Where is the Alpine Fault Line NZ?
the South Island
The 850km Alpine Fault runs along the mountainous spine of the South Island, marking the boundary where the Australian and Pacific tectonic plates meet and grind against each other, forcing up the Southern Alps.
What happens if the Alpine Fault goes?
The rupture will produce one of the biggest earthquakes since European settlement of New Zealand, and it will have a major impact on the lives of many people. In between earthquakes, the Alpine Fault is locked. When the Alpine Fault next ruptures it is likely to produce an earthquake with a magnitude of around 8.
How big will the Alpine Fault be?
The Alpine Fault, which runs for about 600km up the spine of the South Island, is one of the world’s major geological features. It’s the “on-land” boundary of the Pacific and Australian Plates. This fault has ruptured four times in the past 900 years, each time producing an earthquake of about magnitude 8.
Where is the Alpine Fault visible?
South Island of New Zealand
In the South Island of New Zealand, the boundary between the Australian and Pacific tectonic plates can be seen on land.
Where are New Zealands fault lines?
The Alpine Fault is a geological fault that runs almost the entire length of New Zealand’s South Island (c. 480 km) and forms the boundary between the Pacific Plate and the Indo-Australian Plate. The Southern Alps have been uplifted on the fault over the last 12 million years in a series of earthquakes.
Does New Zealand sit on a fault line?
There are major fault lines running the length of New Zealand. The Taupo Volcanic Zone also has many active faults associated with rifting and extension of the crust in the area. In the South Island, the Marlborough Fault System is another series of major parallel faults.
Is New Zealand overdue for earthquake?
Two tectonic plates meet beneath New Zealand’s west coast. Scientific analysis shows there’s been a major earthquake along the fault line every 300 years, and NZ is overdue.
How fast in mm year is the Alpine Fault moving?
Every year the sides of the island nation’s Alpine Fault shift past one another about 30 millimeters—a blistering speed for strike-slip faults, which typically slip at rates closer to one or two millimeters a year.
Is New Zealand on a tectonic plate?
New Zealand lies at the edge of both the Australian and Pacific tectonic plates. To the northeast of New Zealand, and underneath North Island, the Pacific Plate is moving towards, and being subducted below the Australian Plate.
What is the safest place to live in New Zealand?
Wellington is ranked as New Zealand’s safest city – the 18th safest in the world. The capital was the only city in the country ranked in the 2019 Safe Cities Index, by global business intelligence firm The Economist Intelligence Unit.
How is the Alpine fault affecting New Zealand?
Scientists have revealed the earliest-known stirrings of New Zealand’s big-risk Alpine Fault, in a study that could hold implications for plate tectonics globally. The new findings have shed new light on some of the first stages of the fault, at a time the Southern Alps hadn’t yet risen from the Earth.
Who are the scientists of the Alpine Fault?
The study, published on Tuesday morning in scientific journal Nature Geoscience, was led by Kiwi scientist Dr Jamie Howarth and included scientists from Victoria University, Otago University, GNS Science, the University of California, and the US Geological Survey.
What’s the chance of an earthquake in New Zealand?
Associate Professor Tom Wilson from Canterbury University, whose specialist area is disaster risk and resilience, speaks on the impacts of an Alpine Fault quake. Source: Youtube / @EMSouthland New Zealand’s big-risk Alpine Fault has a 75 per cent chance of causing a major quake – most likely a powerful magnitude 8 event – within the next 50 years.
What’s the probability of an earthquake on the Alpine Fault?
“From the record of past earthquakes, we can determine that the probability of a magnitude 7 or higher event is about 75 percent in the next 50 years, so we now know the chances of seeing a large Alpine Fault earthquake in our lifetime are better than a coin toss,” explained Dr Howarth.