Uplift in the Fiordland region, New Zealand: implications for incipient subduction.
Low-temperature thermochronometry reveals regional Late Cenozoic denudation in Fiordland, New Zealand, consistent with geodynamic models showing uplift of the overriding plate during incipient subduction. The data show a northward progression of exhumation in response to northward migration of the initiation of subduction. The locus of most recent uplift coincides with a large positive Bouguer gravity anomaly within Fiordland. Thermochronometrically deduced crustal thinning, anomalous gravity, and estimates of surface uplift are all consistent with approximately 2 kilometers of dynamic support. This amount of dynamic support is in accord with geodynamic predictions, suggesting that we have dated the initiation of subduction adjacent to Fiordland.
House
M A
MA
Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, Caltech, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA. mhouse@gps.caltech.edu
Gurnis
M
M
Kamp
P J J
PJ
Sutherland
R
R