Seismic stratigraphy and paleogeographic evolution of Fairway Basin, Northern Zealandia, Southwest Pacific: from Cretaceous Gondwana breakup to Cenozoic Tonga–Kermadec subduction

Abstract

We present the first comprehensive seismic-stratigraphic analysis of Fairway Basin, which is situated on the rifted continent of Zealandia in the Tasman Sea, southwest Pacific, between Australia and New Caledonia. The basin is 700 km long, 150 km wide, and has water depths of 500-3000 m. We describe depositional architecture and paleogeographic evolution of this basin. Basin formation was concurrent with two tectonic events: (i) Cretaceous rifting during eastern Gondwana breakup and (ii) initiation and Cenozoic evolution of Tonga-Kermadec subduction system to the east of the basin. To interpret the basin history we compiled and interpreted 2D seismic-reflection profiles and make correlations with DSDP boreholes and the geology of New

Southwest Pacific Absolute Plate Kinematic Reconstruction Reveals Major Cenozoic Tonga‐Kermadec Slab Dragging

“…Recently, Sutherland et al () suggested that thrusting inferred from seismic sections from the Tasman Sea (Reinga Basin, Lord Howe Rise, New Caledonia Trough and Tasman Abyssal Plain) and dated 53–48 Ma resulted from subduction initiation at the Tonga‐Kermadec Trench, assuming that initiation there occurred simultaneously with subduction initiation below the Philippine Sea Plate at the Marianas Trench. Such Eocene shortening was also reported from Fairway Basin located west of New Caledonia (Rouillard et al, ). Both Lord Howe Rise and Fairway Basin were part of the Australian plate, separated from the Tonga‐Kermadec Trench by a plate boundary (the New Caledonia Trench) and from the Marianas Trench by another plate boundary (Melanesian Trench).…”

“…Both Lord Howe Rise and Fairway Basin were part of the Australian plate, separated from the Tonga‐Kermadec Trench by a plate boundary (the New Caledonia Trench) and from the Marianas Trench by another plate boundary (Melanesian Trench). Therefore, interpreting the shortening in Tasman Sea basins as an indication of subduction initiation along either trench (e.g., Rouillard et al, ; Sutherland et al, ) is not straightforward. This Eocene shortening may instead more likely reflect upper crustal processes emanating from the New Caledonia plate boundary and subduction there, or be related to termination of Australia plate subduction at Papua New Guinea and subsequent slab break‐off following obduction (see Schellart & Spakman, ).…”

Tasman Frontier Subduction Initiation and Paleogene Climate

“…It was widely accepted that the stratigraphic development of the region was simple: Cretaceous rift to drift processes created the first-order physiography and initial subsidence; additional subsidence during the Cenozoic only secondarily affected the region (Figure F13). Expedition 371 was founded on high-quality seismic reflection data that raised new ideas about how the region had evolved, specifically the recently discovered Tectonic Event of the Cenozoic in the Tasman Area (TECTA) (Sutherland et al, 2010(Sutherland et al, , 2017Collot et al, 2008Collot et al, , 2009Bache et al, 2012Bache et al, , 2014aBaur et al, 2014;Rouillard et al, 2017;Etienne et al, 2018). We drilled six sites to test these ideas by focusing on the timing of deformation, the uplift and subsidence history, and the presence of past volcanism.…”

Chatham Island Paleocene fossils provide insight into the palaeobiology, evolution, and diversity of early penguins (Aves, Sphenisciformes)

“…The Takatika Grit formed as a product of extensional activity and progressive rifting from eastern Gondwana (Stilwell and Consoli, 2012), as Zealandia separated from West Antarctica c. Ma (though possibly at or before 84 Ma, see Gaina et al, 1998;Laird and Bradshaw, 2004), and continued rifting from eastern Australia until the Eocene (Gaina et al, 1998;Sutherland, 1999;Bache et al, 2014;Rouillard et al, 2015;Tulloch et al, 2019). Through related post-rift thermal relaxation and subsidence, Zealandia experienced widespread marine transgression throughout this interval (Bache et al, 2014;Rouillard et al, 2015). In association with the oceanic inundation of the region, and the formation of a basin and basement range style landscape, the Takatika Grit formed as an accumulation of thin sandstones, greensands, and marine fossiliferous assemblages, deposited within half-grabens on the Chatham Rise simultaneously with intraplate volcanics (Campbell et al, 1993;Consoli and Stilwell, 2011).…”