Sea caves, relict shore and rock platforms: Evidence for the tectonic stability of Banks Peninsula, New Zealand

Abstract Well developed but partially exposed shore platforms at 6–8 m above mean sea level (m.s.l.) on the southwestern flanks of Banks Peninsula have been considered previously as evidence for either general tectonic stability or differential subsidence of the peninsula. These platforms probably formed during an interglacial high sea‐level stand, c. 120 000 yr ago or earlier. Banks Peninsula has been assumed to be differentially subsiding, since comparable platforms have not been identified on the northern flanks, and adjacent late Quaternary marine and fluvial sediments of the Canterbury Plains are unequivocally subsiding. However, an alignment of coastal erosional features at Cave Rock and Sumner Head, Christchurch (northwestern flank of Banks Peninsula), may represent a relict shore platform 5–6 m above m.s.l. These erosional features are interpreted to be correlatives of the platforms described on the southwestern flank, and therefore suggest Banks Peninsula is not differentially subsiding. By impli...

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