A 4.9 Mkm 2 region of the southwest Pacific Ocean is made up of continental crust. The region has elevated bathymetry relative to surrounding oceanic crust, diverse and silica-rich rocks, and relatively thick and low-velocity crustal structure. Its isolation from Australia and large area support its definition as a continent-Zealandia. Zealandia was formerly part of Gondwana. Today it is 94% submerged, mainly as a result of widespread Late Cretaceous crustal thinning preceding supercontinent breakup and consequent isostatic balance. The identification of Zealandia as a geological continent, rather than a collection of continental islands, fragments, and slices, more correctly represents the geology of this part of Earth. Zealandia provides a fresh context

The Taranaki Fault is a back thrust antithetic to the Hikurangi margin subduction thrust. Subduction back thrusts, like the Taranaki Fault, accrue displacement transferred from the subducting plate, and growth analyses of these structures contribute to an improved understanding of subduction processes. The Taranaki Fault forms the eastern margin of the Taranaki Basin and is part of a system that extends for at least 600 km in continental crust of western New Zealand. The fault is preserved beneath young sedimentary cover and provides a rare opportunity to investigate the geometry and kinematic history of a large subduction back thrust. Two‐dimensional seismic reflection lines (2–5 km spacing), tied to recently drilled wells and outcrop, together with magnetotelluric and gravity models are used to examine the fault. These data indicate that the fault is thick skinned with dips of 25–45° to depths of at least 12 km. The fault accommodated at least 12–15 km of dip‐slip displacement since the middle Eocene (circa 40–43 Ma). The northern tip of the active section of the fault stepped southward at least three times between the middle Eocene and early Pliocene, producing a total tip retreat of 400–450 km. The history of displacements on the Taranaki Fault is consistent with initiation of Hikurangi margin subduction during the middle Eocene, up to 20 Ma earlier than some previous estimates. Fault tip retreat may have been generated by clockwise rotation of the subduction margin and associated progressive isolation of the fault from the driving downgoing Pacific Plate.

We use seismic reflection and rock sample data to propose that the first‐order physiography of New Caledonia Trough and Norfolk Ridge formed in Eocene and Oligocene time and was associated with the onset of subduction and back‐arc spreading at the Australia‐Pacific plate boundary. Our tectonic model involves an initial Cretaceous rift that is strongly modified by Cenozoic subduction initiation. Hence, we are able to explain (1) complex sedimentary basins of inferred Mesozoic age; (2) a prominent unconformity and onlap surface of middle Eocene to early Miocene age at the base of flat‐lying sediments beneath the axis of New Caledonia Trough; (3) gently dipping, variable thickness, and locally deformed Late Cretaceous strata along the margins of the trough; (4) platform morphology and unconformities on either side of the trough that indicate a phase of late Eocene to early Miocene uplift to near sea level, followed by rapid Oligocene and Miocene subsidence of ∼1100–1800 m; and (5) seismic reflection facies tied to boreholes that suggest absolute tectonic subsidence at the southern end of New Caledonia Trough by 1800–2200 m since Eocene time. The Cenozoic part of the model involves delamination and subduction initiation followed by rapid foundering and rollback of the slab. This created a deep (>2 km) enclosed oceanic trough, ∼2000 km long and 200–300 km across, in Eocene and Oligocene time as the lower crust detached, with simultaneous uplift and local land development along basin flanks. Disruption of Late Cretaceous and Paleogene strata was minimal during this Cenozoic phase and involved only subtle tilting and local reverse faulting or folding. Basin formation was possible through the action of at least one detachment fault that allowed the lower crust to either be subducted into the mantle or exhumed eastward into Norfolk Basin. We suggest that delamination of the lithosphere, with possible mixing of the lower crust back into the mantle, is more widespread than previously thought and may be commonly associated with subduction initiation, such as Cenozoic events in the Mediterranean and western Pacific.

