Where Is The Alpine Fault Located

In between segments of the plates pulling away from each other are transform faults moving past each other. These faults can vary in length, but they always have a segment of the mid-ocean ridge fault at either end. Where the transform faults move past each other, no new crust is formed. The new crust is only created at the boundary where the plates pull apart. “One of the issues that makes the Alpine fault interesting is that while it is a strike slip fault for most of its length, it begins in a transition from a subduction zone to a strike slip fault,” says Dr. Kevin Furlong, professor of geosciences.

This is one of the reasons why some continents in the world seem to fit with one another. Anthropogenic interactions including rapid infrastructure development (Petley et al. 2007) in combination with ground shaking becomes a major triggering factor for landslide occurrence (Süzen and Kaya 2012) in mountainous region (Robinson et al. 2017). In this regards, detailed analysis of earthquake-triggered landslide following an earthquake supplements the knowledge to understand the total impact of the earthquake (Marzorati et al. 2002;Robinson and Davies 2013). Landslide susceptibility mapping identifies landslide sensitive areas considering the relationship between causal factors and landslide (Fell et al. 2008), it is a key step for landslide hazard monitoring and mitigation . Horizontal movement of the Alpine Fault is about 30m per 1000 years — very fast by global standards.

Alpine Fault Traces Legacy Maps

The risk assessment herein pointed out the seriousness of the multihazard threat to the Franz Josef township. Understanding overall impact of earthquake hazards require the understanding of several features of co-seismic landslide . It includes the landslide number, area, and volume (e.g., Keefer 1984;Marc et al. 2016) and the location of landslides (e.g., Dai et al. 2011). The south the Canterbury Plains blend into older schist terrain with wide rolling hills (Fig. 1).

The Southern Alps have been uplifted on the fault over the last 12 million years in a series of earthquakes. However, most of the motion on the fault is strike-slip , with the Tasman district and West Coast moving North and Canterbury and Otago moving South. The average slip rates in the fault’s central region are about 38 mm a year, very fast by global standards. 1717 AD, and the probability of another one occurring within the next 50 years is estimated at about 75 percent. Aim More than 90% of plant species found in New Zealand’s alpine environment are endemic to New Zealand. Two particularly species‐rich regions of high endemism are located at the northern and southern ends of the South Island and several vascular alpine plant species show clear disjunct distributions between these two regions.

“We are interpreting this earthquake as a reflection of the tearing of the plate when it transitions from subducting to a strike slip zone,” says Furlong. This 3,600 km fault line runs from the Gulf of Alaska up to Kamchatka. The movement in this place caused some of the strongest earthquakes and biggest tsunamis ever recorded. The most notable is the 1964 Alaska earthquake recorded at a magnitude of 9.2. Major seismic events can also be responsible for rapid geomorphic evolution, due partly to sediment generation during co-seismic landsliding (Goff & McFadgen 2002;Wells & Goff 2006Howarth et al. 2012;Robinson & Davies 2013).

Two very large earthquakes or a series of large earthquakes are also realistic scenarios. The horizontal movement along the fault is not smooth, as both sides are locked together. When tectonic forces overcome this locking, the fault slips, jumping up to a distance of 8 metres at a time. These large earthquakes don’t happen very often – the last one was nearly 300 years ago. The fault zone is exposed at numerous locations along the West Coast, and typically consists of a 10–50 m wide fault gouge zone with pervasive hydrothermal alteration. In outcrop, the fault zone is overlain by mylonites which formed at depth and have been uplifted by the fault.

Researchers are studying the Alpine Fault to investigate past earthquakes, mountain formation and the structure of the Earth’s crust. The Alpine Fault has the greatest uplift near Aoraki / Mount Cook in its central section. Here the relative motion between the two plates averages 37–40 mm a year. This is distributed as 36–39 mm of horizontal and 6–10 mm upwards movement on the fault’s plane per year.

Fault Zone Geology

You begin to discuss what this is with a partner and come up with the following theories. The average depth of the ocean is much greater than the average height of land. More people have been to the top of the tallest mountain on Earth than have been to the bottom of the deepest trench. Download data, maps and posters that were prepared for the conference poster “Three-dimensional structure of the Alpine Fault zone in the region around the Waitangi-taona and Whataroa Rivers” presented at the Geosciences 2012 conference by R.

Along the central section of the fault this motion is partitioned 35.5 ± 1.5 mm a −1 parallel and 10 ± 1.5 mm a −1 perpendicular to the Alpine Fault re- … New Zealand contains 13 of the 69 species of Crotonia described globally and is the only place where all three genera of the Crotoniinae-Crotonia, Austronothrus and Holonothrus-have been recorded. Due to the pioneering work of Hammer and Luxton it also has the highest number of distribution records of Crotonia spp. In the present study I build upon previous work to re-examine the Crotonia fauna of New Zealand in the light of recent taxonomic and biogeographical research.

Scientists believe that such an earthquake will be of magnitude 8 or higher. New Zealand is racing against the clock to make itself ready for a potentially massive earthquake along the country’s Alpine Fault. This fault, located along the country’s South Island, has a history of sudden movements. Scientists believe that the country is due for a large-scale earthquake and are working together to prepare themselves for the inevitable. The reef became a barrier reef, with hard skeletons of previous colonies acting as the scaffolding for new ones on top.

Habitats and biogeography of New Zealand’s deinacridine and tusked weta species. Duration of New Zealand’s shallow water benthic Foraminifera. Vided population structure and cryptic species like small mammals.

However, a large number of people will suffer disabling injuries. Depending on the time of year, the large number of seasonal visitors in the Queenstown Lakes District and other parts of Otago will be completely reliant on immediate assistance. With an expected magnitude of 8+ this will be considered a “great earthquake” not simply a strong one. In some places the force will result in a horizontal earth shift of up to 8 metres, and a vertical displacement of 4 metres. The effects will be worst in West Otago, diminishing eastward.

There has been no descriptive mapping of the zone yet but it has been known to have been moving since 120 million years ago. The Kelly Fault forms a major fork of the Hope Fault from just west of Harper Pass; it forks again to the west into the Newton and Hura faults just before connecting to the Alpine Fault. The Wairau Fault is sometimes regarded as a direct continuation of the Alpine Fault and may be referred to as the Alpine-Wairau Fault. It takes its name from the Wairau River, which follows the fault trace for most of its length. There are four main fault strands, although many other smaller faults, of either strike-slip or thrust type are known. Using the record of pre-historic Alpine Fault earthquakes from Lake McKerrow, scientists have calculated the probability of a large earthquake in the next 50 years at 30%.

One of the goals of the project was to use the deformed rocks from the fault zone to determine its resistance to stress. Researchers also planned to install long term equipment for measuring pressure, temperature and seismic activity near the fault zone. It was led by New Zealand geologists Rupert Sutherland, John Townsend and Virginia Toy and involves an international team from New Zealand, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.