New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics abstracts

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Vertical tectonic movement in northeastern Marlborough: stratigraphic, radiocarbon, and paleoecological data from Holocene estuaries

YOKO OTA

Geography Department
Yokohama National University
Tokiwadai, Hodogaya-ku
Yokohama, Japan 240*

*Present address: Geography Department, Senshu University, Tamaku, Kawasakishi, Japan 214.

LEN J. BROWN
KELVIN R. BERRYMAN

Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences

P.O. Box 30 368

Lower Hutt, New Zealand

TAKATOSHI FUJIMORI

Keio Gijuku Futsubu Junior High School
Kohoku-ku
Yokohama, Japan 223

TAKAHIRO MIYAUCHI

Department of Earth Sciences
Chiba University
Chiba, Japan 260

with Appendix 1

Mollusca and environment of deposition of Holocene estuarine samples from northeastern Marlborough

ALAN G. BEU

Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences
Lower Hutt

and Appendix 2

Diatoms from Holocene sediments near

Big Lagoon, Wairau plain, New Zealand

KAORU KASHIMA

College of General Education
Kyushu University
Fukuoka, Japan 810

KEIKO TAGUCHI

Geography Department
Yokohama National University+

+Present address: High School attached to Keihin Women's University, Kamakura, Japan.

Abstract Height and age information from Holocene estuarine deposits along the northeastern Marlborough coast provide a database to evaluate coastal vertical tectonics. These data are related to the postglacial marine transgression and coastal geomorphic features formed since the culmination of sea-level rise. Four tectonic domains are recognised. The Wairau domain is characterised by subsidence at rates over 4 mm/yr. About 60% of this subsidence is tectonic and may be related to Marlborough Sounds subsidence, and 40% is a result of compaction. The Vernon Fault at the south side of the lower Wairau plain separates the Wairau domain from the high-standing Vernon domain. The Awatere Fault marks the southern boundary between the Vernon domain and the Grassmere domain, which extends from the Awatere River valley to Mussel Point. Slight uplift (c. 1 m in 6500 yr) characterises the Grassmere domain, based on data obtained from Blind River, Lake Grassmere, and, to a lesser extent, from Awatere River fluvial terraces. The north-trending London Hill Fault reaches the coast at Mussel Point and coincides with the boundary between the Grassmere and Cape Campbell domains. The latter is characterised by rapid uplift (16 m in c. 6500 yr). No late Quaternary traces are known on the London Hill Fault, but the data presented are indicative of Holocene activity.

Keywords radiocarbon ages; postglacial transgression; estuary; coastal geomorphology; water well data; Wairau Valley; Awatere Valley; late Quaternary; tectonics

New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics, 1995, Vol. 38: 269-282

0028-8306/95/3803-0269 $2.50/0 (c) The Royal Society of New Zealand 1995

PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (1356K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)

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