Continental-scale geographic change across zealandia during paleogene subduction initiation

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Abstract

Data from International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 371 reveal vertical movements of 1-3 km in northern Zealandia during early Cenozoic subduction initiation in the western Pacific Ocean. Lord Howe Rise rose from deep (∼1 km) water to sea level and subsided back, with peak uplift at 50 Ma in the north and between 41 and 32 Ma in the south. The New Caledonia Trough subsided 2-3 km between 55 and 45 Ma. We suggest these elevation changes resulted from crust delamination and mantle flow that led to slab formation. We propose a "subduction resurrection" model in which (1) a subduction rupture event activated lithospheric-scale faults across a broad region during less than ∼5 m.y., and (2) tectonic forces evolved over a further 4-8 m.y. as subducted slabs grew in size and drove plate-motion change. Such a subduction rupture event may have involved nucleation and lateral propagation of slip-weakening rupture along an interconnected set of preexisting weaknesses adjacent to density anomalies.

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Sutherland, R., Dickens, G. R., Blum, P., Agnini, C., Alegret, L., Asatryan, G., … Zhou, X. (2020). Continental-scale geographic change across zealandia during paleogene subduction initiation. Geology, 48(5), 419–424. https://doi.org/10.1130/G47008.1

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