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Alpine Fault to be drilled

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dragontamer
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« on: January 05, 2011, 08:22:52 am »

http://www.stuff.co.nz/science/4511807/Scientists-poised-to-drill-into-fault

I'm not ready for them to piss the Earthquake God's off again. 

It is interesting that they say the rocks are eroding so fast.  After every flood many pounamu collectors can be found in and along the river at Kumara.
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« Reply #1 on: January 05, 2011, 09:16:50 am »

If it wasn't for the rate of erosion along the whole of the Southern Alps they would be 100kms high. The source rocks for the greenstone have never been found and they are assumed to have been eroded and swept out to sea leaving only the examples deposited in the gravels and sediments laid down as a result of that erosion.
The amount of gold and other minerals which will have been taken out to sea during this process are mind boggling.
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« Reply #2 on: January 26, 2011, 08:56:11 am »


Faultline drillers on quake project

NZPA | 5:30AM - Monday, January 24, 2011

Scientists hope the study will give them more insight into what happens in the lead up to a quake, such as the one in Canterbury last year. — Photo: Mark Mitchell.
Scientists hope the study will give them more insight into what happens in the lead up
to a quake, such as the one in Canterbury last year. — Photo: Mark Mitchell.


SCIENTISTS will today begin an ambitious project to drill boreholes into the South Island's Alpine Fault, hoping to find out more about how an active fault reacts before and during an earthquake.

The group of international and New Zealand scientists will drill directly into the massive faultline to investigate its structure, mechanics and evolution.

"We don't know what we'll find when we drill into the Alpine Fault. If we knew all the answers, we probably wouldn't be doing this," said project leader Rupert Sutherland of GNS Science.

The boreholes will be about 130m to 180m deep and up to 60m apart at Gaunt Creek near Whataroa, north of Franz Josef on the West Coast. It was the first time scientists had investigated a major active fault in New Zealand by drilling boreholes, he said.

The team planned to install sensors within one of the boreholes to create an underground "observatory" by mid-February.

"This summer is the first step in an exciting long-term project where a New Zealand-led international consortium will drill to progressively greater depths into the Alpine Fault to better understand how large faults work," he said.

Next summer, the group planned to drill about 1.5km into the fault.

Scientists hoped the project would help them understand more about the physical and chemical processes that took place at a fault before and during an earthquake.

"There is considerable international interest in our project at Gaunt Creek as it has the potential to answer a number of important questions about plate boundary earthquakes and the evolution of large faults."

Scientists have previously talked about the potential to drill a borehole up to 5km deep, which could give new clues about what happens in the lead-up to a major quake 10 times as powerful as Canterbury's 7.1-magnitude quake on September 4 last year.

The Alpine Fault, running the length of the South Island, has not produced a large earthquake in three centuries but is regarded as one of New Zealand's most hazardous faults.

The Government has been told that there is a 20 per cent chance of a big quake on the fault in the next 20 years, compared with a 15 per cent chance of a major one affecting Wellington over the next 50 years.

The Alpine Fault runs for more than 650km, from south of Fiordland and along the spine of the South Island into Marlborough. It has moved an average of 27mm a year over the past 50,000 years — but this has included catastrophic quakes in which it has moved 8m in seconds.

It ruptures every 200 to 400 years — producing earthquakes of about magnitude 8 — most recently in 1717 along nearly 400km at the fault's southern end.

A similar project at Parkfield on California's San Andreas Fault cost $44 million and has equipment inserted 3km deep.


http://www.nzherald.co.nz/the-changing-world/news/article.cfm?c_id=1502962&objectid=10701585
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« Reply #3 on: February 10, 2011, 08:08:25 pm »


Drilling deep into the Alpine Fault

(Posted to the Science, Space & Technology messageboard.)
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« Reply #4 on: August 04, 2011, 03:24:00 pm »


Council nervous of signposting Alpine Fault

By CHERYL RILEY - Greymouth Star | Tuesday, 02 August 2011

SOME Westland district councillors took a bit of convincing on Thursday about a proposal to to signpost the Alpine Fault.

