From there, the Alpine Fault runs along the western edge of the Southern Alps, before splitting into a set of smaller dextral strike-slip faults north of Arthur’s Pass, known as the Marlborough Fault System. Ten gravity traverses, between 7 and 18 km long, have been run across the Alpine fault, New Zealand. The trench site at Tophouse Saddle on the Wairau section of the Alpine Fault indicates there has been an earthquake rupture since AD 200 but how long after this date cannot be determined. The information collected and presented in this report and accompanying maps and documents by the Consultant and supplied to Marlborough District Council is It takes its name from the Wairau River, which follows the fault trace for most of its length.It has an estimated slip-rate of 3–5 mm/yr. The Alpine Fault is believed to align with the Macquarie Fault Zone in the Puysegur Trench off the southwestern corner of the South Island. “We take out excavators and dig along the fault and like an archaeologist gently remove layers of the earth until we get along that plain where the displacement happened, and we start recording the shape of the scratch marks. The Wairau Fault links up with the Alpine Fault near the Nelson Lakes it extends for about 140 kilometres, he says. The Kaikōura earthquake revealed a number of faults that were unknown, and geologists are constantly learning and adding to the sum of our knowledge, he says. At its northern end near Rotoiti, Nelson Lakes the Alpine Fault links with the Wairau Fault, which extends 140km along the Wairau Valley to the Marlborough coast. It's no surprise to most of us that New Zealand is perched on top of a collection of fault lines. Detailed paleoseismic investigation of the Alpine Fault has been undertaken at four locations that bracket the north and Wairau sections, between the Blue Grey River and Tophouse Saddle. Yetton, M. D. December 2003 (further amended 2005). “And the shape of those scratch marks very well could have clues on which way the rupture moved from, or propagated from.”. LiDAR laser scanning maps show major fault lines in the Marlborough region, offshoots of the Alpine Fault. ... Blenheim's Wairau Hospital will likely … The Wairau Fault is an active dextral (right lateral) strike-slip fault in the northeastern part of South Island, New Zealand. The Kēkerengū Fault in the north east of South Island moved during the Kaikōura quake and he says it is displaying scratch marks akin to “lazy rainbows”. [2], "Paleoseismology and slip rate of the Conway Segment of the Hope Fault at Greenburn Stream, South Island, New Zealand", "Timing of late Holocene surface rupture of the Wairau Fault, Marlborough, New Zealand", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wairau_Fault&oldid=795357421, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 13 August 2017, at 18:47. The effects of glaciation can be seen around Nelson Lakes. Fault Zone and the Alpine Fault Figure 4 – Active faults in Marlborough District. plates. Oggcast (Vorbis). Oranga Tamariki chief executive Grainne Moss steps down, Bryan Waddle: forty years commentating cricket. “If the Wairau Fault moves, Wellington’s going to be shaken, but we want to go past that and say it will be stronger than expected or weaker than expected for this fault line and that will enable, hopefully, the engineers to design more appropriately to achieve better performance objectives.”. These traverses range from the Haast River in the south to the Wairau River 470 km to the north. The Wairau Fault links up with the Alpine Fault near the Nelson Lakes it extends for about 140 kilometres, he says. Further to the east only the southernmost strand can be detected. Marlborough District Active Fault Identification March 2003 Wairau section of the Alpine Fault. This component exhibits little variation west of the Alpine (Wairau) fault, and shows an almost linear variation from the Wairau fault to the east coast. The horizontal strain rate northwest of the Wairau fault is a small east-west uniaxial contraction (•0.1 ppm yr -1). A new study, led by GNS Science, seeks to understand how the Wairau Fault moves when it ruptures. His team are observing scratch marks made along the Faultline to see if it gives a clue as to how a rupture is likely to behave, he says. At its northern end near Rotoiti, Nelson Lakes the Alpine Fault links with the Wairau Fault, which extends 140km along the Wairau Valley to the Marlborough coast. The Wairau Fault links up with the Alpine Fault near the Nelson Lakes it extends for about 140 kilometres, he says. New Zealand Earthquake fault zones including Kaikoura Area, Livingstone, Porters Pass-Amberly, Medbury, Cant Range Front, Spey-Mica Burn and Porters Pass-Amberly Fault Zone. It forms part of the Marlborough Fault System, which accommodates the transfer of displacement along the oblique convergent boundary between the Indo-Australian Plate and Pacific Plate, from the transform Alpine Fault to the Hikurangi Trench subduction zone.[1]. The Wairau Fault is an active dextral (right lateral) strike-slip fault in the northeastern part of South Island, New Zealand. To the southwest on the southern Alpine Fault, the fault plane maintains a ~052° strike, but its dip steepens to 80°–90° southeast. These two strands continue to within about 15 km of the coast near Renwick. “And through that we hope to build up a better knowledge, testing our ideas, does the shape of these scratch marks really indicate did the rupture come towards you? Though the motion resolved on the southern Alpine Fault is almost purely strike‐slip, a ubiquitous normal component is associated with net uplift of the AUS plate. The Wairau Fault is an active dextral (right lateral) strike-slip fault in the northeastern part of South Island, New Zealand.It forms part of the Marlborough Fault System, which accommodates the transfer of displacement along the oblique convergent boundary between the Indo-Australian Plate and Pacific Plate, from the transform Alpine Fault to the Hikurangi Trench subduction zone. The Wairau Fault is an active dextral (right lateral) strike-slip fault in the northeastern part of South Island, New Zealand. Geological maps of New Zealand can be obtained from the New Zealand Institute of Geological and Nuclear Science (GNS Science), a New Zealand Government Research Institute. Meaning the shaking will be a lot stronger, or did it go away from you?”