Palaeoearthquake histories across a normal fault system in the southwest Taranaki Peninsula, New Zealand

Townsend, D.; Nicol, Andrew; Mouslopoulou, Vasiliki; Begg, John; Beetham, R. D.; Clark, Dan; Giba, M.; Heron, David; Luković, Biljana; McPherson, Andrew; Seebeck, Hannu; Walsh, John J.

doi:10.1080/00288306.2010.526547

Cited by 21 publications

(17 citation statements)

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“…This slow extension and shortening is related to slow clockwise rotation of the Manawatu block relative to the Wanganui block about a nearby pole (at ∼0.8°/Myr; Table 3). Similarly, the Wanganui block rotates relative to the Australian Plate about a nearby pole at ∼0.7°/Myr, leading to 1–2.5 mm/yr of shortening in the northwestern South Island and 1–2 mm/yr of extension near Cape Egmont in the North Island, a similar result to previous studies [ King and Thrasher , 1996; Wallace et al , 2004; Fraser et al , 2006; Giba et al , 2010; Townsend et al , 2010]. …”

Section: Joint Interpretation Of Gps and Geological Datasupporting

confidence: 89%

The kinematics of a transition from subduction to strike‐slip: An example from the central New Zealand plate boundary

et al. 2012

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We develop a kinematic model for the transition from subduction beneath the North Island, New Zealand, to strike‐slip in the South Island, constrained by GPS velocities and active fault slip data. To interpret these data, we use an approach that inverts the kinematic data for poles of rotation of tectonic blocks and the degree of interseismic coupling on faults in the region. Convergence related to the Hikurangi subduction margin becomes very low offshore of the northern South Island, indicating that in this region the majority of the relative plate motion has been transferred onto faults within the upper plate, as suggested by previous studies. This result has implications for understanding the likely extent of subduction interface earthquake rupture in central New Zealand. Easterly trending strike slip faults (such as the Boo Boo fault) are the key features that facilitate the transfer of strike‐slip motion from the northern South Island faults further north into the southern North Island and onto the Hikurangi subduction thrust. Our results also indicate that the transition from rapid forearc rotation adjacent to the Hikurangi subduction margin to a strike‐slip dominated plate boundary (with negligible vertical‐axis rotation) in the South Island occurs via a crustal‐scale hinge or kink in the upper plate, compatible with paleomagnetic and structural geological data. Despite the ongoing tectonic evolution of the central New Zealand region, our study highlights a remarkable consistency between data sets spanning decades (GPS), thousands of years (active faulting data), and millions of years (paleomagnetic data and bedrock structure).

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Section: Joint Interpretation Of Gps and Geological Datasupporting

confidence: 89%

The kinematics of a transition from subduction to strike‐slip: An example from the central New Zealand plate boundary

et al. 2012

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“…In addition, kinematic analyses of normal fault outcrops along the northern Taranaki coast suggest NW-SE extension for the faults that were active between 0.3 and 5 Ma, which is consistent with regional fault strikes [Giba et al, 2010]. Townsend et al [2010] characterized the recurrence rate, timing, and magnitude of six active normal faults to the southwest of Mount Taranaki. These active faults show a regional NE-SW to ENE-WSW trend (varies between N35°E and N65°E) and indicate paleoseismicity with magnitudes of > 6 for these faults.…”

Section: Comparisons Between the Stress Pattern And Geological Data Isupporting

confidence: 60%

“…These active faults show a regional NE-SW to ENE-WSW trend (varies between N35°E and N65°E) and indicate paleoseismicity with magnitudes of > 6 for these faults. The tectonic or volcanic origin of these faults was discussed by Townsend et al [2010], and they suggested that the faults were formed due to tectonic activity because they were probably active before the volcanic activity. The consistency between our determined S Hmax orientation and the trend of these faults further supports a tectonic origin for these faults (Figure 7).…”

