![]() The Canterbury Plains are flatlands between the Southern Alps and the Pacific Ocean. The fault responsible for the September 4 earthquake had not been mapped because it was buried under the Canterbury Plains. The faults are identifiable by the way they deform the ground. Several faults are scattered across New Zealand’s South Island, and all are associated with the motion of the two tectonic plates. It happened along an east-west fault that had not been identified before. The September 4 earthquake, however, did not occur on the Alpine Fault. The uplift in the mountains makes it easy for geologists to identify the Alpine Fault. Over time, the motion has built the Southern Alps. The two plates slip past each other in the South Island, creating the Alpine Fault. New Zealand sits on top of the boundary between the Pacific and Australian tectonic plates. Made from data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, the map illustrates how geologic activity shaped the region and why it makes Christchurch vulnerable to earthquake damage. As this map shows, the quake was centered about 45 kilometers (30 miles) west of Christchurch. on September 4, 2010, when a magnitude 7.0 earthquake shook the region. In 2011, a magnitude 6.3 quake hit the city of Christchurch, killing 185 people and destroying much of its downtown.Residents of Christchurch, New Zealand, and surrounding communities were rattled awake at 4:35 a.m. It was widely felt in New Zealand, and residents in the major cities of Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch reported being shaken awake. The first quake was centered at a depth of 21 kilometers (13 miles) under the ocean about 174 kilometers (108 miles) northeast of the city of Gisborne. The USGS said the magnitude 7.4 quake was likely a “foreshock” that contributed to the larger quake but that the first quake that hit closer to New Zealand was too far away in time and distance to have directly contributed. She said most quakes larger than magnitude 8.0 tend to occur when a section of more robust continental crust is involved. “This is about as big as it gets,” she said. Jennifer Eccles, an earthquake expert at the University of Auckland, said the quake was at the top end of the scale for those involving only the Earth's ocean crust. It said the interaction between the plates creates one of the most seismically active regions in the world, and it has recorded 215 quakes there above magnitude 6.0 over the past century. The USGS said in a report that the quake occurred at the intersection of the Pacific and Australia tectonic plates and eclipsed the largest quake previously recorded along the fault line, a magnitude 8.0 in 1976. But a large group of more than 100 people including scientists and students was due to stay on the islands this week, until they were forced to cancel because of a virus lockdown in Auckland, said a spokesperson from the Department of Conservation. ![]() Geological Survey said the strongest quake was centered near the Kermadec Islands at a depth of 19 kilometers (12 miles).Īlthough the islands are uninhabited, New Zealand has built research and accommodation facilities there and often had scientists cycling through until the coronavirus hit last year and it halted the program. Smaller waves were measured elsewhere in the South Pacific. Waves of 30 centimeters (1 foot) above tide levels were measured by ocean gauges off the Pacific nation of Vanuatu, off Gisborne, New Zealand, and off an Australian island. Guatemala issued a tsunami alert, and authorities in El Salvador ordered people to take precautions in recreational activities. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center cautioned the quake could cause tsunami waves of up to 3 meters (10 feet) in Vanuatu and up to 1 meter (3 feet) in Tonga, other South Pacific islands and Latin America's Pacific coast.Ĭhilean authorities ordered people off beaches due to the potential for a tsunami along the nation's long coastline. NEW ZEALAND QUAKE HOW TO“I can only thank and acknowledge the tireless efforts of the men and women from up and down the coast who knew how to act, when to act, and what to do.” “They felt the long or strong earthquakes and they knew to grab their bag and head into the highlands,” she said. They said a damaging tsunami was possible, and waves could reach up to 3 meters (10 feet).Įmergency Management Minister Kiri Allan told reporters that people had followed the advisory. “Hope everyone is ok out there,” New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern wrote on Facebook during the night.Īfter the largest quake, civil defense authorities in New Zealand told people in some coastal areas to immediately get to higher ground. One of the earlier quakes hit much closer to New Zealand and awoke many people as they felt a long, rumbling shaking. ![]()
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