South-West Pacific, in International Symposium of Geodynamics in Southwest Pacific, Noumea (New Caledonia) 27 August–2 September 1976. Editions Technip. Paris, 15–28.
Lapouille, A., 1978, Southern New Hebrides Basin and Western South Fiji Basin as a Single Marginal Basin, in Coleman, P.J. (ed.), Second Southwest Pacific Earth Science Symposium and I.G.C.P. Project Meeting, Australian Soc. Explor. Geophys. Bull. 9, 131–133.
Launay, J., Dupont, J. and Lapouille, A., 1982, The Three Kings Ridge and the Norfolk Basin (Southwest Pacific): An Attempt at Structural Interpretation, South Pacific Mar. Geol. Notes 2, 121–130.
Malahoff, A., Feden, R. H. and Fleming, H. F., 1982, Magnetic Anomalies and Tectonic Fabric of Marginal Basins North of New Zealand, J. Geophys. Res. 86, B5, 4109–4125.
Malpas, J., Spörli, K. B., Black, P. M. and Smith, I. E. M., 1992, Northland Ophiolite, New Zealand, and Implications for Plate-Tectonic Evolution of the Southwest Pacific, Geology 20, 149–152.
Mascle, J., Herzer, R. and Basile, C., 1994, La Marge Continentale Septentrionale de Nouvelle-Zélande et la Zone Vening Meinesz: Nouvelles Données Morphostructurales, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris 319, Série II, 1555–1562.
Mitchell, J. S. and Eade, J. V., 1990a, Three Kings Bathymetry, New Zealand Oceanogr. Inst. Chart, Coastal Series, 1:200 000.
Mitchell, J. S. and Eade, J. V., 1990b, North Cape Bathymetry, New Zealand Oceanogr. Inst. Chart, Coastal Series, 1:200 000.
Mobil International Oil Co., 1979, Reprocessed Mobil lines (from 1972 Survey), Inst. Geol. Nuclear Sci. Open File Petroleum Rep. 738. Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, Lower Hutt, New Zealand.
Monzier, M. and Vallot, J., 1983, Rapport Préliminaire Concernant les Dragages Réalises lors de la Campagne GEORSTOM III SUD (1975), Rapport No. 2-83, ORSTOM, Nouméa, Nouvelle Calédonie.
Rait, G., Chanier, F. and Waters, D. W., 1991, Landward- and Seaward-Directed Thrusting Accompanying the Onset of Subduction Beneath New Zealand, Geology 19, 230–233.
Récy, J. and Dupont, J., 1982, Le Sud-Quest Pacifique: Données Structurales, Carte à 1:12 000 000 et Notice Explicative No. 97, ORSTOM, Paris.
Reilly, I. W., 1969, Sheet 1 North Cape (1st Ed.) Magnetic Map of New Zealand 1:250 000 Total force, Anomalies, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Wellington, New Zealand.
Rigolot, P., 1989, Origine et Évolution du “Système” Ride de Nouvelle-Calédonie/Norfolk (Sud-Ouest Pacifique), unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Université de Bretagne Occidentale, Brest, France, 319 p., maps.
Sandwell, D. T. and Smith, W. H. F., 1992, Global Marine Gravity from ERS-1, Geosat and Seasat Reveals New Tectonic Fabric, Scripps Institute of Oceanography, La Jolla, California (map). Related text in EOS 73, 133.
Shaw, R. D., 1978, Seafloor Spreading in the Tasman Sea: A Lord Howe Rise-Eastern Australia Reconstruction, Bull. Australian Soc. Exploration Geophysicists 9, 75–81.
Shell Internationale Petroleum Maatschappij, 1971, Petrel Marine Seismic Survey, West Coast, New Zealand, Inst. Geol. Nuclear Sci. Open File Petroleum Rep. 642, Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, Lower Hutt, New Zealand.
Spörli, K. B., 1982, Review of Paleostrain/Stress Directions in Northland, New Zealand, and of the Structure of the Northland Allochthon, Tectonophysics 87, 24–36.
Spörli, K. B., 1989, Tectonic Framework of Northland, New Zealand, Roy. Soc. New Zealand Bull. 26, 3–14.
Spörli, K. B. and Ballance, P. F., 1989, Mesozoic-Cenozoic Ocean Floor/Continent Interaction and Terrane Configuration, SW-Pacific Area Around New Zealand, in Ben-Avraham, Z. (ed.), The Evolution of the Pacific Ocean Margins, Oxford Monographs on Geol. and Geophys. 8, 176–190, Oxford University Press.
Summerhayes, C. P., 1969, Submarine Geology and Geomorphology Off Northern New Zealand, New Zealand J. Geol. Geophys. 12, 507–525.
Thrasher, G. P., 1988a, Subsurface Geology of the Continental Shelf, Bay of Plenty to the Three Kings Islands, New Zealand. New Zealand Geol. Survey Rep. G133.
Thrasher, G. P., 1988b, The Interpretation of Seismic Reflection Data from the Western Platform Region of the Taranaki Basin, Energy Exploration and Exploitation, 6, 136–150.
van der, Linden, W. J. M., 1967, Structural Relationships in the Tasman Sea and South-West Pacific Ocean, New Zealand J. Geol. Geophys. 10, 1280–1301.
Veevers, J. J. and Li, Z. X., 1991, Review of Seafloor Spreading Around Australia II, Marine Magnetic Anomaly Modelling, Australian J. Earth Sci. 38, 391–408.
Walcott, R. I., 1987, Geodetic Strain and the Deformational History of the North Island of New Zealand During the Late Cainozoic, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. A 321, 163–181.
Watts, A. B., Weissel, J. K. and Davey, F. J., 1977, Tectonic Evolution of the South Fiji Marginal Basins, in Talwani, M. and Pitman, W. C. (eds.), Island Arcs, Deep Sea Trenches and Back-arc Basins, 419–427, American Geophysical Union, Washington, D.C.
Weissel, J. K., Hayes, D. H. and Herron, E. M., 1977, Plate Tectonic Synthesis: The Displacements Between Australia, New Zealand, and Antarctica Since the Late Cretaceous, Mar. Geol. 25, 231–277.
Wright, I. C., 1993, Pre-Spread Rifting and Heterogeneous Volcanism in the Southern Havre Trough Back-Arc Basin, Mar. Geol. 113, 179–200.
Zhu, H. and Symonds, P. A., 1994, Seismic Interpretation, Gravity Modelling and Petroleum Potential of the Southern Lord Howe Rise Region, 1994 New Zealand Petroleum Conference Proceedings, 223–230, Energy Resources Division, Ministry of Commerce, New Zealand.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Herzer, R.H., Mascle, J. Anatomy of a continent-backarc transform — The Vening Meinesz Fracture Zone northwest of New Zealand. Marine Geophysical Researches 18, 401–427 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00286087
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00286087