Hikurangi Margin

The Hikurangi Margin is an active subduction zone extending off the east coast of New Zealand's North Island, where the Pacific and Australian plates collide.[1] It is the southern portion of the Tonga–Kermadec–Hikurangi subduction zone and its main feature is the Hikurangi Trench.

Earthquakes of up to 8.2M have been recorded on the Hikurangi Margin, generating local tsunamis, and earthquakes in the 9.0M range are thought to be possible.[2] The Ruatoria debris avalanche originated on the north part of the subduction zone and probably occurred around 170,000 years ago.[3]

It is New Zealand's largest subduction zone.[4]

References

  1. "Hikurangi Margin". The University of Waikato. Archived from the original on 29 January 2015. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
  2. Wallace, Laura M.; Cochran, Ursula A. (June 2014). "Earthquake and Tsunami Potential of the Hikurangi Subduction Thrust, New Zealand: Insights from Paleoseismology, GPS, and Tsunami Modeling". Oceanography. 27 (2): 104–117. doi:10.5670/oceanog.2014.46.
  3. Collot, John-Yves (10 September 2001). "The giant Ruatoria debris avalanche on the northern Hikurangi margin, New Zealand: Result of oblique seamount subduction" (PDF). Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth. 106 (B9): 19, 271–19, 297. doi:10.1029/2001JB900004.
  4. "Hikurangi subduction zone - GeoNet: News". GeoNet. Dr Laura Wallace and Dr Kate Clark, from GNS Science. 29 November 2017. The Hikurangi subduction zone (sometimes referred to as the Hikurangi subduction margin) is New Zealand’s largest faultCS1 maint: others (link)


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.