Newly identified segments of the Pacific-Australia plate boundary along the North Fiji transform zone

Details Newly identified segments of the Pacific-Australia plate boundary along the North Fiji transform zone Newly identified segments of the Pacific-Australia plate boundary along the North Fiji transform zone

Dec 2001

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001e%26psl.193..347p&link_type=abstract

Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Volume 193, Issue 3-4, p. 347-358.

Computer Science

6

Scientific paper

The North Fiji transform zone, a 1500 km long and 200 km wide transform segment of the Pacific-Australia plate boundary, is one of the major transform fault systems of the Earth. New data collected during the ALAUFI cruise (March 2000) on board the R/V L'Atalante make it possible to define more accurately the geometry and kinematics of this transform plate boundary. Three spreading centers or extensional zones (the North Cikobia spreading center, the Futuna spreading center and the southeast Futuna volcanic zone) and a strike-slip fault zone (the Futuna transform fault) have been discovered over a distance of 500 km along the eastern North Fiji transform zone, from the north of the Fiji platform to the east of the Futuna archipelago. The Futuna transform fault oriented 100° has been mapped over a distance of 250 km. It must be considered to be an important tectonic element of the transform plate boundary. Pure strike-slip as well as transpression and transtension motions are responsible for the complex morphology of this feature. The uplifted Futuna-Alofi ridge represents a major compressional relay along the Futuna transform fault. The Futuna spreading center trending 20-30° is composed of a series of en échelon left-stepping spreading segments. It represents a 200 km long extensional relay between the Futuna transform fault and the western part of the North Fiji transform zone, the Fiji transform fault, which bounds the Fiji platform to the north. The opening rate at the Futuna spreading center is estimated at 4 cm/yr. Although the North Cikobia spreading center and the southeast Futuna volcanic zone have been only partly mapped, bathymetric and reflectivity data clearly reveal that active extension also takes place along these two features. A spreading rate of 2 cm/yr is inferred at the North Cikobia spreading center. Therefore, the North Fiji transform zone appears to be composed of two main overlapping transform segments relayed by parallel extensional zones. The three active extensional zones have an ENE-WSW to NNE-SSW orientation, while compressive features along the Futuna transform fault are NW-SE to NNW-SSE oriented, in accordance with the present-day left-lateral transform motion along this part of the Pacific-Australia plate boundary.

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