Christchurch-based Tuatara Tours operator John Dunbier said that promoting the fault, which slashes right through Westland, was an exciting opportunity to ‘grow’ a unique tourist attraction.

However, Councillor Neil Bradley suggested that drawing attention to the Alpine Fault could work in the reverse and tourists could be turned away. Any sign would need to be complimented with an information panel, he suggested.

Councillor John Birchfield said there were information panels about the fault line at Paringa and at the Whataroa tearooms.

Mr Dunbier said the Great Alpine Highway followed the south bank of the Taramakau River and crossed the plate boundary in a spectacular alpine setting.

“It is here at Rocky Point (near Jacksons) that the boundary between the Pacific and Australian tectonic plates should be signposted.”

He believed the proposal would have positive impacts on tourism, civil defence awareness, education and promotion of the Great Alpine Highway.

“There are very few places in the world where it is easy to access such a distinctive and scenic plate boundary.”

Mayor Maureen Pugh said the proposal was “quite novel”.

The council supported the proposal in principal, she said.

Mr Dunbier will now consult with other parties and approach the New Zealand Land Transport Agency.


http://www.greystar.co.nz/content/council-nervous-signposting-alpine-fault
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« Reply #5 on: November 21, 2011, 09:08:12 pm »


Lidar filters bush to reveal Alpine Fault

By PAUL GORMAN - The Press | 5:00AM - Monday, 21 November 2011

LIDAR VS PODOCARP FOREST

TECHNOLOGY that strips away thick bush has given scientists a better understanding of the nature of the Alpine Fault, one of New Zealand's biggest hazards.

An aerial survey of the Alpine Fault using Lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) — in which pulses of energy are fired down at the ground and bounce back — has revealed subtle features in the landscape formed by fault movement over hundreds and thousands of years.

Dense West Coast podocarp forest and under-storey vegetation make it almost impossible for researchers to find parts of the fault on foot.

The survey, flown and processed by NZ Aerial Mapping this year, covered a 34 kilometre-long and 1.6km-wide, high-uplift section of the fault from Whataroa to Franz Josef. Lidar was also used in the natural hazards research platform-funded project to investigate about a 30km stretch of the western part of the Hope Fault from the upper reaches of the Hurunui River to the upper Hope River, much of it under beech forest.

GNS Science earthquake geologist and project leader Robert Langridge said Lidar had been used effectively in California to study parts of the San Andreas fault system underneath redwood forest.

"Without causing deforestation you are making a map that is removing the vegetation ... through some very complex filtering. What you tend to see is very subtle things you would never see in aerial photos or by crashing through the bush in the South Island to find them."

The results of the collaborative work between GNS Science and young researchers at Canterbury, Otago and Victoria universities had thrown up a few surprises, Langridge said.

Earlier work had suggested the central section of the Alpine Fault had sections split into short, stepped, segments about one-kilometre long because of the way the fault reacted with the Earth's surface.

"With Lidar we were able to confirm that theory, [and] also show some of the traces ... were quite extreme in their strike direction, accommodating lots of strike-slip [movement] and considerable amounts of reverse movement. So it has been able to confirm things that we sort of only dreamed about."

At Gaunt Creek, the Lidar had revealed fault traces oriented north-south.

Excavation of a terrace across the fault there showed it last moved in 1717, confirming the date of the most recent rupture, he said.

"There are few places along the fault where we have such good evidence for the faulting during the most recent event."

The density of the survey points had been lowered for the Hope Fault work because the forest cover was less thick.

A student working on the Hope had discovered the zone of ground deformation was wider than it would be with just a single fault. The Lidar allowed all the secondary faults to be mapped.

If funding was available, it would be wonderful to fly along most of the Alpine Fault's 650km length, he said.

"With Lidar we are realising a primary set of data to build other projects off. By knowing where the fault is and main traces, you can do slip-rate studies, trenching studies to date past quakes, and think about where to site deep-drilling projects."

