I'm not a geologist, but you'd think that all other thing being equal the force would dissipate with the inverse square of the distance from the focal point, so the location & distance would matter. New Zealand was once dubbed The Shaky Isles due to it being one of the most seismically active countries in the world. I don't care how large an island seems to be when you are standing in the middle of it..ex. They can destroy buildings and infrastructure, with devastating and deadly effects. On the upper right is the California coast. During this time, what was to become New Zealand separated from what is now Australia. For the most recent news on the earthquake in New Zealand, click here . It’s been active for 150,000 years! GNS Science is the Crown research institute responsible for monitoring earthquakes and volcanoes. It's being predicted that the number ticking no religion is going to rise and the number ticking Christian is going to fall. The following drawing represents a schematic east-west cross section through New Zealand: The green curve on the right is the sea floor of the Pacific Plate diving beneath the part of the Australian plate that carries much of New Zealand. “When these super volcanoes erupted, they caused earthquakes, tsunamis, blew away mountains and covered continents in hot lava. By guest blogger Dr. Boris Behncke. Best regards! Great explanation of the science behind why we here in New Zealand experience so many earthquakes. And to say "thanks, Greg" ! The plates are also responsible for the thousands of earthquakes we have every year. Before discussing the relationship between earthquakes and volcanoes, let’s take a brief look at each of them individually. - Importantly, this event occurred at a bad time, in the lunch hour with people out and about. In both places, newer buildings have to comply with the code, but older buildings might not. Most earthquakes directly beneath a volcano are caused by the movement of magma. These earthquakes are usually too weak to be felt but can be detected and recorded by sensitive instruments. I have relatives in Seattle, which is susceptible to similar earthquakes (the Juan de Fuca plate is diving under the North American plate along the Cascadian coast, hence the earthquakes and volcanoes in the region)--older parts of the city were built before the extent of vulnerability to earthquakes was known. It lists recent earthquakes and information about their intensity and location. Even more wonderful when we're not going through hell though :(. If you include all those > M=3, it has had literally hundreds in the last 6 months. For example, when Tarawera erupted in 1886, more than 30 earthquakes were felt in the Rotorua region just before the eruption. New Zealand has so many earthquakes and volcanoes because it is in the wrong place (at the juncture of two tectonic plates) at the wrong time (while one plate is diving beneath the other). Bitter Or Sweet? This type of volcano is called a cone volcano. This has created our mountains and our many extinct and active volcanoes. New Zealand, Japan, and many other areas that form the so-called "Ring of Fire" making up the boundary of the Pacific plate consist of a combination of volcanic material and sediments related to the instability of subduction zones. But it is a little more complicated than that. Sometimes the pressure of magma forcing its way through to the Earth’s surface will trigger earthquake activity. This is my last post at Scienceblogs.com. Waimangu Volcanic Valley. New Zealand records 14,000–15,000 earthquakes every year. From Rangitoto to Mangere, here are six for tourists to explore. New Zealand sits on the edges of two tectonic plates – the Australian and the Pacific plates. New Zealand is Middle Earth, and Sauron is on the move. © 2006-2020 Science 2.0. The ground starts to shake once the waves reach the Earth’s surface. Sorry but people are so stupid when it comes to religion its just what you believe and if you have faith. From butter in croissants to cocoa solids in chocolate, edible fats pack a flavor punch that delights like no other macronutrient we consume. FAQ Glossary How Videos. (6) Outline one strategy which aims to reduce the rate of climate change (mitigation). It says a lot in an image. Italy truly deserves to be called "the Cradle of Volcanology" - not only because it hosts virtually all existing types of volcanoes and volcanic rock compositions, and seven of its volcanoes…, Mid-continent earthquakes are often aftershocks of centuries-old tremors, A volcanic cruise through the Mariana Islands: Part 1, Etna Week (Part 1) - Brief Anatomy of an Exceptional Volcano, http://all-geo.org/highlyallochthonous/2011/02/magnitude-6-3-earthquake…, http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10708582. The volcanism of New Zealand has been responsible for many of the country's geographical features, especially in the North Island and the country's outlying islands.. - The recent event is much closer and shallower. The good news is that we get to enjoy rugged mountains for skiing and tramping and thermal spots for warm swims. In particular, those that happen in the middle of…, Two tidbits from New Zealand: After about 100 million years ago, New Zealand started to move increasingly far from major continents, with a full scale separation from Gonwanaland happening about 85 million years ago. New Zealand experiences large numbers of small earthquakes, in a well-defined belt stretching from Fiordland to East Cape and the Bay of Plenty. Like earthquake activity, volcanoes in New Zealand usually occur along the plate boundary. This is a wonderfully free country to live in. This creates a zone of subduction where the plate melts. This is a reasonably important job that concerns many aspects of the environment. The map below shows the main plates. Scientists gather data and try to predict the risk and size of earthquakes or volcanic eruptions, but it is impossible to predict the exact timing of any natural event. As the geologists investigate the earthquake details are emerging for why it has been so devastating. But after Monday's fatal eruption, some question whether they should have been there at all. Clearly, earthquakes require the existence of a higher being as explanation, so if New Zealand has a lot of them, they obviously pray to the wrong god. quibbilista: Well, that explains it, the flying spaghetti monster