Transpression Models and Ductile Deformation of the Lower Crust of the Pacific Plate in the Central Southern Alps, a Perspective from Structural Geology

A Continental Plate Boundary: Tectonics at South Island, New Zealand

Volumn , Issue , 2013, Pages 271-288

  Little, Timothy ^a   Wightman, Ruth ^a   Holcombe, Rodney J ^b   Hill, Matthew ^a  

^a VICTORIA UNIVERSITY OF WELLINGTON   (New Zealand)

^b UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND   (Australia)

Author keywords

Continental margins New Zealand South Island; Plate tectonics New Zealand South Island

Indexed keywords

DEFORMATION; FAULT SLIPS; PLATES (STRUCTURAL COMPONENTS); STRAIN;

BRITTLE DEFORMATION; CLIMATIC CONDITIONS; CRUSTAL DETACHMENT; DEFORMING ZONE; DUCTILE DEFORMATIONS; NEW ZEALAND; OBLIQUE COLLISION; PACIFIC PLATES;

STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY;

EID: 84952642731     PISSN: None     EISSN: None     Source Type: Book    
DOI: 10.1029/175GM14     Document Type: Chapter

References (92)

1. Adams, C. J. (1981), Uplift rates and thermal structure in the Alpine fault zone and Alpine schists, Southern Alps, New Zealand, Geol. Soc. Lond. Spec. Publ., 9, 211-212.
2. Batt, G. E., S. L. Baldwin, M. Cottam, P. G. Fitzgerald, M. T. Brandon, and T. L. Spell (2004), Cenozoic plate boundary evolution in the South Island of New Zealand: new thermochronological constraints, Tectonics, 23, TC4001, doi:10.1029/2003TC001527.
3. Batt, G. E., and J. Braun (1999), The tectonic evolution of the Southern Alps, New Zealand: insights from fully thermally coupled dynamic modelling, Geophys. J. Int., 136, 403-420.
4. Batt, G. E., J. Braun, B. P. Kohn, and I. McDougall (2000), Thermochronological analysis of the dynamics of the Southern Alps, New Zealand, Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 112, 250-266.
5. Bayasgalan, A., J. Jackson, J.-F. Ritz, and S. Carretier (1999), "Forebergs," flower structures, and the development of large intracontinental strike-slip faults: the Gurvan Bogd fault system in Mongolia, J. Struct. Geol., 21, 1285-1302.
6. Beaumont, C., P. J. J. Kamp, J. Hamilton, and P. Fullsack (1996), The continental collision zone, South Island, New Zealand: comparison of geodynamical models and observations, J. Geophys. Res., 101, 3333-3359.
7. Beavan, J., Moore, M., Pearson, C., Henderson, M., Parsons, B., Blick, G., Bourne, S., England, P., Walcott, R. I., Darby, D., and Hodgkinson, K. (1999), Crustal deformation during 1994-1998 due to oblique continental collision in the central Southern Alps, New Zealand, and implications for seismic potential of the Alpine fault, J. Geophys. Res., 104(B11), 25,233-25,255.
8. Beavan, J., M. Denham, P. Denys, B. Hager, T. Herring, C. Kurnik, D. Matheson, P. Molnar, and C. Pearson (2002), A direct geodetic measurement of the uplift rate of the Southern Alps, Eos Trans. AGU, 83(22), SE31D-01.
9. Beavan, J., and J. Haines (2001), Contemporary horizontal velocity and strain rate fields of the Pacific-Australian plate boundary through New Zealand, J. Geophys. Res., 107(B1), 741-770.
10. Beavan, J., M. Moore, C. Pearson, M. Henderson, B. Parsons, G. Blick, S. Bourne, P. England, R. I. Walcott, D. Darby, and K. Hodgkinson (1999), Crustal deformation during 1994-1998 due to oblique continental collision in the central Southern Alps, New Zealand, and implications for seismic potential of the Alpine fault, J. Geophys. Res., 104(B11), 25,233-25,255.
11. Bloch, R. B., R. V. Huene, P. E. Hart, and C. M. Wentworth (1993), Style and magnitude of tectonic shortening normal to the San Andreas fault across the Pyramid Hills and Kettleman hill South Dome, California, Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 105, 464-478.
12. Bourne, S. J., P. C. England, and B. Parsons (1998), The motion of crustal blocks driven by flow of the lower lithosphere and implications for slip rates of continental strike-slip faults, Nature, 391, 655-659.