"It's a new form of mapping technology that is going to lead the way for a decade or so."


http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/christchurch-earthquake-2011/6002393/Lidar-filters-bush-to-reveal-Alpine-Fault
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« Reply #6 on: November 22, 2011, 06:11:50 am »


Lidar filters bush to reveal Alpine Fault

By PAUL GORMAN - The Press | 5:00AM - Monday, 21 November 2011

LIDAR VS PODOCARP FOREST

TECHNOLOGY that strips away thick bush has given scientists a better understanding of the nature of the Alpine Fault, one of New Zealand's biggest hazards.

An aerial survey of the Alpine Fault using Lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) — in which pulses of energy are fired down at the ground and bounce back — has revealed subtle features in the landscape formed by fault movement over hundreds and thousands of years.

Dense West Coast podocarp forest and under-storey vegetation make it almost impossible for researchers to find parts of the fault on foot.

The survey, flown and processed by NZ Aerial Mapping this year, covered a 34 kilometre-long and 1.6km-wide, high-uplift section of the fault from Whataroa to Franz Josef. Lidar was also used in the natural hazards research platform-funded project to investigate about a 30km stretch of the western part of the Hope Fault from the upper reaches of the Hurunui River to the upper Hope River, much of it under beech forest.

GNS Science earthquake geologist and project leader Robert Langridge said Lidar had been used effectively in California to study parts of the San Andreas fault system underneath redwood forest.

"Without causing deforestation you are making a map that is removing the vegetation ... through some very complex filtering. What you tend to see is very subtle things you would never see in aerial photos or by crashing through the bush in the South Island to find them."

The results of the collaborative work between GNS Science and young researchers at Canterbury, Otago and Victoria universities had thrown up a few surprises, Langridge said.

Earlier work had suggested the central section of the Alpine Fault had sections split into short, stepped, segments about one-kilometre long because of the way the fault reacted with the Earth's surface.

"With Lidar we were able to confirm that theory, [and] also show some of the traces ... were quite extreme in their strike direction, accommodating lots of strike-slip [movement] and considerable amounts of reverse movement. So it has been able to confirm things that we sort of only dreamed about."

At Gaunt Creek, the Lidar had revealed fault traces oriented north-south.

Excavation of a terrace across the fault there showed it last moved in 1717, confirming the date of the most recent rupture, he said.

"There are few places along the fault where we have such good evidence for the faulting during the most recent event."

The density of the survey points had been lowered for the Hope Fault work because the forest cover was less thick.

A student working on the Hope had discovered the zone of ground deformation was wider than it would be with just a single fault. The Lidar allowed all the secondary faults to be mapped.

If funding was available, it would be wonderful to fly along most of the Alpine Fault's 650km length, he said.

"With Lidar we are realising a primary set of data to build other projects off. By knowing where the fault is and main traces, you can do slip-rate studies, trenching studies to date past quakes, and think about where to site deep-drilling projects."

"It's a new form of mapping technology that is going to lead the way for a decade or so."


http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/christchurch-earthquake-2011/6002393/Lidar-filters-bush-to-reveal-Alpine-Fault

 

If funding was available, it would be wonderful to fly along most of the Alpine Fault's 650km length, he said.



Sheesh  Don't tell the Tourism and Mining Industries - seems to me the LIDAR funding should be cut off at the root level before they cover the WHOLE COUNTRY!

re http://xtranewscommunity2.smfforfree.com/index.php/topic,8702.0/msg,115314.html

Quote
Christchurch-based Tuatara Tours operator John Dunbier said that promoting the fault, which slashes right through Westland, was an exciting opportunity to ‘grow’ a unique tourist attraction.

