Quaternary uplift and fault movement near Waitomo, North Island, New Zealand

Abstract

The hill country of west central North Island, west of Te Kuiti and Otorohanga, is recognised to be slowly uplifting and relatively stable. The New Zealand national seismic hazard model shows the area to be in a low-risk zone and the New Zealand active faults database recognises no active faults in the region. However, dated evidence provided by speleothems in a cave near Waitomo indicates the intermittent movement of the Okohua fault from before the Last Interglacial until around 38 kyrs ago. Evidence of older movement along the Waipa Fault near Te Kuiti is also apparent from the vertical displacement of the Ngaroma ignimbrite (1.55 Myrs) by about 150 m in the interval prior to the deposition of the Ongatiti ignimbrite at 1.21 Myrs. Net uplift in the West Waikato Hills and Ranges, by about 0.1 mm/yr in the Late Quaternary, is accommodated in a series of NNE-trending faults and transverse faults, resulting in a staircase of fault-bound blocks rising westwards from Waitomo to the western watershed of the Waipa basin. Geomorphologically fresh cliffed lineaments on the Okohua and Hikurangi faults convey evidence of mid to late Quaternary fault activity.