Upper Plate Faults May Contribute to the Paleoseismic Subsidence Record Along the Central Hikurangi Subduction Zone, Aotearoa New Zealand

Abstract

Abstract Earthquake‐driven subsidence can cause cascading hazards at the coast by exacerbating relative sea level rise, storm surges, tsunami, and tidal flooding. At Ahuriri Lagoon near Napier, Aotearoa New Zealand, paleoseismic uplift and subsidence are typically attributed to upper plate faults and subduction interface earthquakes, respectively. We test this assumption with elastic dislocation models of upper plate and subduction interface earthquakes informed by historical events, seismic surveys, and modern interface coupling data. We compared our surface deformation results to paleoseismic records preserved at Ahuriri Lagoon, which includes eight rapid subsidence (c. 0.5–1.2 m) and two rapid uplift events over the last c. 7 kyr. Our models demonstrate that offshore upper plate faults could cause subsidence of c. 0.5–1 m at Ahuriri Lagoon at recurrence intervals of c. 2 kyr. A range of subduction interface earthquakes can also produce subsidence at Ahuriri Lagoon, and may explain larger (>1 m) subsidence, but must rupture the currently creeping (i.e., aseismic) portions of the interface. We demonstrate that both upper plate fault and subduction interface earthquakes may have contributed to the Ahuriri Lagoon records, and that interface coupling may be more spatially or temporally heterogeneous than modern geodetic data suggest. Models of sea‐level rise and earthquake multi‐hazards that do not include the effects of upper plate faulting may mischaracterize risk at the coast.

Keywords

• subduction
• earthquakes
• coastal deformation
• paleoseismology
• listric fault
• elastic dislocation