However, Councillor Neil Bradley suggested that drawing attention to the Alpine Fault could work in the reverse and tourists could be turned away. Any sign would need to be complimented with an information panel, he suggested.

to hell with #$^%$ tourists, seems to me the whole darn population would head for the other side of the Bombays and/or across the ditch

Check out http://xtranewscommunity2.smfforfree.com/index.php?action=links;cat=1


I want my mumma


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« Reply #7 on: April 14, 2012, 01:35:43 pm »


More on this topic has just been posted to the Science, Space & Technology messageboard.


Drilling deep into the Alpine Fault


ALPINE FAULT
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« Reply #8 on: May 23, 2012, 05:51:17 pm »


Read the latest in Reply #10 at the Drilling deep into the Alpine Fault thread on the Science, Space & Technology messageboard where you can learn about the slow earthquakes beneath the alpine fault lasting up to thirty minutes in length.
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« Reply #9 on: June 28, 2012, 03:06:14 pm »


Big Alpine Fault quake may be ‘in near future’

By PAUL GORMAN and MICHAEL DALY - The Press | 12:57PM - Thursday, 28 June 2012

The Alpine Fault. — GNS Science.

A MULTI-LAYERED PANCAKE of silt and peat by a Fiordland river has provided the clearest evidence yet of how often the South Island's slumbering Alpine Fault generates massive earthquakes.

GNS Science and University of Nevada-Reno scientists have found that the southern part of the 800-kilometre-long fault, which runs along the western edge of the Southern Alps from Marlborough to Milford Sound, causes quakes of about magnitude 8 every 330 years on average.

Dating leaves and seeds from a river terrace at Hokuri Creek near Lake McKerrow in far northwestern Southland, just north of Milford Sound, revealed 24 Alpine Fault quakes between 6000BC and the present.

Other research has found the most recent was in 1717, meaning the next may be only 30 or 40 years away, based on averages.

Professor Richard Norris, from the geology department at Otago University, said the Alpine Fault had the highest level of probability for rupture of any fault in New Zealand.

"Westland obviously is at high risk, with widespread damage likely and roads, bridges and other transport links likely to be badly affected (as well as the tourist trade)," he said.

The fault crossed the main West Coast highway in many places, and with an estimated 8m displacement would completely destroy it.

"Intensities further east in places like Queenstown, Te Anau, Wanaka and Mount Cook will be high enough to cause landslips and do damage," Norris said.

"Further east in the major cities of Christchurch and Dunedin, the intensities will be lower but the duration of shaking could still be sufficient to damage poorly constructed buildings ... and possibly cause some liquefaction."

Places such as Nelson, Wellington and Invercargill could also expect to feel some shaking.

Project leader Kelvin Berryman, of GNS Science, said "a major earthquake in the near future would not be a surprise".

"Equally, it could be up to 100 years away. The bottom line is, if not in our lifetimes then increasingly likely in our children's or our grandchildren's."


GNS Science's Kelvin Berryman.
GNS Science's Kelvin Berryman.

The findings, published today in the Science journal, were new and internationally significant, he said.

The site had provided one of the world's best records of regular fault rupture.

"Prior to this project, the ages of only the last four Alpine Fault earthquakes were well-known," Berryman said.

"Long records with more than 20 earthquakes have been obtained from other faults around the world, such as the San Andreas Fault in California, but they are very rare."

"The Alpine Fault is perhaps only the fifth such long record and it has revealed the most regular rupture behaviour yet reported."

Auckland University biostatics professor Thomas Lumley said the intervals between quakes on the Alpine Fault tended to be quite close to the average interval, with relatively little spread.

Most recurrence intervals longer than 295 years — the position now — were shorter than 400 years, and many were only slightly longer than 295 years.

"That is, most of the time when a quake hasn't happened for 295 years, it happens within the next century and often within the next half-century. ... The risks are high, but that's because it seems to be an unusually regular fault."


http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/christchurch-earthquake-2011/7184667/Big-Alpine-Fault-quake-may-be-in-near-future



• For more info, check out Reply #11 in the Drilling deep into the Alpine Fault thread at the Science, Space & Technology messageboard elsewhere within this XNC2 group.
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