What plate boundary is New Zealand on?
Pacific
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.
How many tectonic plates are there in NZ?
two
The plate boundary zone in New Zealand – sitting astride the boundary of two major tectonic plates.
What fault line does New Zealand sit on?
Alpine Fault
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.
What plate boundary caused the New Zealand earthquake?
Earthquakes in New Zealand occur because we are located on the boundary of two of the world’s major tectonic plates – the Pacific Plate and the Australian Plate. These plates are colliding with huge force, causing one to slowly grind over, under or alongside the other.
Is New Zealand on a convergent boundary?
Modern tectonic setting and earthquakes New Zealand is currently astride the convergent boundary between the Pacific and Australian Plates. Through most of the South Island, the plates slide past each other (Alpine Fault), with slight obduction of the Pacific Plate over the Australian Plate, forming Southern Alps.
Is New Zealand on a divergent plate boundary?
New Zealand is currently astride the convergent boundary between the Pacific and Australian Plates.
Is the Pacific Plate going under the Australian plate?
The Australian plate is a continental plate and the Pacific plate is an oceanic plate. At this boundary, the Pacific plate is slowly moving under the Australian plate. This process is called subduction.
Is New Zealand moving which way how fast?
Which way are New Zealand’s plates moving and how fast? The Australian Plate is moving north and the Pacific Plate is moving west but of course the plates are moving on a sphere not a flat surface. The Pacific Plate moves on average 3-4cm/year (30- 40mm/year).
What type of plate boundary does New Zealand sit on?
New Zealand sits on the boundary of two of these plates, known as the Indo-Australian plate and the Pacific plate . These are the two plates involved in causing the Christchurch Earthquakes. Boundaries…
What type of convergent boundary is New Zealand on?
The Himalayas in Nepal, the European Alps and the Southern Alps in New Zealand are all examples of continental-continental convergent boundaries. The Himalayas are home to the highest (>29,000 ft), steepest, most rugged mountains on Earth and contain more glaciers than any other mountain range on the planet.
What plate boundary causes earthquakes?
At convergent plate boundaries, where two continental plates collide earthquakes are deep and also very powerful. In general, the deepest and the most powerful earthquakes occur at plate collision (or subduction) zones at convergent plate boundaries.
What plate boundary are volcanic islands?
The subduction process occurs at the boundaries of the oceanic tectonic plates when one plate sinks under the other right into the mantle. However, this happens on island arcs which are part of mountain belts, referred to as volcanic arcs. South Aegean Arc and Aleutian Island located in Alaska are volcanic islands.