Interpretation of gravity and magnetic anomalies at Lake Rotomahana: geological and hydrothermal implications

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2015. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 314 (2016): 84-94, doi:10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2015.07.002.We investigate the geological and hydrothermal setting at Lake Rotomahana, using recently collected potential-field data, integrated with pre-existing regional gravity and aeromagnetic compilations. The lake is located on the southwest margin of the Okataina Volcanic Center (Haroharo caldera) and had well-known, pre-1886 Tarawera eruption hydrothermal manifestations (the famous Pink and White Terraces). Its present physiography was set by the caldera collapse during the 1886 eruption, together with the appearance of surface activities at the Waimangu Valley. Gravity models suggest subsidence associated with the Haroharo caldera is wider than the previously mapped extent of the caldera margins. Magnetic anomalies closely correlate with heat-flux data and surface hydrothermal manifestations and indicate that the west and northwestern shore of Lake Rotomahana are characterized by a large, well-developed hydrothermal field. The field extends beyond the lake area with deep connections to the Waimangu area to the south. On the south, the contact between hydrothermally demagnetized and magnetized rocks strikes along a structural lineament with high heat-flux and bubble plumes which suggest hydrothermal activity occurring west of Patiti Island. The absence of a well-defined demagnetization anomaly at this location suggests a very young age for the underlying geothermal system which was likely generated by the 1886 Tarawera eruption. Locally confined intense magnetic anomalies on the north shore of Lake Rotomahana are interpreted as basalts dikes with high magnetization. Some appear to have been emplaced before the 1886 Tarawera eruption. A dike located in proximity of the southwest lake shore may be related to the structural lineament controlling the development of the Patiti geothermal system, and could have been originated from the 1886 Tarawera eruption.Science funding provided by GNS Science Strategic Development Fund

Late Miocene to early Pliocene stratigraphic record in northern Taranaki Basin: Condensed sedimentation ahead of Northern Graben extension and progradation of the modern continental margin

The middle Pliocene-Pleistocene progradation of the Giant Foresets Formation in Taranaki Basin built up the modern continental margin offshore from western North Island. The late Miocene to early Pliocene interval preceding this progradation was characterised in northern Taranaki Basin by the accumulation of hemipelagic mudstone (Manganui Formation), volcaniclastic sediments (Mohakatino Formation), and marl (Ariki Formation), all at bathyal depths. The Manganui Formation has generally featureless wireline log signatures and moderate to low amplitude seismic reflection characteristics. Mohakatino Formation is characterised by a sharp decrease in the GR log value at its base, a blocky GR log motif reflecting sandstone packets, and erratic resistivity logs. Seismic profiles show bold laterally continuous reflectors. The Ariki Formation has a distinctive barrel-shaped to blocky GR log motif. This signature is mirrored by the SP log and often by an increase in resistivity values through this interval. The Ariki Formation comprises (calcareous) marl made up of abundant planktic foraminifera, is 109 m thick in Ariki-1, and accumulated over parts of the Western Stable Platform and beneath the fill of the Northern Graben. It indicates condensed sedimentation reflecting the distance of the northern region from the contemporary continental margin to the south

Mangarara Formation: exhumed remnants of a middle Miocene, temperate carbonate, submarine channel-fan system on the eastern margin of Taranaki Basin, New Zealand

The middle Miocene Mangarara Formation is a thin (1–60 m), laterally discontinuous unit of moderately to highly calcareous (40–90%) facies of sandy to pure limestone, bioclastic sandstone, and conglomerate that crops out in a few valleys in North Taranaki across the transition from King Country Basin into offshore Taranaki Basin. The unit occurs within hemipelagic (slope) mudstone of Manganui Formation, is stratigraphically associated with redeposited sandstone of Moki Formation, and is overlain by redeposited volcaniclastic sandstone of Mohakatino Formation. The calcareous facies of the Mangarara Formation are interpreted to be mainly mass-emplaced deposits having channelised and sheet-like geometries, sedimentary structures supportive of redeposition, mixed environment fossil associations, and stratigraphic enclosure within bathyal mudrocks and flysch. The carbonate component of the deposits consists mainly of bivalves, larger benthic foraminifers (especially Amphistegina), coralline red algae including rhodoliths (Lithothamnion and Mesophyllum), and bryozoans, a warm-temperate, shallow marine skeletal association. While sediment derivation was partly from an eastern contemporary shelf, the bulk of the skeletal carbonate is inferred to have been sourced from shoal carbonate factories around and upon isolated basement highs (Patea-Tongaporutu High) to the south. The Mangarara sediments were redeposited within slope gullies and broad open submarine channels and lobes in the vicinity of the channel-lobe transition zone of a submarine fan system. Different phases of sediment transport and deposition (lateral-accretion and aggradation stages) are identified in the channel infilling. Dual fan systems likely co-existed, one dominating and predominantly siliciclastic in nature (Moki Formation), and the other infrequent and involving the temperate calcareous deposits of Mangarara Formation. The Mangarara Formation is an outcrop analogue for middle Miocene-age carbonate slope-fan deposits elsewhere in subsurface Taranaki Basin, New Zealand