13. Braun, J., and C. Beaumont (1995), Three-dimensional numerical experiments of strain partitioning at oblique plate boundaries:implications for contrasting tectonic styles in the southern Coast Ranges, California, and central South Island, New Zealand, J. Geophys. Res., 100(B9), 18,059-18,074.
14. Brocher, T. M., J. McCarthy, P. E. Hart, W. S. Holbrook, K. Furlong, T. V. McEvilly, J. A. Hole, and Klempereer (1994), Seismic evidence for a lower crustal detachment beneath San Francisco Bay, Science, 265, 1436-1439.
15. Bull, W. B., and A. F. Cooper (1986), Uplifted marine terraces along the Alpine fault, New Zealand, Science, 234, 1225-1228.
16. Cande, S. C., and J. M. Stock (2004), Pacific-Antarctic-Australia motion and the formation of the Macquarie Plate, Geophys. J. Int., 157, 399-414.
17. Cox, S. C., and R. H. Findlay (1995), The Main Divide Fault Zone and its role in the formation of the Southern Alps, N. Z. J. Geol. Geophys., 38, 489-499.
18. Cox, S. C., and Sutherland, R. (this volume), Regional geological framework of South Island, New Zealand, and its significance for understanding the active plate boundary.
19. Davey, F. J., T. Henyey, W. S. Holbrook, D. Okaya, S. T. A., A. Melhuish, S. Henrys, H. Anderson, D. Eberhart-Phillips, T. McEvilly, R. Urhammer, F. Wu, G. R. Jiracek, P. E. Wannamaker, G. Caldwell, and N. Christensen (1998), Preliminary results from a geophysical study across a modern continentcontinent collisional plate boundary-The Southern Alps, New Zealand, Tectonophysics, 288, 221-235.
20. DeMets, C., R. G. Gordon, D. F. Argus, and S. Stein (1990), Current plate motions, Geophys. J. Int., 101, 425-478.
21. DeMets, C., R. G. Gordon, D. F. Argus, and S. Stein (1994), Effect of recent revisions to the geomagnetic reversal time scale on estimates of current plate motions, Geophys. Res. Lett., 21, 2191-2194.
22. Dewey, J. F., R. E. Holdsworth, and R. A. Strachan (1998), Transpression and transtension zones, in Continental Transpressional and Transtensional Tectonics, edited by R. E. Holdsworth, R. A. Strachan, and J. F. Dewey, pp. 1-14, Geological Society of London, London.
23. Dutton, B. J. (1997), Finite strains in transpression zones with no boundary slip, J. Struct. Geol., 19, 1189-1200.
24. Ellis, S., and B. Stockhert (2004), Imposed strain localisation in the lower crust on seismic timescales, Earth Planets Space, 56, 1103-1109.
25. Findlay, R. H. (1987), Structure and interpretation of the Alpine schists in Copland and Cook River Valleys, South Island, New Zealand, N. Z. J. Geol. Geophys., 30, 117-138.
26. Findlay, R. H., and K. B. Sporli (1984), Structural Geology of the Mt. Cook Range and Main Divide, Hooker Valley region, New Zealand, N. Z. J. Geol. Geophys., 27, 257-276.
27. Fossen, H., and B. Tikoff (1998), Extended models of transpression and transtension, and application to tectonic settings, Geol. Soc. Lond. Spec. Publ., 135, 15-33.
28. Grapes, R. H. (1995), Uplift and exhumation of Alpine schist, Southern Alps, New Zealand: thermobarometric constraints, N. Z. J. Geol. Geophys., 38, 525-533.
29. Grindley, G. W. (1963), Structure of the Alpine Schists of South Westland, Southern Alps, New Zealand, N. Z. J. Geol. Geophys., 6, 872-930.
30. Harbert, W. (1991), Late Neogene relative motions of the Pacific and North American plates, Tectonics, 10, 1-16.
31. Hill, M. P. (2005), Evolution of quartz and calcite microstructures exhumed from deep brittle-ductile shear zones in the Southern Alps of New Zealand, M.Sc. thesis, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand.
32. Holcombe, R. J., and T. A. Little (2001), A sensitive vorticity gauge using rotated porphyroblasts, and its application to rocks adjacent to the Alpine Fault, New Zealand, J. Struct. Geol., 23, 979-990.
33. Holdsworth, R. E., R. A. Strachan, and J. F. Dewey (1998), Continental Transpressional and Transtensional Tectonics, Geological Society of London, London.
