The Australian and Pacific plates converge obliquely in the Tonga-Kermadec-Hikurangi subduction zone. The Hikurangi Plateau alters this subduction beneath North Island, at the Hikurangi subduction zone, where the buoyancy of the slab has resulted in the exposure of a forearc and hence earthquakes such as the 7.8 Mw 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake.