Had a little Earth Quake Last Night

[Y'ernat Al]

Here's the world-wide compilation similar to the SCEC map Rich posted. You can click on OZ to get the region and see the 7.6

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/

I didn't realize how desolate that southwest end of the South Island is. Are there even any roads out there or is it only accessed by boat?

Brian

[tizeye]

I didn't realize how desolate that southwest end of the South Island is. Are there even any roads out there or is it only accessed by boat?

Brian[/quote]

There is not much there other than native bush in national parks...there are next to no roads ... and it rains almost all of the time..the most annual rain fall was 393 inches of rain..the average is 118 inches per year .... that's a hell of a lot of rain...

[Halgar]

and it rains almost all of the time..the most annual rain fall was 393 inches of rain..the average is 118 inches per year .... that's a hell of a lot of rain...

Let's see, 12" per foot, that makes 118" the equivalent of almost 10 feet of rain, that's a boat load! 393" is almost 33 feet of rain!

Break that down and at 118" you've got .32" per day. At 393" you've got a little over 1" per day. On our dreariest, wettest days we get maybe 1 inch, and that's a steady, heavy down pour. I couldn't imagine living in a place that got that kind of rain daily!

[RichieRich]

I think the southwest coast of Maui gets over 300+ inches of rain per year. That's nuts. I noticed the quake happened right next to...long island? LOL!

[Bongo Fury]

No quakes yet in PA, but I lived through a killer tornado that leveled everything in it's path and I'm sure I never want to do that again!

I'm with ya on the Tornados. Lost neighbors. April 3 ’74 in Indiana.
Saw many things that were simply unbelievable, and unforgetable. They sure can do some weird things.

While rare, we did have a noticable quake in the same area of Indiana in the late '80s. Very weird experience as well, fortunately a far better outcome.

[Bongo Fury]

Wow, according to this story your South Island got twisted and moved up to a foot closer to Australia! (your call if that's a good or bad thing )

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090722/ap_on_sc/as_new_zealand_quake_movement;_ylt=AhtE.J5y5ScCjcGTNtz2qZus0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTNmdHUwNXBoBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMDkwNzIyL2FzX25ld196ZWFsYW5kX3F1YWtlX21vdmVtZW50BGNwb3MDOARwb3MDNQRwdANob21lX2Nva2UEc2VjA3luX2hlYWRsaW5lX2xpc3QEc2xrA3NjaWVudGlzdG1hcw--

[tizeye]

Wow, according to this story your South Island got twisted and moved up to a foot closer to Australia! (your call if that's a good or bad thing )

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090722/ap_on_sc/as_new_zealand_quake_movement;_ylt=AhtE.J5y5ScCjcGTNtz2qZus0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTNmdHUwNXBoBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMDkwNzIyL2FzX25ld196ZWFsYW5kX3F1YWtlX21vdmVtZW50BGNwb3MDOARwb3MDNQRwdANob21lX2Nva2UEc2VjA3luX2hlYWRsaW5lX2xpc3QEc2xrA3NjaWVudGlzdG1hcw--

That's correct isn't that amazing......it's always been said that when a Kiwi goes to live in Aussie the i Q increases in both countrys...

[tizeye]

I went for a little drive yesterday since the weather is getting warmer now..in fact this weekend is a long weekend..monday is a public holiday called Labour Day...anyway I took a few pictures to share with you guys..the most interesting are these two of a fault line that runs through the harbour..the light colored line is where the plates rub together and it forms a kind of chalk..it's pretty obvious on this side of the harbour but the black arrow points it out on the other side..ohh and the harbour used to be a volcano many thousands of years ago..

[Y'ernat Al]

Sweet! Looks like a well developed fault gouge you have there. Probably a mixture of clay and calcium carbonate (aka the chalk you speak of). In a volcanic terrain like that, the groundwater and temperatures also influence mineralization making that white band stand out too. Do notice that the horizontal tan topsoil horizon directly above the vertical fault is continuous (not broken or offset by the white fault zone). Depending on the age of that topsoil, the fault probably not a totally active one. Here's our San Andreas exposed out side of Palmdale, California...a very active beast. -B

[tizeye]

When you consider that it takes between 200 and 1000 years to establish 0ne inch of top soil it's been a few thousand years since this was active..

[Y'ernat Al]

Or it isn't really topsoil but a layer of sand deposited in one flood event, or when the lake level was higher, x number of years ago.