Section: Comparisons Between the Stress Pattern And Geological Data Imentioning

confidence: 99%

Contemporary tectonic stress pattern of the Taranaki Basin, New Zealand

et al. 2016

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The present‐day stress state is a key parameter in numerous geoscientific research fields including geodynamics, seismic hazard assessment, and geomechanics of georeservoirs. The Taranaki Basin of New Zealand is located on the Australian Plate and forms the western boundary of tectonic deformation due to Pacific Plate subduction along the Hikurangi margin. This paper presents the first comprehensive wellbore‐derived basin‐scale in situ stress analysis in New Zealand. We analyze borehole image and oriented caliper data from 129 petroleum wells in the Taranaki Basin to interpret the shape of boreholes and determine the orientation of maximum horizontal stress (SHmax). We combine these data (151 SHmax data records) with 40 stress data records derived from individual earthquake focal mechanism solutions, 6 from stress inversions of focal mechanisms, and 1 data record using the average of several focal mechanism solutions. The resulting data set has 198 data records for the Taranaki Basin and suggests a regional SHmax orientation of N068°E (±22°), which is in agreement with NW‐SE extension suggested by geological data. Furthermore, this ENE‐WSW average SHmax orientation is subparallel to the subduction trench and strike of the subducting slab (N50°E) beneath the central western North Island. Hence, we suggest that the slab geometry and the associated forces due to slab rollback are the key control of crustal stress in the Taranaki Basin. In addition, we find stress perturbations with depth in the vicinity of faults in some of the studied wells, which highlight the impact of local stress sources on the present‐day stress rotation.

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“…The faults in Table 1 range in SES from 0.5 to 16.9 m, with the lower bound defined by the detection limit of geological investigations of normal faults. In New Zealand, SES on individual faults may be approximately uniform (Van Dissen & Nicol 2009;Little et al 2010;Townsend et al 2010) or vary by up to a factor of five (Nicol et al , 2011bTownsend et al 2010; Figure 2). Whether most faults adhere to the quasi-uniform or variable SES models, and under what geological conditions each of these models applies, are important questions (e.g.…”

Section: Single-event Slipmentioning

confidence: 97%

Variability of recurrence interval and single-event slip for surface-rupturing earthquakes in New Zealand

Nicol

Robinson

Dissen

et al. 2016

New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics

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Recurrence interval (RI) and single-event slip (SES) for large-magnitude earthquakes that ruptured the ground surface (M w > 6-7.2) can vary by more than an order of magnitude on individual faults. Frequency histograms, probability density functions (PDFs) and coefficient of variation (C v , standard deviation/arithmetic mean) values for geological and simulated earthquakes on over 100 New Zealand active faults have been used to quantify RI and SES variability. Histograms of RI and SES for geological paleoearthquakes were constructed using a Monte Carlo method which accounts for the observations and their uncertainties. For the best of the geological PDFs (i.e. ≥7 surface-rupturing events) and earthquake simulations, RI are positively skewed with long recurrence tails (c. three times the mean) which are approximately described by log-normal and Weibull distributions. The geometric mean and coefficient of variation (C vln ) calculated for these log-normal distributions may be up to a factor of two lower and higher, respectively, than those determined assuming a normal distribution. By contrast, SES for geological and simulated earthquakes is often approximately normally distributed and appears to be less variable than RI (RI C v 0.6 ± 0.2 geological and 0.6 ± 0.3 simulations; SES C v 0.4 ± 0.2 geological). Variations in earthquake RI and to a lesser extent SES produce order-of-magnitude changes in slip rate over time intervals up to five times the arithmetic mean RI. Quantifying variability of RI, SES and slip rates is important when producing estimates of seismic hazard for surface-rupturing earthquakes, and could be estimated for active faults with poorly constrained paleoearthquake histories using the PDFs presented here. ARTICLE HISTORY

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Palaeoearthquake histories across a normal fault system in the southwest Taranaki Peninsula, New Zealand

Cited by 21 publications

References 50 publications

The kinematics of a transition from subduction to strike‐slip: An example from the central New Zealand plate boundary

The kinematics of a transition from subduction to strike‐slip: An example from the central New Zealand plate boundary

Contemporary tectonic stress pattern of the Taranaki Basin, New Zealand

Variability of recurrence interval and single-event slip for surface-rupturing earthquakes in New Zealand

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