We use seismic reflection and refraction data to determine crustal structure, to map a fore‐arc basin containing 12 km of sediment, and to image the subduction thrust at 35 km depth. Seismic reflection megasequences within the basin are correlated with onshore geology: megasequence X, Late Cretaceous and Paleogene marine passive margin sediments; megasequence Y, a ∼10,000 km3 submarine landslide emplaced during subduction initiation at 22 Ma; and megasequence Z, a Neogene subduction margin megasequence. The Moho lies at 17 km beneath the basin center and at 35 km at the southern margin. Beneath the western basin margin, we interpret reflective units as deformed Gondwana fore‐arc sediment that was thrust in Cretaceous time over oceanic crust 7 km thick. Raukumara Basin has normal faults at its western margin and is uplifted along its eastern and southern margins. Raukumara Basin represents a rigid fore‐arc block >150 km long, which contrasts with widespread faulting and large Neogene vertical axis rotations farther south. Taper of the western edge of allochthonous unit Y and westward thickening and downlap of immediately overlying strata suggest westward or northwestward paleoslope and emplacement direction rather than southwestward, as proposed for the correlative onshore allochthon. Spatial correlation between rock uplift of the eastern and southern basin margins with the intersection between Moho and subduction thrust leads us to suggest that crustal underplating is modulated by fore‐arc crustal thickness. The trench slope has many small extensional faults and lacks coherent internal reflections, suggesting collapse of indurated rock, rather than accretion of >1 km of sediment from the downgoing plate. The lack of volcanic intrusion east of the active arc, and stratigraphic evidence for the broadening of East Cape Ridge with time, suggests net fore‐arc accretion since 22 Ma. We propose a cyclical fore‐arc kinematic: rock moves down a subduction channel to near the base of the crust, where underplating drives rock uplift, oversteepens the trench slope, and causes collapse toward the trench and subduction channel. Cyclical rock particle paths led to persistent trench slope subsidence during net accretion. Existing global estimates of fore‐arc loss are systematically too high because they assume vertical particle paths.

The Reinga Basin northwest of the North Island of New Zealand was initially formed by crustal extension in Cretaceous time. Gravity models suggest up to 35-40% crustal thinning. The seismic stratigraphy of the basin is continuous with that of the offshore western North Island, where reflectors are well constrained by oil exploration data. In the Reinga Basin, there are two Cretaceous sequences above an older Mesozoic basement. The lower sequence is apparently terrestrial and may include both pre-rift and synrift subsequences; the upper is a rift-filling marine sequence. These are overlain by Paleocene and Eocene blanket sequences that were laid down during a period of relative tectonic quiescence consistent with cooling subsidence, continued submergence, a northeast-facing continental shelf, and absence of a significant active plate boundary. A strong regional reflector, caused by a combined unconformity and G97011Received 13 February 1997; accepted 14 August 1997 Oligocene condensed sequence, separates the Paleogene and Neogene sequences.The Neogene sequences record sedimentary infill from several source directions, not only from the New Zealand landmass, but from the north and west as well. Near the Northland coast, sediment accumulated in clastic wedges and ponded sub-basins from the Miocene to the present day. Along the flanking ridges to the northwest, similar deposition occurred in the Early and Middle Miocene but changed in the Late Miocene to sedimentation in drifts flanked by scours. This change reflects the end of tectonism, a diminishing clastic sediment supply, and the establishment of a throughgoing oceanic current regime as the marginal ridges submerged. This pattern of sedimentation persists today.Post-Cretaceous volcanism occurred in two parts of the basin. In the central southeastern part, volcanic bodies in the ?Oligocene to Early Miocene sequences could be a northwestern extension of the Northland volcanic arc. In the western part, small intrusive and extrusive bodies appear to be of Pliocene intraplate origin.Compression (or transpression) had an important role in developing the basin's present form. Miocene compressional structures-asymmetric anticlines, reverse faults, everted basins, and pop-ups-are present everywhere but at the southeastern end. The present marginal ridges have structurally complex origins. The Reinga Ridge which forms the northeastern margin is a transform boundary with the Norfolk backarc basin. Deformation thought to be caused by the action of the transform is recorded in folded and faulted Cretaceous-Paleogene sequences and syntectonic Early and Middle Miocene sequences along its length. The southwestern margin of the basin is a double ridge comprising the Wanganella Ridge, an early Middle to early Late Miocene, compressional uplift, and the older, eroded West Norfolk Ridge, which contains Cretaceous halfgrabens. The northern half of the Wanganella Ridge is an everted ?Oligocene to Early Miocene aulacogen in which slivers of basement rock were thrust up alo...