Wairau Fault

<mapframe text="(1)

Alpine Fault

, (2)

Wairau

Fault

, (3)

Awatere

Fault

, (4)

Clarence Fault

, (5)

Hope Fault

, Südinsel, Neuseeland --- Quelle: data.gns.cri.nz/af" width="300" height="300" longitude="172.8" latitude="-41.9" zoom="7">

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Awatere Fault

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Die

Wairau

Fault

ist eine der vier großen aktiven geologischen Verwerfungen in der Region

Marlborough

auf der Südinsel von Neuseeland, die der

Marlborough Fault Zone

(MFZ) zugeordnet wird.

Namensherkunft

Der Name der Verwerfung lässt sich aus dem Namen des Flusses

Wairau

River

ableiten, entlang dessen sich die Verwerfung bis zur Küste und der Mündung des

Wairau

River

in

Cook Strait

hinzieht.

Geographie

Die

Wairau

Fault

schließt sich im

Tasman District

nahe des

Lake

Rotoiti

an das nordöstliche Ende der

Alpine Fault

an und durchquert den mittleren Teil des

Marlborough District

in eine ostnordöstliche Richtung. Die Verwerfung besitzt eine Länge von rund 118 km über Land, folgt über rund 100 km davon südlich der

Richmond Range

entlang des

Wairau

River

und verlässt nordnordöstlich von Blenheim in der

Te Koko-o-Kupe

/

Cloudy Bay

die Landmasse der Südinsel. Die

Fault

reicht noch ca. 13 weitere Kilometer in die

Cook Strait

hinein, die die Südinsel von der Nordinsel trennt.

Geologie

Die Verwerfung der

Wairau

Fault

ist an der Oberfläche sehr schwer zu erkennen, da in vielen Bereichen der Verwerfung Landwirtschaft betrieben wird und der Boden intensiv bearbeitet wurde. Erst im Jahr 1967 gelang es durch Luftaufnahmen aus großer Höhe, die von der neuseeländischen Luftwaffe erstellt wurden, die Verwerfungslinie zu erkennen. Auch wird vermutet, dass die

Wairau

Fault

möglicherweise eine Verbindung zur

Ohariu

Fault

besitzt, die sich auf der Nordinsel westlich von

Wellington

von der Küste der

Cook Strait

nach Nordnordosten hinzieht. Im Bereich der

Marlborough Fault Zone

verschiebt sich die Pazifische Platte konvergierend gegen die Australische Platte. Für die

Wairau

Fault

bedeutet dies ja nach Untersuchung eine messbare Verschiebung zwischen 3,5 bis 5,5 mm pro Jahr.

Erdbeben-Ereignis

Obwohl die

Wairau

Fault

als eine aktive Verwerfung angesehen wird, ist derzeit kein Erdbebenereignis bekannt, das in den letzten 800 Jahren von dieser Verwerfung ausgegangen ist. Der Verwerfung wird das Potenzial zugeordnet, in Zukunft Erdbeben von großer Stärke auszulösen. In den letzten 6000 Jahren müssen laut geologischen Untersuchungen fünf Erdbeben aufgetreten sein, die mindestens die Stärke 7 auf der Momenten-Magnituden-Skala hatten. Das letzte Beben, verursacht durch die

Wairau

Fault

, fand vermutlich zwischen 200 bis 1000 Jahren n. Chr. statt.

Siehe auch

• Marlborough Fault Zone
• Plattentektonik

Literatur

• G. R. Holdgatea, R. H. Grapes
  :
  Wairau
  Basin and fault connections across Cook Strait, New Zealand: seismic and geological evidence
  . In:
  Australian Journal of Earth Sciences
  . Band 62, Nr. 1, Januar 2015, S. 95–121, doi:10.1080/08120099.2015.986195 (englisch). 
• Andrew Nicol, Russ Van Dissen
  :
  A 6000-year record of surface-rupturing paleoearthquakes on the
  Wairau
  Fault, New Zealand
  . In:
  New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics
  . Band 61, Nr. 3, August 2018, S. 341–3581, doi:10.1080/00288306.2018.1498360 (englisch). 
• Mark Yetton, Ian McCahon
  :
  Identification of active fault traces in Marlborough District
  .
  A Report prepared by Geotech Consulting Ltd
  . Hrsg.:
  Marlborough District Council
  . Mai 2003 (englisch, Online [PDF; 168 kB; abgerufen am 30. Juni 2022]).