Matata Fault

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Manata Fault
Matatā Fault
Matata Fault
Approximate surface traces of the active Matata Fault in red in the Taupo Rift, North Island, New Zealand'"`UNIQ--ref-00000002-QINU`"'
Etymology Matatā
Coordinates 38°00′00″S176°40′16″E / 38.0°S 176.671°E / -38.0; 176.671
Country New Zealand
RegionBay of Plenty Region
Characteristics
Displacement 1 mm (0.039 in)/year [1]
Tectonics
Plate Indo-Australian
Status Active with Mw 7.0 potential, [2] recurrence is <=2,000 years [3]
Type Normal fault [3]
Age Holocene ~1–0  Ma [4]
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Volcanic arc/belt Taupō Volcanic Zone
New Zealand geology database (includes faults)

The Matata Fault zone is a seismically active area in the Bay of Plenty Region of the central North Island of New Zealand with potential to rupture as part of an Mw 7.0 event. [2]

Contents

Geology

The Matata Fault zone is the northwestern wall fault of the Whakatāne Graben and extends from the coast near Matatā to where the boundary of the modern Taupō Rift changes direction to a mainly SSE-dipping fault trace of the Manawahe Fault. [2] At this southern end of the fault there is an area of Manawahe dacite that has been dated to 425,000 ± 27,000 years ago. [1] There has been considerable uplift of Castlecliffian (mid Quaternary) marine sediments at a rate of 1 mm (0.039 in)/year to more than 300 m (980 ft) above sea level. [1] An earthquake swam that commenced in 2005 at the northern end of the Matata Fault zone progressed off shore and lasted until 2009. [5] At the coast there was an area of transition of a few miles with lower current seismic activity to defined off shore faults. [5] These earthquakes were also associated with about 400 km2 (150 sq mi) of area that has risen by up to 40 cm (16 in) since the 1950s. [6] The increase of height over this area is not thought to be consistent with a pure tectonic origin but would be consistent with inflation from the accumulation of magma at a depth of about 9.5 km (5.9 mi). [6] This magma body was later interpreted as a newly stalled sill under the northern Matata Fault. [7]

Risks

During the period 2005 to 2009 an earthquake swarm occurred near Matatā with many low magnitude earthquakes and one of Mw 4.7 . [6] A potentially whole fault rupture could be up to Mw 7.0 if the fault ruptured at the same time as the shorter Manawahe Fault which is a continuation. [2] Volcanic eruption risk is not negligible given the past eruption of Manawahe Massif dacite/andesite and the coupling of the Manawahe Fault with other eruptions. [2]

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The Manawahe Fault line is a seismically active area in the Bay of Plenty Region of the central North Island of New Zealand with the potential to be involved with other faults in an Mw7.0 event.

The Whakatāne Graben is a predominantly normal faulting tectonic feature of the northeastern aspect of the young, modern Taupō Rift in New Zealand. At the coast it is widening by about 7 mm (0.28 in)/year. This very geologically active graben was the site of the 1987 Edgecumbe earthquake, which caused up to 2 m of land subsidence. The discontinuity in the Taupō Volcanic Zone's faults imposed by the highly active Ōkataina Volcanic Centre, geography and geology mean the graben is usually regarded as including the actively expanding and lowering region onshore extending towards the coast. Some scientists have limited the Whakatāne Graben to only the offshore continuation of the Taupō Rift.

The seismically active southern end of the Taupō Rift beyond Mount Ruapehu has a number of mainly east to west orientated termination faults where the western wall Raurimu Fault and eastern wall Rangipo Fault terminate in the Ruapehu Graben, of the central North Island of New Zealand. In a multi-fault rupture event there is the potential for the earthquake being of Mw7.1 magnitude.

The Rangipo Fault is the eastern Taupō rift-bounding north–south striking normal fault complex of the Ruapehu Graben, a seismically active area of the central North Island of New Zealand to the west of Mount Ruapehu. It could be part of a Mw7.1 potential rupture.

The Upper Waikato Stream Fault is an eastern Taupō rift-bounding north–south striking normal fault in the Ruapehu Graben, a seismically active area of the central North Island of New Zealand to the west of Mount Ruapehu. While its own whole fault rupture potential is Mw6.5, such a rupture could be part of a Mw 7.1 multi-fault rupture.

The Whangamata fault zone is part of the seismically active western Taupō rift-bounding normal wall faults and is associated with the major active Whangamata Fault and Haukari/West Whangamata Fault and several unnamed active faults. Obsidian used by the Māori is exposed along these faults.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Nairn, IA; Beanland, S (1989). "Geological setting of the 1987 Edgecumbe earthquake, New Zealand". New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics. 32 (1): 1–3. Bibcode:1989NZJGG..32....1N. doi: 10.1080/00288306.1989.10421383 .
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Villamor, P.; Litchfield, N.J.; Gomez, D.; Martin, F.; Alloway, B.; Berryman, K.; Clark, K.; Ries, W.; Howell, A.; Ansell, B. (2022). "Fault ruptures triggered by large rhyolitic eruptions at the boundary between tectonic and magmatic rift segments: the Manawahe Fault, Taupo Rift, New Zealand". Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research. 427: 107478. Bibcode:2022JVGR..42707478V. doi:10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2022.107478. hdl: 2292/59828 . S2CID   246258923.
  3. 1 2
  4. ↑ Taylor, Susanna K. A Long Timescale High-Resolution Fault Activity History of the Whakatane Graben, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand (PhD thesis Graduate School of the Southampton Oceanography Centre) (PDF) (Thesis). Retrieved 4 April 2023.
  5. 1 2 Mouslopoulou, Vasiliki; Hristopulos, Dionissios T. (2011). "Patterns of tectonic fault interactions captured through geostatistical analysis of microearthquakes". Journal of Geophysical Research. 116 (B7). Bibcode:2011JGRB..116.7305M. doi: 10.1029/2010JB007804 .
  6. 1 2 3 Hamling, Ian J.; Hreinsdóttir, Sigrun; Bannister, Stephen; Palmer, Neville (2016). "Off-axis magmatism along a subaerial back-arc rift: Observations from the Taupo Volcanic Zone, New Zealand". Science Advances. 2 (6): e1600288. Bibcode:2016SciA....2E0288H. doi:10.1126/sciadv.1600288. PMC   4928910 . PMID   27386580.
  7. ↑ Gase, Andrew C.; Van Avendonk, Harm J. A.; Bangs, Nathan L.; Luckie, Thomas W.; Barker, Daniel H. N.; Henrys, Stuart A.; Bassett, Dan; Okaya, David A.; Jacobs, Katrina M.; Kodaira, Shuichi (2019). "Seismic Evidence of Magmatic Rifting in the Offshore Taupo Volcanic Zone, New Zealand". Geophysical Research Letters. 46 (22): 12949–12957. Bibcode:2019GeoRL..4612949G. doi:10.1029/2019GL085269. S2CID   212798500.
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