This is the second of a two-part New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics Special Issue on understanding sedimentary systems in Aotearoa-New Zealand's Hikurangi Subduction Margin (HSM). This ...volume includes six research papers that explore sediment-tectonic interactions operating over a range of spatio-temporal scales. We take a distinctive perspective moving from the subduction deformation front in the Hikurangi Trough, upslope to the subduction wedge, and onshore to the Coastal Ranges. Temporally, papers span the onset of subduction in the Miocene, to disentangling provenance of turbidity currents triggered by the 2016 CE Kaikōura Earthquake. Collectively, the studies in the special issue reveal a complicated and continually evolving margin, where active tectonics and volcanism, coupled with vigorous climatic and oceanographic drivers, modulate erosion, transport, and depositional cycles of vast volumes of terrigenous sediment into ocean basins. Despite decades of significant research advances in our knowledge of the HSM, considerable scope remains for future work. A deeper understanding of fundamental tectonic-sediment interactions operating on active margins, along with the significant geohazards they pose remain outstanding research needs. Collectively, Volumes 1 and 2 highlight enduring interest in the HSM as a globally important natural laboratory for the study of subduction zone geoscience.
Monitoring of modern deep‐water channels has revealed how migrating channel‐floor features generate and remove stratigraphy, improving understanding of how channel morphologies relate to their ...deposits. Here, seafloor and subsurface data are reconciled through an integrated study of high‐resolution bathymetry and three‐dimensional seismic data imaging a ca 150 km stretch of the trench‐axial Hikurangi Channel, offshore New Zealand. On the seafloor, terraced channel‐walls bound a flat, wide, channel‐floor, ornamented with three scales of features that increase then decrease in longitudinal gradient downstream, and widen downstream: cyclic‐steps, knickpoints and knickpoint‐zones (in increasing size). Mass‐transport deposits derived from channel‐wall collapse, are bordered by wide and flat reaches of channel‐floor upstream and by knickpoint‐zones (reaches containing multiple knickpoints) downstream. In the subsurface, recognition of ten seismofacies and five types of surface enables identification of four depositional elements: channel‐fill, sheet or terrace, levée, and mass‐transport deposits. Integration of subsurface and seafloor interpretations reveals that knickpoint‐zones initiate on the downstream margins of channel‐damming mass‐transport deposits; they migrate and incise through the mass‐transport deposits and weakly‐confined deposits formed upstream, as the channel tends towards equilibrium. Downstream of a knickpoint‐zone, a flat channel‐floor is bounded by newly‐formed terraces. Knickpoints migrate by eroding upstream and depositing downstream, generating filled concave‐up (cross‐sectional) surfaces in their wake. Within knickpoint‐zones, knickpoint‐generated surfaces are re‐incised by subsequently‐passing knickpoints to produce a composite bounding surface; this surface does not delineate the morphology of any palaeo‐conduit. The Hikurangi Channel’s subsurface architecture records the localized erosional response to mass‐transport deposit emplacement via knickpoint‐zone migration, showcasing how transient seafloor features can build channelized stratigraphy. This model provides an additional mechanism to conventional models of channel deposit formation through ‘cut‐and‐fill’ over long stretches of channel. These findings may aid subsurface interpretation in systems lacking a contemporary self‐analogue or with poor data coverage.
The fill of trench-slope basins is complex, varying temporally, laterally, and longitudinally. New data from the Neogene stratigraphy of the Akitio Sub-basin, Wairarapa, are presented to investigate ...such fill variation. The preserved basin fill spans an area 70 km long by 10 km wide, representing deposits from a trench-slope basin. Integration of sedimentological, micropalaeoentological, and geological mapping data charts basin fill evolution. Over 15 km of strata were logged, defining 17 lithofacies associations, which were mapped across the basin; these are interpreted to represent both shallow and deep-water environments. The deep-water strata show a temporal evolution from ponded turbidite deposition, to a period of basin spill via conduits connecting to downstream basins, development of aggradational channel-levees, and finally unconfined submarine fan deposition. Shallow marine deposits mostly developed on the up-dip basin margin occur contemporaneously with basinal mass-transport deposits, and in association with the growth of basin bounding structural ridges. Comparison with the evolution of the offshore, actively filling Akitio Trough highlights controls on trench-slope basin fill: a first-order influence of external controls, e.g. tectonism to create the basin; a second-order progression from under- to overfilled; and third-order lateral variation reflecting autogenic process and the effects of local structures on seafloor gradients. These factors combine to vary sedimentation in trench-slope-basins spatially and temporally.
Abstract Submarine channels are the largest conveyors of sediment on Earth, yet little is known about their stability in the deep-ocean. Here, 3D seismic data from the deep-ocean Hikurangi ...channel-levee system, offshore New Zealand, reveal the largest channel-wall failure yet documented. Collapse of both channel-walls along a 68 km stretch created a mass-transport deposit of 19 km 3 , containing 4 km long blocks. Channel-walls typically collapse piecemeal, but here synchronous failure of both channel-walls and landslide erosion of the seafloor is documented, requiring a new process model for channel-wall failure. Mass-failure on this scale poses an under-appreciated risk to seafloor infrastructure both within channels and over regions extending twice the channel width into their overbank. Hitherto, channel-wall failures of this size are unrecognised in abyssal plains; its scale changes our understanding of how channel-levee systems are constructed and how they conduct sediment, carbon and pollutants into the deep-ocean.
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