. “As one side of a fault moves past another it makes scratch marks, you can imagine like a bear claw ripping across the plain as one side moves past the other. “It’s important because it points either towards or away from Wellington and that could have a significant impact on the level of ground shaking in the next earthquake.”. Depending on the precise definition used, the Wairau Fault runs either from southern or northern end of 'The Bends' region. From there, the Alpine Fault runs along the western edge of the Southern Alps, before splitting into a set of smaller dextral strike-slip faults north of Arthur’s Pass, known as the Marlborough Fault System. The most spectacular is the Alpine Fault, where the Southern Alps are being uplifted. Figure 5 – The Wairau section of the Alpine Fault in Marlborough District Figure 6 – Photograph of the active fault trace of the Wairau section of the Alpine Fault near SH 63 and Hillersden. This set of faults, which includes the Wairau Fault, the Hope Fault, the Awatere Fault, and the Clarence Fault, transfer displacement between the Alpine Fault and the Hikurangi subduction zone to the north. Judith Zachariasen, Kelvin Berryman, Carol Prentice, Robert Langridge, Mark Stirling, Pilar Villamor, Michael Rymer, IGNS (EQC funded project 99/389) Abstract. The pattern of the rock structure north of the Fault in Marlborough is mirrored on … The estimated average slip for each event is about 6 m.[2], The recurrence interval of slip events estimated for the fault combined with the estimated time since the last event suggest "that the Wairau Fault is nearing the end of its interseismic period". Many of the larger faults are oblique strike slip faults, having a combination of sideways and vertical movement.To explore in detail a map of New Zealand's known active faults go to our active faults database and click on the link near the bottom of the page.. The Alpine Fault is a geological fault, more specifically known as a right-lateral strike-slip fault, that runs almost the entire length of New Zealand's South Island.It forms a transform boundary between the Pacific Plate and the Indo-Australian Plate. “Meaning having things be operable after the earthquake, more easily repaired, less damaged, less costly to repair. Russ Van Dissen in the Kēkerengū Fault line rupture. Trenching studies along the trace of the Wairau Fault have identified four dateable slip events within this interval, the age of latest event falls in the range 1811–2301 BP. The Alpine Fault is the boundary between the Pacific crustal plate and the Australian plate. Log in to add tags. It forms part of the Marlborough Fault System , which accommodates the transfer of displacement along the oblique convergent boundary between the Indo-Australian Plate and Pacific Plate , from the transform Alpine Fault to the Hikurangi Trench subduction zone . Wairau section of the Alpine Fault, Renwick area, Marlborough District. The Wairau Fault ruptured on average at least every 2000 years, Langridge said. Details for: The Alpine, Wairau, and Hope faults; Normal view MARC view ISBD view. Maps. The Alpine Fault, which runs about 600km up the western side of the South Island between Milford Sound and Marlborough, poses one of the biggest natural threats to New Zealand. The continuation of this feature is … New Zealand Earthquake Faults. It forms part of the Marlborough Fault System, which accommodates the transfer of displacement along the oblique convergent boundary between the Indo-Australian Plate and Pacific Plate, from the transform Alpine Fault to the Hikurangi Trench subduction zone. La faglia alpina è una faglia trasforme a scorrimento laterale destro lunga circa 850 km che corre attraverso l'intera lunghezza dell'Isola del Sud, in Nuova Zelanda.La faglie forma un margine trasforme tra la placca pacifica e la placca indo-australiana.I terremoti lungo la faglia e i movimenti terrestri ad essi associati hanno portato alla formazione delle Alpi meridionali. A new study, led by GNS Science, seeks to understand how the Wairau Fault moves when it ruptures. “It’s mainly a sideways slipping fault, the scratch marks look like lazy rainbows. The Alpine Fault last got seriously testy in 1717 or thereabouts and before that, in descending order, 1620, 1430 and 1100. Geologists have now identified many of these lines of weakness, and there is greater awareness of the hazards of building where the earth may suddenly shift again. “It’s important because it points either towards or away from Wellington and that could have a significant impact on the level of ground shaking in the next earthquake.” Tags from this library: No tags from this library for this title. The Alpine Fault, which runs about 600km up … There are major fault lines running the length of New Zealand. In the latter case it is regarded as a separate fault and runs about 100 km from near Lake Rotoiti to Cloudy Bay in the east. But what might be a surprise is how little we understand about some of them, and that we're still finding new ones. The Alpine Fault is a geological fault, specifically a right-lateral strike-slip fault, that runs almost the entire length of New Zealand's South Island. The average recurrence interval for earthquakes along this fault is in the range 1150–1400 yrs.