34. Holm, D. K., R. J. Norris, and D. Craw (1989), Brittle and ductile deformation in a zone of rapid uplift: central Southern Alps, New Zealand, Tectonics, 8, 153-168.
35. Jiang, D., S. Lin, and P. F. Williams (2001), Deformation path in high-strain zones, with reference to slip-partitioning in transpressional plate-boundary regions, J. Struct. Geol., 23, 991-1005.
36. Jones, D., R. Graymer, M. wang, T. V., and A. Lomax (1994), Neogene transpressive evolution of the California Coast Ranges, Tectonics, 13, 561-574.
37. Kleffman, S., F. Davey, A. Melhuish, D. Okaya, and T. Stern (1998), Crustal structure in the central South Island, New Zealand, from the Lake Pukaki seismic experiment, N. Z. J. Geol. Geophys., 41, 39-49.
38. Klosko, E., F. Wu, H. Anderson, D. Eberhart-Phillips, T. McEvilly, E. Audoine, M. K. Savage, and K. Gledhill (1999), Upper mantle anisotropy in the New Zealand region, Geophys. Res. Lett., 26, 1497-1500.
39. Koons, P. O. (1990), Two-sided orogen: collision and erosion from the sand-box to the Southern Alps of New Zealand, Geology, 18, 679-682.
40. Koons, P. O. (1994), Three-dimensional critical wedges: tectonics and topography in oblique collisional orogens, J. Geophys. Res., 99, 12,301-12,315.
41. Koons, P. O., R. J. Norris, D. D. Craw, and A. F. Cooper (2003), Influence of exhumation on the structural evolution of transpressional plate boundaries: an example from the Southern Alps of New Zealand, Geology, 31, 3-6.
42. Leitner, B., D. Eberhart-Phillips, H. Anderson, and J. L. Nabelek (2001), A focused look at the Alpine fault, New Zealand: seismicity, focal mechanisms, and stress observations, J. Geophys. Res., 106(B2), 2193-2220.
43. Lin, S., D. Jiang, and P. F. Williams (1998), Transpression (or transtension) zones of triclinic symmetry: natural example and theoretical modelling, Geol. Soc. Lond. Spec. Publ., 135, 41-57.
44. Little, T. A. (2004), Transpressive ductile flow and oblique ramping of lower crust in a two-sided orogen: insight from quartz grain-shape fabrics near the Alpine Fault, New Zealand, Tectonics, 23, TC2013, doi:10.1029/2002TC0011456.
45. Little, T. A., S. Cox, J. K. Vry, and G. E. Batt (2005), Variations in exhumation level and uplift-rate related to oblique-slip ramp geometry, Alpine fault, central Southern Alps, New Zealand, Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 117(4), 707-723.
46. Little, T. A., R. J. Holcombe, and B. R. Ilg (2002a), Ductile fabrics in the zone of active oblique convergence near the Alpine Fault, New Zealand: identifying the neotectonic overprint, J. Struct. Geol., 24, 193-217.
47. Little, T. A., R. J. Holcombe, and B. R. Ilg (2002b), Kinematics of oblique continental collision inferred from ductile microstructures and strain in mid-crustal Alpine Schist, central South Island, New Zealand, J. Struct. Geol., 24, 219-239.
48. Little, T. A., M. K. Savage, and B. Tikoff (2002), Relationship between crustal finite strain and seismic anisotropy in the mantle, Pacific-Australia plate boundary zone, South Island, New Zealand, Geophys. J. Int., 151, 106-116.
49. McCaffrey, R. (1992), Oblique plate convergence, slip vectors, and forearc deformation, J. Geophys. Res., 97, 8905-8915.
50. Molnar, P. (1992), Brace-Goetze strength profiles, the partitioning of strike-slip and thrust faulting at zones of oblique convergence, and the stress-heat flow paradox of the San Andreas fault, in Fault Mechanics and Transport Properties of Rock, edited by B. Evans and T. F. Wong, Academic Press, London, pp. 435-459.
51. Molnar, P., H. J. Anderson, E. Audoine, D. Eberhart-Phillips, K. R. Gledhill, E. R. Klosko, T. V. McEvilly, D. Okaya, M. K. Savage, T. Stern, and F. T. Wu (1999), Continuous deformation versus faulting through the continental lithosphere of New Zealand, Science, 286, 516-519.
