Resolving slip-vector azimuths and plate motion along the southern boundary of the South Bismarck Plate, Papua New Guinea

Abstract

The interaction of the Australian, South Bismarck and Solomon Sea Plates in Papua New Guinea is the source of frequent earthquakes that occur as a result of subduction and arc-continent collision. Previous investigators have drawn attention to a discontinuity in the horizontal azimuth of slip vectors along the southern boundary of the South Bismarck Plate, with those to the west of 148°E being systematically rotated ∼20-30° clockwise compared to those located east of 148°E. This has led to the suggestion that relative motion may be occuring between the Huon Peninsula and New Britain or that more than two plates are acting south of the South Bismarck Plate. Global positioning system (GPS) measurements since 1991 indicate that there is no internal deformation occuring within the South Bismark Plate and that at least two distinct plates are in contact with the southern edge of the South Bismarck Plate. We show from a study of a recent earthquake dataset that the change in slip-vector azimuth can be modelled by the interaction of the overriding South Bismarck Plate with the underthrusting Australian and Solomon Sea Plates, consistent with the GPS observations, while maintaining the South Bismarck Plate as a rigid entity. We found that a transition zone exists between 147°E and 148°E where the underlying plate changes from the Australian Plate to the Solomon Sea Plate. There are Insufficient data at present to indicate whether or not a third plate, the Woodlark Plate, is also interacting directly with the South Bismarck Plate in this transition zone. Slip-vector azimuths were used to estimate an Euler pole (6.74°S, 144.64°E), which describes the relative motion of the South Bismarck and Solomon Sea Plates along the New Britain Trench.