The faults within this system head southwards and converge to form the Alpine Fault, which carries most of the plate boundary strain in the region. Movement occurs during very large earthquakes approximately every 300 years, with the last one happening 300 years ago in 1717AD. The Alpine Fault is the boundary between the Pacific crustal plate and the Australian plate. A fault trace is also the line commonly plotted on geologic maps to represent a fault. Alpine Fault. © GNS Science 2017, version 3.2.4.197 created 20190802-1555, Alpine Fault at Gaunt Creek, J.Thomson / GNS Science, Deep Fault Drilling Project Observatory container, J.Thomson / GNS Science, Information panel at Gaunt Creek, J.Thomson / GNS Science, The top of the Australian Plate seen from above Gaunt Creek, J.Thomson / GNS Science, Pointing out the Alpine Fault at Gaunt Creek, J.Thomson / GNS Science, Alpine Fault cataclasite at Gaunt Creek, J.Thomson / GNS Science, Pointing at the fault. The Alpine Fault cuts obliquely across the South Island, forming the western edge of … The South Island of New Zealand is divided along its length by the Australian-Paci˜c Plate bound-ary [Mortimer, 2017]. State of California. In other words, movement will occur suddenly during an earthquake, rather than gradually. Whilst it ruptures mainly in a sideways direction, some uplift on its eastern side has given rise to the Southern Alps. The Alpine Fault is called a strike slip or transform fault. The Marlborough Fault System is a major sequence of faults in the upper South Island. It has been crushed and altered (metamorphosed) at depth, and gradually dragged to the surface by uplift of the Pacific Plate. Share. The effect of fluid differentials on an Alpine Fault earthquake is obviously significant but presently unquantified. 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.It forms a transform boundary between the Pacific Plate and the Indo-Australian Plate. QMAP mapping data is predominant at the northeast and southwest ends of the fault, while Otago University mapping is the predominant source from Hokitika to Haast. Information available includes the age of the most recent activity on each fault segment, surface rupture areas, and whether or not the faults are visible at the surface. Turning inland, the Alpine Fault runs to a point near the Lewis Pass, travels northwards then frays into four main faults that extend to the east coast. The Pacific Plate and Indo-Australian Plate boundary forms the Macquarie Fault Zone in the Puysegur Trench off the southwestern corner of the South Island and comes onshore as the Alpine Fault just north of Milford Sound. How often does the Alpine Fault rupture? allow individual streets to be identified in the map. Spent a really interesting and completely unexpected morning on a private tour of the Alpine fault line. The alpine fault earthquake will alter tectonic stress distribution, and other faultlines may rupture in the days or years following it. They normally last about 2 hours. A fault zone is a cluster of parallel faults. of the Alpine Fault R.M. Latitude of Alpine: 32.8350521: Longitude of Alpine-116.7664109: Rate our service for the coordinates of Alpine. Map of the New Zealand region, showing the land area and bathymetry of the surrounding continental shelf. The average slip rates in the fault's central region are abo… There are aroung 20,000 earthquakes annually, most are small, but the country gets its share of big quakes too. What is the Alpine Fault and why should we be concerned about it? Arrows mark a point near the base of the scarp. It is the line along which the Australian and Pacific tectonic plates are being pushed together. The Alpine Fault is one of the world's major plate boundaries and New Zealand's most hazardous earthquake-generating fault. The Wairau, Awatere and Clarence faults are an extension of the Alpine Fault, as are a number of other active faults of limited extent. This demonstration allows you to go on a virtual field trip along the Alpine Fault and see some of the key outcrops. Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube. The fault itself has been active for about 20 million years, but the gravels through which it passes at this locality were deposited towards the end of the last ice age about 15 to 16 thousand years ago. Triangular teeth pointing toward the upthrown side of the Alpine Fault cuts a fine line hundreds kilometres... 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