52. Mortimer, N., and A. F. Cooper (2004), U-Pg ages and Sm-Nd ages from the Alpine Schist, New Zealand, N. Z. J. Geol. Geophys., 47, 21-28.
53. Namson, J. S., and T. L. Davis (1988), Seismically active fold and thrust belt in the San Joaquin Valley, central California, Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 100, 257-273.
54. Norris, R. J., A geometrical study of finite strain and bending in the South Island, in The Origin of the Southern Alps, vol. 18, edited by R. I. Walcott and M. M. Cresswell, pp. 21-28.
55. Norris, R. J., and A. F. Cooper (1995), Origin of small-scale segmentation and transpressional thrusting along the Alpine fault, New Zealand, Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 107, 231-240.
56. Norris, R. J., and A. F. Cooper (1997), Erosional control on the structural evolution of a transpressional thrust complex on the Alpine Fault, New Zealand, J. Struct. Geol., 19, 1323-1342.
57. Norris, R. J., and A. F. Cooper (2001), Late Quaternary slip rates and slip-partitioning on the Alpine fault, New Zealand, J. Struct. Geol., 23, 507-520.
58. Norris, R. J., and A. F. Cooper (2003), Very high strains recorded in mylonites along the Alpine fault, New Zealand: implication for the deep structure of plate boundary faults, J. Struct. Geol., 25, 2141-2158.
59. Norris, R. J., and A. F. Cooper (this volume), The Alpine Fault, New Zealand: surface geology and field relationships.
60. Norris, R. J., P. O. Koons, and A. F. Cooper (1990), The obliquely convergent plate boundary in the South Island of New Zealand: implications for ancient collision zones, J. Struct. Geol., 12, 715-726.
61. Okaya, D., S. N. Henrys, and T. Stern (2002), Double-sided onshore-offshore seismic imaging of a plate boundary: "supergathers" across, South Island, New Zealand, Tectonophysics, 355(1-4), 247-263.
62. Ozalaybey, S., and M. K. Savage (1995), Shear-wave splitting beneath the western United States in relation to plate tectonics, J. Geophys. Res., 100, 18,135-18,149.
63. Page, B. M., G. A. Thompson, and R. G. Coleman (1998), Late Cenozoic tectonics of the central and southern Coast Ranges of California, Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 110, 846-876.
64. Platt, J. P. (1993), Mechanics of oblique convergence, J. Geophys. Res., 98, 16,239-16,256.
65. Robin, P.-Y. F., and A. R. Cruden (1994), Strain and vorticity patterns in ideally ductile transpression zones, J. Struct. Geol., 16, 447-66.
66. Sanderson, D. J., and R. D. Marchini (1984), Transpression, J. Struct. Geol., 6, 449-458.
67. Savage, M. K., K. M. Fischer, and C. E. Hall (2004), Strain modelling seismic anisotropy and coupling at strike-slip boundaries:applications in New Zealand and the San Andreas Fault, in Vertical Coupling and Decoupling in the Lithosphere, edited by J. Grocott, B. Tikoff, K. J. W. McCaffrey, and G. Taylor, The Geological Society, London, pp. 9-40.
68. Scherwath, M., T. Stern, F. Davey, D. Okaya, W. S. Holbrook, R. Davies, and S. Kleffman (2003), Lithospheric structure across oblique continental collision in New Zealand from wide-angle P wave modelling, J. Geophys. Res., 108(B12), 2566, doi:10.1029/2002JB002286.
69. Scherwath, M. A., A. Melhuish, T. Stern, and P. Molnar (2002), Pn anisotropy and distributed upper mantle deformation associated with a continental transform fault, Geophys. Res. Lett., 29(8), 1175, doi:10.1029/2001GL014179.
70. Sibson, R. H., S. H. White, and B. K. Atkinson (1981), Structure and distribution of fault rocks in the Alpine Fault Zone, New Zealand, Geol. Soc. Lond. Spec. Publ., 9, 197-210.
71. Simpson, G. D., A. F. Cooper, R. J. Norris, and I. M. Turnbull (1994), Late Quaternary evolution of the Alpine Fault Zone at Paringa, South Westland, New Zealand, N. Z. J. Geol. Geophys., 37, 49-58.
72. Sporli, K. B., and A. R. Lillie (1974), Geology of the Torlesse Supergroup in the northern Ben Ohau Range, Canterbury, New Zealand, N. Z. J. Geol. Geophys., 17, 115-141.
