Balancing the plate motion budget in the South Island, New Zealand using GPS, geological and seismological data

SUMMARY The landmass of New Zealand exists as a consequence of transpressional collision between the Australian and Pacific plates, providing an excellent opportunity to quantify the kinematics of deformation at this type of tectonic boundary. We interpret GPS, geological and seismological data describing the active deformation in the South Island, New Zealand by using an elastic, rotating block approach that automatically balances the Pacific/Australia relative plate motion budget. The data in New Zealand are fit to within uncertainty when inverted simultaneously for angular velocities of rotating tectonic blocks and the degree of coupling on faults bounding the blocks. We find that most of the plate motion budget has been accounted for in previous geological studies, although we suggest that the Porter’s Pass/Amberley fault zone in North Canterbury, and a zone of faults in the foothills of the Southern Alps may have slip rates about twice that of the geological estimates. Up to 5 mm yr −1 of active deformation on faults distributed within the Southern Alps