Abstract U–Pb detrital zircon age patterns in sandstones from the Wellington and eastern Cook Strait area have broad Permian–Triassic and Precambrian–early Paleozoic age groups that confirm a previously established Triassic Rakaia Terrane correlation. Along the western Cook Strait coast, meta-psammitic Marlborough Schist samples have zircon patterns with a single age group, either Late Triassic or Jurassic, indicating a Waipapa Terrane ancestry. Similar data from the central Cook Strait region suggest that Waipapa Terrane basement continues northeastwards from Marlborough through Fishermans Rock to Kapiti Island. The Rakaia–Waipapa terrane boundary thus lies east of Kapiti Island and Fishermans Rock. The position of a Caples–Waipapa terrane boundary within the Marlborough Schist is less certain but most of the eastern Marlborough Schist is Waipapa Terrane.

The Western Province is a fragment of the c. 500 Ma SE Gondwana active continental margin. The Eastern Province is a terrane assemblage, which is partly stitched by the Median Batholith. Fragments of the batholith are preserved in the adjacent Drumduan and Brook Street terranes. Permian arc magmatism of the Brook Street Terrane involved both oceanic and continental margin settings. The Permian (c. 285–275 Ma) supra-subduction zone Dun Mountain ophiolite records subduction initiation and subsequent oceanic-arc magmatism. The Permian Patuki and Croisilles melanges represent detachment of the ophiolitic forearc and trench–seamount accretion. The Murihiku Terrane, a proximal continental margin forearc basin, received detritus from the Median Batholith (or equivalent). The south coast, Early–Late Triassic Willsher Group is another proximal forearc basin unit. The sediments of the Dun Mountain–Maitai Terrane (Maitai basin) represent a distal segment of a continental margin forearc basin. The Caples Terrane is a mainly Triassic trench accretionary complex, dominantly sourced from a continental margin arc, similar to the Median Batholith. The outboard (older) Torlesse and Waipapa terranes are composite subduction complexes. Successively more outboard terranes may restore farther north along the SE Gondwana continental margin. Subduction and terrane assembly were terminated by collision (at c. 100 Ma), followed by rifting of the Tasman Sea Basin.