Taranaki Basin, structural style and tectonic setting

Taranaki Basin is located mainly to the west of the North Island of New Zealand, but also includes the Taranaki Peninsula onshore. Following the Rangitata Orogeny, which welded a late Paleozoic‐Late Jurassic apcretionary wedge to the Gondwanaland margin in the New Zealand area, peneplanation took place during the middle to Late Cretaceous. During Late Cretaceous time the basin was initiated on a fault‐dissected peneplain. The structural and depositional history extends into Recent time. The basin can be divided into 3 structural units in the west, north, and south which are the cumulative results of regional, yet time distinct, tectonic events. The Western Unit has been largely undisturbed since Late Eocene time, but the Northern and Southern Units have been affected by Late Miocene‐Recent tectonic events. The Northern Unit has undergone normal faulting and extension, and the Southern Unit has undergone compressive deformation with reverse faulting and structural inversion. Examination of the structural style and geometry within each unit allows a structural history for the whole basin to be described and related to other tectonic phenomena.