Strike-Slip Enables Subduction Initiation Beneath a Failed Rift: New Seismic Constraints From Puysegur Margin, New Zealand

Subduction initiation often takes advantage of previously weakened lithosphere and may preferentially nucleate along pre-existing plate boundaries. To evaluate how past tectonic regimes and inherited lithospheric structure might lead to self-sustaining subduction, we present an analysis of the Puysegur Trench, a young subduction zone with a rapidly evolving tectonic history. The Puysegur margin, south of New Zealand, has experienced a transformation from rifting to seafloor spreading to strike-slip, and most recently to incipient subduction, all in the last similar to 45 million years. Here we present deep-penetrating multichannel reflection and ocean-bottom seismometer tomographic images to document crustal structures along the margin. Our images reveal that the overriding Pacific Plate beneath the Solander Basin contains stretched continental crust with magmatic intrusions, which formed from Eocene-Oligocene rifting between the Campbell and Challenger plateaus. Rifting was more advanced to the south, yet never proceeded to breakup and seafloor spreading in the Solander Basin as previously thought. Subsequent strike-slip deformation translated continental crust northward causing an oblique collisional zone, with trailing similar to 10 Myr old oceanic lithosphere. Incipient subduction transpired as oceanic lithosphere from the south forcibly underthrust the continent-collision zone. We suggest that subduction initiation at the Puysegur Trench was assisted by inherited buoyancy contrasts and structural weaknesses that were imprinted into the lithosphere during earlier phases of continental rifting and strike-slip along the plate boundary. The Puysegur margin demonstrates that forced nucleation along a strike-slip boundary is a viable subduction initiation scenario and should be considered throughout Earth's history.

Automated summary

The Puysegur margin in the southern New Zealand region has experienced a series of tectonic events over the past 45 million years, transitioning from rifting to strike-slip to incipient subduction. Through deep-penetrating imaging techniques, it has been revealed that subduction initiation in the Puysegur Trench was likely assisted by inherited structural weaknesses imprinted into the lithosphere during earlier continental rifting and strike-slip events. Forced nucleation along a strike-slip boundary is identified as a viable subduction initiation scenario, which has implications for understanding subduction initiation throughout Earth's history.