New earthquake fault 'similar to Alpine'

[Deano]

An Otago geologist's draft manuscript suggests there's a tectonic fault system off the South Island's east coast potentially comparable in size to the Alpine Fault.

University of Otago geologist Phil Ford has privately written a draft proposal, as yet unpublished, detailing the possibility of the major South Island intra-plate fault, with possible seismic and tsunami hazard implications.

His draft uses previous research that identified beach deposits on the coast east of Milton as potential evidence of tsunami relating to the Akatore fault, or another, hitherto unidentified, offshore system.

Proposing to name it as the Indiania Fault System (IFS), he says it appears to run for most of the offshore length of the South Island, similar in size to the Alpine Fault.

Using New Zealand Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research bathymetric charts, some portions of a fault parallel with the coast were apparent, the paper says.
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