MOSCOW, November 18 - RIA Novosti . The recent earthquake in New Zealand led to the formation of six new faults on the northern tip of the South Island, completely changing the "balance" of tectonic forces in this part of the archipelago, said the publication Live Science.
"Похоже, что землетрясение повысило высоту всего северного побережья острова, от мыса Кэмпбелл к окрестностям города Кайкура. Породы у побережья сдвинулись на очень большее расстояние, примерно на метр вверх и на три метра в сторону. Этот берег Новой Зеландии крайне сложно устроен, и теперь we are desperately trying to figure out whether it's an earthquake freed up all the points of tension, or whether it has created new potential sources "- says Nikola Litchfield (Nicola Litchfield), a geologist from the company GNS Science.
On Monday morning, the South Island has experienced one of the most powerful earthquakes in history, which has a magnitude of 7.8 on the MMS scale and caused hundreds of aftershocks, tsunamis, landslides and a number of other disasters. As a result of the effects of two people were killed, and on the north of the South Island has been declared a state of emergency related to the massive destruction of infrastructure and damming of rivers.
The impact of this earthquake, unlike Nepal disaster in April last year, has a similar magnitude, and a similar mechanism of birth, were relatively modest - more than seven thousand people died in Nepal, and about 6 thousand Nepalis were seriously injured.
Litchfield and several other geologists flew over the island by helicopter in an attempt to assess the extent of damage and figure out how to change the geological stop in the Earth's interior.Sfografirovav the northern tip of the island from a great height, the researchers compared the images to those looked like South Island before the earthquake.
© Photo: Gavin Hayes / USGS; Jean-Philippe Avouac et al. (2015)
New faults in New Zealand and the consequences of the earthquake in Nepal last year
It turned out that this series of shocks has fundamentally changed the way the Earth's interior are arranged in this part of the island. According to Litchfield, the island appeared disfigured six new "scars" -the largest faults, four of which go far into the sea, and two are on the land.
In all of these fractures rock formations shifted relative to each other for a few tens of centimeters up or down, and sideways, which significantly changed the way the old tectonic "scars" pressed against each other. Now scientists are actively exploring these new faults, trying to figure out where the next earthquake may occur and when it should happen.
To do this, the geologists are planning to go on an expedition into the sea off the coast of the South Island, where they plan to enlighten the bottom of the Pacific Ocean with the help of sonar.These data, as the scientists hope, will help to understand how to go far into the sea four new fault and how they affect the appearance of "balance of power" in the breaking of Marlborough, which is located in the center of New Zealand.
Rift Marlborough - one of the most complicated tectonic systems in the world, which are connected four major fault along which move the Australian and Pacific tectonic plates. The study of the effects of the earthquake, as the Litchfield hopes, will help us understand how to behave in the break in the future, and the threat it poses to the residents of New Zealand.
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