Evolution of the Upper Cenozoic Magmatic Arc and plate boundary in northern New Zealand

The Upper Cenozoic Magmatic Arc in northern New Zealand was initiated when the Indian-Pacific plate boundary first spread through the North Island approximately 20 m.y. ago. Six geographically separated magmatic arcs are recognized in succession. The first (20-15 m.y.) was sited over a basement depression; lavas were basic to intermediate and largely submarine; mineralization was minor. Subsequent arcs were sited over basement horst and characterized by sub-aerial intermediate to acid magmas. After prolonged andesitic/dacitic activity (18-6 m.y.) with minor mineralization, prolific rhyolite/ignimbrite eruption began at about 6 m.y., with abundant mineralization. Behind-arc activity produced localized basalt fields in the north, and geographically restricted high-potash andesites in the south.The first four arcs in the series are aligned at about 70° to the active Tonga-Kermadec-Taupo arc. The migration and rotation of the older New Zealand arcs are ascribed to four processes taking place at the plate boundary. These are: (1) anti-clockwise bending of the crust of western North Island, obliquely to the movement of the underlying lithosphere of the Indian plate, beginning at about 3 m.y., accompanying (2) dextral transcurrent displacement of 230 km with respect to eastern North Island; taking place mostly from 3 to 0 m.y.; (3) steepening of the Benioff zone from an initial 18° dip at 20 m.y. to the present 55° to 60°; and (4) fracturing of the west-dipping lithospheric slab to give two parallel, low-potash andesitic arcs between 18 and 15 m.y.Eastern North Island is deduced to have been “floating” while Pacific plate lithosphere passed beneath it throughout the Upper Cenozoic; accordingly it is designated the Hawkes Bay Crustal Microplate.There is good agreement between major tectonic events in the South Pacific deduced by Molnar et al. from magnetic anomaly studies and major tectonic events on land. A tentative history of the Southwest Pacific is proposed for the last 40 m.y.