New Zealand quake ruptured 6 faults

(Before It's News)

Region of most recent New Zealand earthquakes [credit: BBC]

It seems the earthquake has reduced stress in some areas, but other parts may well have more than before. One expert said “The whole coast appears to have been uplifted”. LiveScience reporting.

The magnitude-7.8 quake that rattled New Zealand, killing at least two people and stranding thousands of people, completely transformed the underlying faults in the region. Six major faults ruptured as a result of the New Zealand quake, a new map reveals.

The Kaikoura earthquake struck the South Island of New Zealand early in the morning on Nov. 14 local time, triggering landslides, tsunamis and hundreds of aftershocks. And thousands of people were stranded when earthquake detritus dammed a river. During the quake, bystanders captured images of mysterious earthquake lights painting the sky in eerie blue and green.

To see how the massive temblor reshaped the landscape, Nicola Litchfield, a geologist with the geoscience consultancy group GNS Science in New Zealand, and colleagues flew over the South Island in a helicopter to take video footage of the region. The team compared before-and-after images of the faults in the area. It turned out the temblor had dramatically changed the earth beneath.

Four faults along the coastline ruptured and extended out into the sea, while another two faults ruptured inland, closer to the epicenter of the quake, Litchfield said. Ground-based GPS stations also reveal major motion at these faults, she added.

“The whole coast appears to have been uplifted from Cape Campbell all the way south to Kaikoura,” Litchfield told Live Science. “The ones right on the coast appear to have very large movements, almost 1 meter [3.3 feet] up and almost 3 m [10 feet] — by the looks of things — sideways as well.”

Now geologists are scrambling to figure out what this means for earthquake risk in the region.

Full report: New Zealand Quake Ruptured 6 Faults | LiveScience

• Stockholm Film Festival 2016 [Aardvarchaeology]
• Global Intermittent Catheters Market: 2016 Industry Growth with Key Manufacturers Analysis available in New Report
• Arrival Thoughts [Uncertain Principles]
• Another Bloody Sample Drilled from Mars
• ID Help with Anoles From Costa Rica
• Comics of the week #366
• The Golden Stick: Cuzco’s Divine Foundation Myth and The Scientific Connections
• Who Would Have Thought Bird Poop Helps Cool The Arctic?
• Modifying Plant Photosynthesis Boosts Crop Yield, 70% More Food Needed by 2050
• ‘Dinosaur Crater’ Rocks, Prehistoric Teeth Used to Track Ancient Humans