The Alpine fault is defined as the 650 km long feature that extends the length of the South Island. Wairau Valley, it was not caused by movement on the Wairau Fault. There are major fault lines running the length of New Zealand. The information collected and presented in this report and accompanying maps and documents by the Consultant and supplied to Marlborough District Council is 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. “We’re getting a lot better at recognising the dominoes, but what we need to start learning better is how they may fall.”. 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 Wairau Fault is an active dextral (right lateral) strike-slip fault in the northeastern part of South Island, New Zealand. 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. Yetton, M. D. December 2003 (further amended 2005). Figure 7 … The Wairau Fault is an active dextral (right lateral) strike-slip fault in the northeastern part of South Island, New Zealand. 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. 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. These traverses range from the Haast River in the south to the Wairau River 470 km to the north. Smaller Faults Kekerengu Fault “We’ve done modelling that’s consistent with [the idea] if the rupture’s moving towards you the shape of the rainbow is convex, it looks like a rainbow instead of a U but on the other side of the rupture it should look like a U.”. Clearly a zone of violent contact, Marlborough continues to experience frequent tectonic changes along major fault lines. The South Island's renowned Alpine Fault traverses the length of the Wairau Valley. [2] It takes its name from the Wairau River, which follows the fault trace for most of its length. It runs northeast from the northern side of the entrance to Milford Sound, ... Awatere and Wairau faults. The pattern of the rock structure north of the Fault in Marlborough is mirrored on … The Alpine Fault, which runs about 600km up … The average recurrence interval for earthquakes along this fault is in the range 1150–1400 yrs. A discovery made in the wake of 2016's Kaikoura Earthquake could help scientists better understand how the big-risk Alpine Fault may unravel. We’ve known about the Alpine Fault for 80+ years, but there is still so much to learn. [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. Russ Van Dissen in the Kēkerengū Fault line rupture. LiDAR laser scanning maps show major fault lines in the Marlborough region, offshoots of the Alpine Fault. [2] The current estimated seismic hazard from the Wairau Fault is considered to be relatively high. The Wairau Fault links up with the Alpine Fault near the Nelson Lakes it extends for about 140 kilometres, he says. The Wairau Fault links up with the Alpine Fault near the Nelson Lakes it extends for about 140 kilometres, he says. The study is being led by GNS earthquake geologist Dr Russ Van Dissen. 1). “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. [Chapter Break] After their groundbreaking paper on the Alpine Fault, Willett was posted to Invercargill and Wellman to another wartime project at d’Urville Island. Depending on the precise definition used, the Wairau Fault runs either from southern or northern end of 'The Bends' region. He hopes the study will have direct applications for building codes – moving beyond human safety to more resilient buildings. Because of the uncertainties of correlation with faults in the North Island, which are beyond the scope “Better design parameters and this is what we are aiming for. “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.” The city of Wellington was built, unknowingly, on another active fault. 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 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. 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. “And the shape of those scratch marks very well could have clues on which way the rupture moved from, or propagated from.”. These two strands continue to within about 15 km of the coast near Renwick. The Alpine Fault quickly became accepted as a notable feature of the geology of New Zealand, and by 1948 was included on standard geological maps. Tags from this library: No tags from this library for this title. “Meaning having things be operable after the earthquake, more easily repaired, less damaged, less costly to repair. His research team are digging along the Kēkerengū Fault conducting a kind of archaeology, he says. The Wairau Fault links up with the Alpine Fault near the Nelson Lakes it extends for about 140 kilometres, he says. Meaning the shaking will be a lot stronger, or did it go away from you?”. 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. Oggcast (Vorbis). Photo: RNZ/Tracy Neal. The Wairau Fault is the continuation of the Alpine Fault and in terms of the total dextral displacement of 500 km we suggest that up to 1 Myr ago the line of extension was along the North Island Shear Belt. 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". The Hope fault is thought to represent the primary continuation of the Alpine fault. The Alpine Fault can be seen in the Wairau Valley, between Blenheim and Nelson Lakes. 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. “It’s mainly a sideways slipping fault, the scratch marks look like lazy rainbows. The effects of glaciation can be seen around Nelson Lakes. The Wairau Fault ruptured on average at least every 2000 years, Langridge said. The Alpine Fault last got seriously testy in 1717 or thereabouts and before that, in descending order, 1620, 1430 and 1100. This active fault trace enters the district in the Upper Wairau Valley, near Tophouse Saddle, and forms a discontinuous surface fault trace virtually all the way to Renwick. Wairau section of the Alpine Fault, Renwick area, Marlborough District. 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. 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. To the west, the fault is a single strand but near Wairau Valley township, the fault splits into two strands. But what might be a surprise is how little we understand about some of them, and that we're still finding new ones. 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. The horizontal strain rate northwest of the Wairau fault is a small east-west uniaxial contraction (•0.1 ppm yr -1). 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. 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. To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following:
