Seabed monitors to expand quake data
Scientists hope that new oceanbottom seismometers will help gauge earthquake and tsunami risk for a ‘locked’ part of the Hikurangi Subduction Zone beneath the lower North Island.
The Earthquake Commission has funded research to deploy 20 of the seismometers to better understand how the Pacific Plate was slipping underneath the Australian Plate off the east coast of Wellington.
The work would be carried about by a team from Victoria University of Wellington and GNS Science and two Canadian universities and would be led by Professor Martha Savage of VUW.
Savage said a large part of the fault was ‘‘locked’’ compared with that further up the east coast, but how often earthquakes occur is not well understood.
‘‘This is a big hazard for us because if it goes, it’s going to go fast. The result would be a large and sudden earthquake that could also trigger a tsunami,’’ she said.
The ocean-bottom seismometers were designed to measure the seismic activity in this area and help scientists estimate the potential for future events.
VUW was working with scientists from GNS Science and their counterparts from Canada to understand the frequency and location of previous earthquakes.
The Canadian Government was co-funding the research, as Canada had a similar fault along its west coast.
‘‘The GeoNet network does an excellent job of monitoring earthquakes on land. Yet, we are effectively blind to small earthquakes offshore,’’ Savage said.
‘‘The behaviour of these more frequent small earthquakes can tell us more about the larger earthquakes that occur less often.’’
The seismometers would be distributed in early 2023 and lifted after 12 months.