Scientists find huge ruptures at Waiau

University of Canterbury scientists have encountered incredible new features created after the magnitude 7.8 quake this month.

Geologist Dr Kate Pedley said the group found huge land-change in Waiau, the small town closest to the quake’s epicentre.

‘‘Maybe not as flashy as the ruptures north of Kaikoura,’’ she said. But the ruptures near Waiau were a complicated and fascinating occurrence.

Pedley and her colleagues had been exploring a three kilometre-wide zone, where a large number of ruptures and land changes had occurred. Although some parts of the area got off seemingly unscathed, Pedley said it ‘‘very quickly got messy for infrastructure to the northeast’’.

A team of geologists from the university travelled from the western end of the Amuri Range, back across the Emu Plain and continued as far as the cordons would allow them. They got as far as Mt Lyford Village, where only military convoys were allowed to carry on further.

The research was vital for understanding the hazard posed by the recent earthquakes, geologist Clark Fenton said.

Their findings would go towards how buildings and infrastructure were designed in the area, he said.

The team of scientists would explore the countryside and towns closest to the epicentre for a number of weeks, a University of Canterbury spokeswoman said.

Geologists from the universities of Otago, Canterbury, Victoria and Auckland were mapping the ruptures and faults near Waiau, alongside scientist from GNS and Niwa.

‘‘When the Kekerengu Fault moved as part of the M7.8 Kaikoura earthquake the impacts on the landscape were dramatic,’’ GNS scientist Ursula Cochran said.

‘‘One side of the fault has moved as much as 11 metres with respect to the other side.’’ – Fairfax NZ