Abrupt strike-slip fault to subduction transition: The Alpine Fault-Puysegur Trench connection, New Zealand

Swath bathymetry and other geophysical data collected over the Fiordland Margin, southwest of New Zealand are used to investigate the mechanism of transform-subduction transition between the Alpine Fault and the Puysegur Trench, two segments of the Pacific-Australian plate boundary. In this region the Cenozoic Southeast Tasman Basin, which obliquely underthrusts Fiordland at the Puysegur Trench, is separated from the Cretaceous Tasman Basin by the Resolution Ridge: System, a major lithospheric discontinuity of the downgoing plate. Interpretation of seafloor morphology shows that the Alpine Fault extends offshore along the Fiordland coast and splits into West and East Branches. The West Branch cuts obliquely across the margin and connects sharply to the Puysegur subduction front at the northeastern tip of the Resolution Ridge System. Earthquake and seismic reflection data indicate that the West Branch is genetically controlled by downgoing plate structures associated with the Resolution Ridge System. Hence the West Branch is interpreted as the surface trace of the plate boundary segment extending between the Alpine Fault and the Puysegur Trench. We conclude that the development of the strike-slip segment of the plate boundary and its sharp transition to the Puysegur subduction are controlled by inherited structures of the Australian plate. Furthermore, according to geophysical data presented here, a tearing of the downgoing plate can be interpreted beneath the West Branch. A review of geophysical data along the region of the Alpine Fault-Hikurangi Trough, northeast New Zealand, shows a progressive transform-subduction transition that is accommodated by motion partitioning between the subduction interface and strike-slip faults. This transition is accounted for by an interplate coupling that progressively increases toward the Alpine Fault in relation with a gradual thickening of the downgoing crust. The comparison between the Fiordland and the Hikurangi strike-slip-subduction transitions show that presence of inherited downgoing plate crustal faults, properly oriented with respect to the plate motion, facilitates a sharp strike-slip-subduction transition.