Structural significance of sea-floor features around New Zealand

Summary The oceanic highs and deeps around New Zealand exhibit a marked linearity and fall into three groups whose features trend NW-SE, E-W and NNESSW. These groups are recognized as structural provinces — the Northwestern, Chatham and Kermadec Provinces respectively, with both age and geographic differences.The New Zealand land mass occupies a position at the meeting of the three structural trends and the relief is taken to be a function of this conjunction of trends.No signs of late structural activity along trends referable to the Northwestern and Chatham provinces have been observed in New Zealand, and the submarine relief could be of pre-Tertiary age.Active movement on the Kermadec province trend has taken place up to Recent time and the submarine features of this region are considerably younger.New Zealand Oceanographic Institute Contribution No. 24.