is upset that he is being spurned! Both New Zealand and California sit on the edge of the Pacific Plate, but in very different places and on very different types of plate boundaries. Cayhina232000, Hope friends or family in Christchurch are all right. New Zealand might be thought of as a very large oceanic island, but it really isn't. New Zealand consists in part of fragments of continent (in green) carried away from Australia millions of years ago. ScienceBlogs is where scientists communicate directly with the public. Similarly, unusual earthquakes can also lead to volcanic eruptions. Aside from shallowness of this quake -and unconsilidated sediments, are their any other explanations for the massive damage? Earthquakes in New Zealand occur because we are located on the boundary of two of the world’s major tectonic plates – the Pacific Plate and the Australian Plate. The magma exerts pressure on the rocks until it cracks the rock. We usually think of volcanoes as cones with smoke coming from the top – and it’s true for some volcanoes like Mt Ruapehu. You hear things like this from New Zealand now and then, including just a short time ago when the same region was struck buy a somewhat larger quake, but one apparently located farther from the center of population. According to the GeoNet archives New Zealand has experienced 296 earthquakes of 3.0 magnitude or greater over the last 30 days. "...But he said the earthquake hit central Christchurch with more than twice the intensity of the larger magnitude 7.1 but deeper-seated quake of September 4. The most intense earthquake activity is where subduction is taking place, but there is some earthquake activity along the mid-ocean ridges and above mantle ‘hot-spots’ Earthquakes in New Zealand occur because we are located on the boundary of two of the world’s major tectonic plates – the Pacific Plate and the Australian Plate. As usual, Chris Rowan tells the details:http://all-geo.org/highlyallochthonous/2011/02/magnitude-6-3-earthquake…. When the powerful earthquake stopped, he picked himself up off the floor of the balcony and gazed across his city to see absolute devastation including numerous collapsed buildings and destroyed infrastructure. Then, starting about 24 million years ago, the Australian plate (still spreading) and the Pacific plate started to interact more energetically, both moving towards each other and rinding past each other, causing the formation of the massive mountain ridges seen today in New Zealand, as well as a great deal of volcanic activity. The occasional GNS scientists who are making statements on local TV are also pointing out that soil-surface acceleration in this quake was approximately twice as high as in the 7.1 quake in September. Ed was in the Coast…, Etna Week Part 1 Earthquakes tend to be concentrated at the edges of tectonic plates, as these areas build up energy as plates move in relation to each other. The Sep 4th event occurred in the wee hours of the morning, when all but those living in inner city apartments would be in the suburbs at home. Invoking the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, a federal conspiracy law devised to ensnare mobsters, the suit accuses the organizations, as well as several green campaigners…. It has a lot more material, but it's also a *lot* more chaotic! See? There are a lot of myths we have in our society about how the greatest of all scientific advances happened. Note here that the pacific plate is moving northwest, and the Australian plate is moving (actually, spreading) southeast, the two plates slamming into each other. and discussion of seismic lensing off the basalt of the Port Hills here: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10708579, Hello from the States. DD. This one happened close to the surface, which made it so damaging. Thick lava flows down the sides of the mountain and builds up steep sides. Earthquakes occur frequently in New Zealand as the country is situated in the collision zone between the Indo-Australian and Pacific tectonic plates, part of the Pacific Basin Ring of Fire, where many earthquakes and volcanoes occur. Note that the relative movement of the plates, indicated by the arrow, is as described, with one plate grinding past the other. ... suggest why the effects of a tectonic hazard vary between areas of contrasting levels of wealth. The Pacific Ring of Fire is aptly named. Our extremes are due to where our country sits. Much of the rock that makes up New Zealand is from the edge of that ancient continent, and uplift and subduction occurred several times because of the relative movement of the plates. The Sep 4th event was a good 30-40 km outside the centre; this is only 10 km from the centre and shallower, centred in/near Lyttelton, the port village south of the town. New Zealand is on the boundary between the Australian and Pacific plates, which explains why the country has so many earthquakes and volcanoes. Home; Earthquake. Interestingly, I hear the Chch cathedral had just received a couple of million dollars-worth of earthquake reinforcing, which may go some way to explaining why it was only the thin, flimsy bit at the top that fell off. All rights reserved. ), About reading about the earthquake at sciblogs, you're most welcome to read my post on it, but I think realistically you'd do better to look at my colleagues efforts. :-). Volcano - Volcano - Volcanoes related to plate boundaries: Topographic maps reveal the locations of large earthquakes and indicate the boundaries of the 12 major tectonic plates. Pretty much everything stayed standing during that one and there was no loss of life, but I think the buildings were just too weak to survive another large earthquake so close to the surface. -Johannes Kepler Why New Zealand has active volcanoes. Earthquakes represent the release of that energy. Thus proven as a false belief. Editor's Note: AIR plans to release a substantially updated earthquake model for New Zealand this summer (winter in the Southern Hemisphere). GNS scientists gather this information to learn about our shaky country so they can warn us and try and reduce the risk of harm. Of renewed volcanic activity are closely related to each other an eye in terms. Two articles of interest arehttp: //www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm? c_id=1 & objectid=10708582 tells details... 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