Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 15 October 1999:
Vol. 286. no. 5439, pp. 516 - 519
DOI: 10.1126/science.286.5439.516
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

Continuous Deformation Versus Faulting Through the Continental Lithosphere of New Zealand

Peter Molnar, 1* Helen J. Anderson, 234 Etienne Audoine, 5 Donna Eberhart-Phillips, 3 Ken R. Gledhill, 6 Eryn R. Klosko, 78 Thomas V. McEvilly, 9 David Okaya, 10 Martha Kane Savage, 5 Tim Stern, 5 Francis T. Wu 7

Seismic anisotropy and P-wave delays in New Zealand imply widespread deformation in the underlying mantle, not slip on a narrow fault zone, which is characteristic of plate boundaries in oceanic regions. Large magnitudes of shear-wave splitting and orientations of fast polarization parallel to the Alpine fault show that pervasive simple shear of the mantle lithosphere has accommodated the cumulative strike-slip plate motion. Variations in P-wave residuals across the Southern Alps rule out underthrusting of one slab of mantle lithosphere beneath another but permit continuous deformation of lithosphere shortened by about 100 kilometers since 6 to 7 million years ago.

1 Quaternary Research Center and Geophysics Program, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 98195-1360, USA, and Department of Earth Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
2 Ministry of Research, Science and Technology, Post Office Box 5336, Wellington, New Zealand.
3 Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, Private Bag 1930, Dunedin, New Zealand.
4 Otago University, Dunedin, New Zealand.
5 Institute of Geophysics, School of Earth Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand.
6 Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, Gracefield Research Centre, Post Office Box 30-368 Lower Hutt, Wellington, New Zealand.
7 Department of Geological Sciences, State University of New York, Binghamton, NY, 13902, USA.
8 Department of Geological Sciences, 1847 Sheridan Road, Locy Hall, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA.
9 Berkeley Seismological Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
10 Department of Earth Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: molnar{at}chandler.mit.edu

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Scaling Relations of Strike-Slip Earthquakes with Different Slip-Rate-Dependent Properties at Depth.
G. Hillers and S. G. Wesnousky (2008)
Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America 98, 1085-1101
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Locating the deep extent of the plate boundary along the Alpine Fault zone, New Zealand: Implications for patterns of exhumation in the Southern Alps.
K. P. Furlong (2007)
Geological Society of America Special Papers 434, 1-14
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Width of mantle deformation across a continental transform: Evidence from upper mantle (Pn) seismic anisotropy measurements.
G. Baldock and T. Stern (2005)
Geology 33, 741-744
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Electrical conductivity images of active and fossil fault zones.
O. Ritter, A. Hoffmann-Rothe, P. A. Bedrosian, U. Weckmann, and V. Haak (2005)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 245, 165-186
   Abstract »    PDF »
Tectonic and Seismologic Setting of the 22 September 2003, Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic Earthquake: Implications for Earthquake Hazard in Northern Hispaniola.
J. F. Dolan and D. D. Bowman (2004)
Seismological Research Letters 75, 587-597
   Full Text »    PDF »
Strain modelling, seismic anisotropy and coupling at strike-slip boundaries: applications in New Zealand and the San Andreas fault.
M. K. Savage, K. M. Fischer, and C. E. Hall (2004)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 227, 9-39
   Abstract »    PDF »
Mantle-driven deformation of orogenic zones and clutch tectonics.
B. Tikoff, R. Russo, C. Teyssier, and A. Tommasi (2004)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 227, 41-64
   Abstract »    PDF »
Vertical-axis rotation of rigid crustal blocks driven by mantle flow.
S. Giorgis, M. Markley, and B. Tikoff (2004)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 227, 83-100
   Abstract »    PDF »
The evolution of an exposed mid-lower crustal attachment zone in Fiordland, New Zealand.
K. A. Klepeis and G. L. Clarke (2004)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 227, 197-229
   Abstract »    PDF »
Seismic Anisotropy: Tracing Plate Dynamics in the Mantle.
J. Park and V. Levin (2002)
Science 296, 485-489
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Time-Dependent Distributed Afterslip on and Deep below the Izmit Earthquake Rupture.
(2002)
Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America 92, 126-137
Oceanic broad multifault transform plate boundaries.
M. Ligi, E. Bonatti, L. Gasperini, and A. N.B. Poliakov (2002)
Geology 30, 11-14
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Rotation of ductile fabrics across the Alpine Fault and Cenozoic bending of the New Zealand orocline.
T. A. LITTLE and N. MORTIMER (2001)
Journal of the Geological Society 158, 745-756
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Uplift, Shortening, and Steady State Topography in Active Mountain Belts.
S. D. Willett, S. D. Willett, R. Slingerland, and N. Hovius (2001)
Am J Sci 301, 455-485
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Coseismic and Postseismic Fault Slip for the 17 August 1999, M = 7.5, Izmit, Turkey Earthquake.
R. E. Reilinger, S. Ergintav, R. Bürgmann, S. McClusky, O. Lenk, A. Barka, O. Gurkan, L. Hearn, K. L. Feigl, R. Cakmak, et al. (2000)
Science 289, 1519-1524
   Abstract »    Full Text »
Modeling the behavior of the continental mantle lithosphere during plate convergence.
R. N. Pysklywec, C. Beaumont, and P. Fullsack (2000)
Geology 28, 655-658
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)