Subduction initiation at a strike-slip plate boundary: The Cenozoic Pacific-Australian plate boundary, south of New Zealand

Abstract

We first present a synthesis of the Macquarie Ridge Complex (MRC) tectonic structures as well as paleo-reconstruction models of the kinematic evolution of the Pacific-Australia plate boundary south of New Zealand, since the Eocene. We then ascertain the geodynamical conditions that preceded subduction initiation, and identify the nature and structures of the crust that first subducted, at the Puysegur subduction zone. This synthesis is used to produce a subduction initiation model for the Puysegur Region. Concomitant to inception of the Alpine Fault (ca. 23 Ma), a 150-km-wide transpressive relay zone developed along Puysegur Bank inherited structures, enabling localization of compressive deformation. Right-lateral motion at the relay zone has juxtaposed oceanic and continental crusts facilitating inception of subduction and controlling the subduction vergence. Subsequently, the Puysegur subduction zone initiated at the transpressive relay zone ca. 20 Ma. Upper and lower plate inherited structures guided and facilitated the lenghtening of the subduction zone during the Neogene. The four individual segments of the MRC represent different stages of incipient subduction whose development depends on local geodynamical conditions and lithospheric heterogeneities. The example of the MRC demonstrates that subduction can initiate from an oceanic spreading center, through progressive changes in plate kinematics within a 10-15 Myr time frame.