, for easy access to all your favourite programmes, Podcast (MP3) Oranga Tamariki chief executive Grainne Moss steps down, Bryan Waddle: forty years commentating cricket. We’ve known about the Alpine Fault for 80+ years, but there is still so much to learn. The Wairau Fault links up with the Alpine Fault near the Nelson Lakes it extends for about 140 kilometres, he says. plates. 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. 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. The Alpine, Wairau, and Hope faults ... TECTONICS | HOPE FAULT | ALPINE FAULT | WAIRAU FAULT | FAULTING | RATES | DEFORMATION. Fault Zone and the Alpine Fault Figure 4 – Active faults in Marlborough District. The Wairau Fault is the continuation of the Alpine Fault and in terms of the total dextral displacement of 500 km we suggest that up to 1 Myr ago the line of extension was along the North Island Shear Belt. Russ Van Dissen in the Kēkerengū Fault line rupture. Marlborough District Active Fault Identification March 2003 Wairau section of the Alpine Fault. Judith Zachariasen, Kelvin Berryman, Carol Prentice, Robert Langridge, Mark Stirling, Pilar Villamor, Michael Rymer, IGNS (EQC funded project 99/389) Abstract. Details for: The Alpine, Wairau, and Hope faults; Normal view MARC view ISBD view. “Our hope in this investigation is to shed more light on the aspects of those earthquakes, largely which direction they rupture from,” Van Dissen told Summer Times. The derived isostatic anomalies reveal only minor gravity variations in the vicinity of the fault. “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.” In the former case it is regarded as the Wairau segment of the Alpine Fault. “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.”. The Alpine Fault is believed to align with the Macquarie Fault Zone in the Puysegur Trench off the southwestern corner of the South Island. 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 Alpine Fault is believed to align with the Macquarie Fault Zone in the Puysegur Trench off the southwestern corner of the South Island. The continuation of this feature is … 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. 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. New Zealand Earthquake Faults. The Wairau Fault, and faults nearby, is the subject of a new study gearing up to try and properly understand it, and what might happen if it ruptures. 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”. “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. They were metres long and they had a curve to them which looked like a lazy rainbow. 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. Ten gravity traverses, between 7 and 18 km long, have been run across the Alpine fault, New Zealand. Maps. 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. The 065 0 trend of the newly mapped A new study, led by GNS Science, seeks to understand how the Wairau Fault moves when it ruptures. 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]. “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? Further to the east only the southernmost strand can be detected. “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.”. A new study, led by GNS Science, seeks to understand how the Wairau Fault moves when it ruptures. The Alpine Fault is the boundary between the Pacific crustal plate and the Australian plate. 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. 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 sometimes regarded as a direct continuation of the Alpine Fault and may be referred to as the Alpine-Wairau Fault. Alpine Fault or Alpine Fault Zone, as used in this paper, will refer to the well established fault of this name and its most probable continuation as the Wairau Fault to the north (Fig. The Wairau Fault is an active dextral (right lateral) strike-slip fault in the northeastern part of South Island, New Zealand. It's no surprise to most of us that New Zealand is perched on top of a collection of fault lines. To the southwest on the southern Alpine Fault, the fault plane maintains a ~052° strike, but its dip steepens to 80°–90° southeast. From the offset of dated river terraces a displacement of 23 m has been estimated along the Wairau Fault since about 5610 yrs BP. 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. ... Blenheim's Wairau Hospital will likely … The most spectacular is the Alpine Fault, where the Southern Alps are being uplifted. 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.. Log in to add tags. Those dates were … [1] The Southern Alps have been uplifted on the fault over the last 12 million years in a series of earthquakes. 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. 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. A rupture could cause a similar level of damage as the Napier earthquake in 1931 or Darfield in 2010.