Preliminary geodetic strain measurement from the South Fiordland Region of New Zealand using repeat GPS surveys: Implications for subduction on the Puysegur Trench

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Abstract
Comparing 1996 GPS data and data collected only one year earlier demonstrates that 50% of the instantaneous relative plate motion is accommodated between the west coast of the South Island and the eastern side of the Waiau Basin, a distance of about 75 km. The observed relative velocity vectors are nearly parallel to the inferred orientation of the plate boundary and rotated more than 30° clockwise compared to the relative plate motion vector, a difference that is significant at the 95% level of confidence. Modeling shows that the observed deformation rates are consistent with a model where nearly all the relative plate motion occurs on the plate boundary thrust as defined by the Benioff Zone associated with subduction on the Puysegur Trench.