73. Spotila, J. A., and K. Sieh (2000), Architecture of transpressional thrusting in the San Bernardino Mountains, southern California, from deformation of a deeply weathered surface, Tectonics, 19, 589-615.
74. Stern, T., S. Kleffman, D. Okaya, M. Scherwath, and S. Bannister (2001), Low seismic-wave speeds and enhanced fluid pressure beneath Southern Alps of New Zealand, Geology, 29, 679-682.
75. Stern, T., P. Molnar, D. Okaya, and D. Eberhart-Phillips (2000), Teleseismic P wave delays and modes of shortening the mantle lithosphere beneath South Island, New Zealand, J. Geophys. Res., 105(B9), 21,615-21,631.
76. Stern, T., D. Okaya, and M. Scherwath (2002), Structure and strength of a continental transform from onshore-offshore seismic profiling of South island, New Zealand, Earth Planets Space, 54, 1011-1019.
77. Stern, T., D. Okaya, S. Kleffmann, M. Scherwath, S. Henrys, and F. Davey (this volume), Geophysical exploration and dynamics of the Alpine fault zone.
78. Sutherland, R. (1996), Transpressional development of the Australia-Pacific boundary through southern South Island, New Zealand:constraints from Miocene-Pliocene sediments, Waiho-1 borehole, South Westland, N. Z. J. Geol. Geophys., 39, 251-264.
79. Tavernelli, E., R. E. Holdsworth, P. Clegg, R. R. Jones, and K. J. W. McCaffrey (2004), The anatomy and evolution of a transpressional imbricate zone, Southern Uplands, Scotland, J. Struct. Geol., 26, 1341-1360.
80. Teyssier, C., and B. Tikoff (1998), Strike-slip partitioned transpression of the San Andreas fault system: a lithospheric-scale approach., in Continental Transpression and Transtensional Tectonics, edited by R. E. Holdsworth, R. A. Strachan, and J. F. Dewey, pp. 143-158.
81. Teyssier, C., B. Tikoff, and M. Markley (1995), Oblique plate motion and continental tectonics, Geology, 23, 447-450.
82. Teyssier, C., B. Tikoff, and J. Weber (2002), Attachment between brittle and ductile crust at wrenching plate boundaries, EUG Spec. Publ. Ser., 1, 119-144.
83. Tikoff, B., and H. Fossen (1999), Three-dimensional reference deformations and strain facies, J. Struct. Geol., 21, 1497-1512.
84. Tikoff, B., and C. Teyssier (1994), Strain modeling of displacementfield partitioning in transpressional orogens, J. Struct. Geol., 16, 1575-1588.
85. Tippett, J. M., and Kamp, P. J. J. (1993), Fission track analysis of late Cenozoic vertical kinematics of continental Pacific crust, South Island, New Zealand, J. Geophys. Res., 98, 16,119-16,148.
86. van Avendonk, H. J. A., W. S. Holbrook, D. Okaya, J. K. Austin, F. Davey, and T. Stern (2004), Continental crust under compression:A seismic refraction study of South Island Geophysical Transect I, South Island, New Zealand, J. Geophys. Res., 109, B06302, doi:10.1029/2003JB002790.
87. Vry, J. K., R. Maas, T. A. Little, D. Phillips, R. Grapes, and M. Dixon (2004), Zoned (Cretaceous and Cenozoic) garnets and the timing of high grade metamorphism, Southern Alps, New Zealand, J. Metamorph. Geol., 22(3), 137-157, doi:10.1111/j.1525-1314.2004.00504.
88. Walcott, R. I. (1998), Modes of oblique compression: Late Cenozoic tectonics of the South Island of New Zealand, Rev. Geophys., 36, 1-26.
89. Waschbusch, P., G. Batt, and C. Beaumont (1998), Subduction zone retreat and recent tectonics of the South Island of New Zealand, Tectonics, 17, 267-284.
90. Wellman, H. W. (1979), An uplift map for the South Island of New Zealand, and a model for the uplift of the Southern Alps, R. Soc. N. Z. Bull., 18, 13-20.
91. Wightman, R., and T. A. Little (this volume), Deformation of the Pacific Plate above the Alpine Fault ramp and its relationship to expulsion of metamorphic fluids: an array of backshears.
92. Wightman, R., T. A. Little, S. B. Baldwin, and J. W. Valley (in review), Stress, fluid pressure cycling and transient deep embrittlement of the lower crust recorded in a paleo-brittle-ductile transition zone, Southern Alps, New Zealand, J. Geophys. Res.