New Research: A new fault in Auckland – The Motukaraka Fault, Beachlands Did you know the Auckland region lies upon many fault lines? It is well known that New Zealand is a geologically active place with most people associating earthquakes with the central and south North Island and the South Island. Although Auckland seems to experience fewer earthquakes than some of our other cities, that doesn’t mean we can’t have an earthquake in Auckland in the future. To determine our risk, it is important to know about the faults in Auckland. Then, it will be easier to tell if any future Auckland earthquakes occur on faults, or could be related to rising magma! Former DEVORA student Caleb Gasston’s findings were just published and have given us insight into the state of the faults in the Beachlands suburb of eastern Auckland. Gasston coordinated a team of researchers who used four different types of data to find the Motukaraka Fault, a new fault within the Auckland region! At the same time, the team confirmed the presence of two faults that had been previously hypothesised- the Waikopua North and Te Puru faults. All three faults show evidence of at least 100 m of displacement. More work will have to be conducted to determine how many events caused the displacement Gasston et al. noticed, but this is very useful as we try to establish how much seismicity is “normal” in Auckland. Tags:faultsGNS Sciencemappingpublicationsresearch
