Sedimentary Characteristics and Evolution of the Late Miocene to Quaternary Tributary Channels in the Head of Bounty Channel, New Zealand

The Bounty Channel is a large-scale submarine channel system located in the eastern continental margin of New Zealand. Extending along the axis of the Bounty Trough, the channel system comprises three main tributaries (C1–C3) at its head, which merge downstream into a trunk channel leading to a terminal submarine fan. In this study, we use high-quality two-dimensional multichannel seismic data to investigate the formation and evolution of tributary channels C1 and C2. Four types of seismic facies are identified in the tributary channels: fill-type, mounded divergent, wavy, and subparallel facies. These seismic facies are correspondingly interpreted as topographic depression or channel fills, levees, sediment waves, and hemipelagic deposits. The Late Miocene tributary channels were developed above a pre-existing NE–SW-oriented depression. The Pliocene to Quaternary tributary channels are characterized by preferential development of higher levees on their left hand, and the presence of sediment waves on the lower levees of their right-hand, signaling an effect of the Coriolis force. The formation and evolution of the tributaries are primarily linked to regional tectonics, including increased convergence rate between the Pacific and Australian plates along the Alpine Fault in the Late Miocene and enhanced uplift and erosion at the Southern Alps during the Pliocene.