Fore-arc deformation and underplating at the northern Hikurangi margin, New Zealand

Geophysical investigations of the northern Hikurangi subduction zone northeast of New Zealand, image fore‐arc and surrounding upper lithospheric structures. A seismic velocity (Vp) field is determined from seismic wide‐angle data, and our structural interpretation is supported by multichannel seismic reflection stratigraphy and gravity and magnetic modeling. We found that the subducting Hikurangi Plateau carries about 2 km of sediments above a 2 km mixed layer of volcaniclastics, limestone, and chert. The upper plateau crust is characterized by Vp = 4.9–6.7 km/s overlying the lower crust with Vp > 7.1 km/s. Gravity modeling yields a plateau thickness around 10 km. The reactivated Raukumara fore‐arc basin is >10 km deep, deposited on 5–10 km thick Australian crust. The fore‐arc mantle of Vp > 8 km/s appears unaffected by subduction hydration processes. The East Cape Ridge fore‐arc high is underlain by a 3.5 km deep strongly magnetic (3.3 A/m) high‐velocity zone, interpreted as part of the onshore Matakaoa volcanic allochthon and/or uplifted Raukumara Basin basement of probable oceanic crustal origin. Beneath the trench slope, we interpret low‐seismic‐velocity, high‐attenuation, low‐density fore‐arc material as accreted and recycled, suggesting that underplating and uplift destabilizes East Cape Ridge, triggering two‐sided mass wasting. Mass balance calculations indicate that the proposed accreted and recycled material represents 25–100% of all incoming sediment, and any remainder could be accounted for through erosion of older accreted material into surrounding basins. We suggest that continental mass flux into the mantle at subduction zones may be significantly overestimated because crustal underplating beneath fore‐arc highs have not properly been accounted for

Reactivation of tectonics, crustal underplating, and uplift after 60 Myr of passive subsidence, Raukumara Basin, Hikurangi-Kermadec fore arc, New Zealand: implications for global growth and recycling of continents

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 similar to 10,000 km(3) 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. Citation: Sutherland, R., et al. (2009), Reactivation of tectonics, crustal underplating, and uplift after 60 Myr of passive subsidence, Raukumara Basin, Hikurangi-Kermadec fore arc, New Zealand: Implications for global growth and recycling of continents, Tectonics, 28, TC5017, doi: 10.1029/2008TC002356

New Zealand gravity reference stations 2020: history and development of the gravity network

Gravity surveys using relative gravity meters are often tied to accessible, accurate and stable gravity reference stations. Since 1947 gravity reference networks have included pendulum gravity stations, New Zealand Primary Gravity Network stations, stations at geodetic benchmarks, base stations established by GNS Science and absolute gravity stations (since 1995). New Zealand Gravity Reference Stations 2020 is a revision of earlier gravity networks and includes precise observations made with relative meters since the 1970s that for the first time are referenced to absolute gravity measured in New Zealand. Currently there are 1710 gravity reference sites with 1475 sites classed as usable. The gravity across the network has been combined in a set of least squares calculations with an estimated uncertainty for gravity at geodetic benchmarks and GNS Science base stations of \ub1 0.3 \ub5N/kg, and \ub1 0.6 \ub5N/kg at New Zealand Primary Gravity Network stations. Gravity stations affected by large earthquakes since 1990 have been resurveyed, and gravity changes due to long term variations in elevation, local fluctuations in groundwater level and alteration to nearby topography from erosion and roadworks are estimated at < \ub1 0.3 \ub5N/kg

Semi-automatic determination of dips and depths of geologic contacts from magnetic data with application to the Turi Fault System, Taranaki Basin, New Zealand

We show a simple and fast method for calculating geometric parameters of magnetic contacts from spatial gradients of magnetic field data. The method is based on well-established properties of the tangent of the tilt-angle of reduced-to-the-pole magnetic data, and extends the performance of existing methods by allowing direct estimation of depths, locations and dips of magnetic contacts. It uses a semi-automatic approach where the user interactively specifies points on magnetic maps where the calculation is to be performed. Some prior geologic knowledge and visual interpretation of magnetic anomalies is required to choose proper calculation points. We successfully tested the method on synthetic models of contacts at different depths and with different dip angles. We offer an example of the method applied to airborne magnetic data from Taranaki Basin located offshore the North Island of New Zealand