Continental breakup and UHP rock exhumation in action: GPS results from the Woodlark Rift, Papua New Guinea

dc.contributor.authorWallace, Laura M.
dc.contributor.authorEllis, Susan
dc.contributor.authorLittle, Tim
dc.contributor.authorTregoning, Paul
dc.contributor.authorPalmer, Neville
dc.contributor.authorRosa, Robert
dc.contributor.authorStanaway, Richard
dc.contributor.authorOa, John
dc.contributor.authorNidkombu, Edwin
dc.contributor.authorKwazi, John
dc.date.accessioned2015-04-13T04:40:18Z
dc.date.issued2014-11-11
dc.date.updated2015-12-10T09:54:23Z
dc.description.abstractWe show results from a network of campaign Global Positioning System (GPS) sites in the Woodlark Rift, southeastern Papua New Guinea, in a transition from seafloor spreading to continental rifting. GPS velocities indicate anticlockwise rotation (at 2–2.7°/Myr, relative to Australia) of crustal blocks north of the rift, producing 10–15 mm/yr of extension in the continental rift, increasing to 20–40 mm/yr of seafloor spreading at the Woodlark Spreading Center. Extension in the continental rift is distributed among multiple structures. These data demonstrate that low-angle normal faults in the continents, such as the Mai'iu Fault, can slip at high rates nearing 10 mm/yr. Extensional deformation observed in the D'Entrecasteaux Islands, the site of the world's only actively exhuming Ultra-High Pressure (UHP) rock terrane, supports the idea that extensional processes play a critical role in UHP rock exhumation. GPS data do not require significant interseismic coupling on faults in the region, suggesting that much of the deformation may be aseismic. Westward transfer of deformation from the Woodlark Spreading Center to the main plate boundary fault in the continental rift (the Mai'iu fault) is accommodated by clockwise rotation of a tectonic block beneath Goodenough Bay, and by dextral strike slip on transfer faults within (and surrounding) Normanby Island. Contemporary extension rates in the Woodlark Spreading Center are 30–50% slower than those from seafloor spreading-derived magnetic anomalies. The 0.5 Ma to present seafloor spreading estimates for the Woodlark Basin may be overestimated, and a reevaluation of these data in the context of the GPS rates is warranted.
dc.identifier.issn1525-2027en_AU
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1885/13228
dc.provenancehttp://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/issn/1525-2027/..."Publisher's version/PDF must be used in Institutional Repository 6 months after publication."
dc.publisherAmerican Geophysical Union
dc.rights© 2014 American Geophysical Union
dc.sourceGeochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems
dc.subjectGPS
dc.subjectrifting
dc.subjectWoodlark Basin
dc.subjectcrustal deformation
dc.subjectseafloor spreading
dc.titleContinental breakup and UHP rock exhumation in action: GPS results from the Woodlark Rift, Papua New Guinea
dc.typeJournal article
dcterms.accessRightsOpen Access
dcterms.dateAccepted2014-09-16
local.bibliographicCitation.issue11en_AU
local.bibliographicCitation.lastpage4290en_AU
local.bibliographicCitation.startpage4267en_AU
local.contributor.affiliationTregoning, P., Research School for the Earth Sciences, The Australian National Universityen_AU
local.contributor.authoremailpaul.tregoning@anu.edu.auen_AU
local.contributor.authoruidu9518503en_AU
local.identifier.absfor040402 - Geodynamics
local.identifier.absseo970104 - Expanding Knowledge in the Earth Sciences
local.identifier.ariespublicationa383154xPUB1056
local.identifier.citationvolume15en_AU
local.identifier.doi10.1002/2014GC005458en_AU
local.identifier.scopusID2-s2.0-84922733807
local.identifier.thomsonID000348060800009
local.identifier.uidSubmittedByu1005913en_AU
local.publisher.urlhttp://sites.agu.org/en_AU
local.type.statusPublished Versionen_AU

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