What tectonic plates were involved in the 2011 Christchurch earthquake?

Tectonic setting & Cause Regardless, the earthquake was created along a conservative plate margin where the Pacific Plate slid past the Australian Plate in the opposite direction. The earthquake occurred on a fault running off this major plate boundary.

What plates were involved in the Christchurch earthquake 2011?

The fault, later named the Greendale Fault, appeared about 50 to 56 miles (80 to 90 km) southeast of the boundary between the Australian and Pacific tectonic plates, and part of the fault became visible at the surface because of the earthquake. Thousands of smaller aftershocks occurred in the months that followed.

What tectonic plates caused the 2011 New Zealand earthquake?

New Zealand sits on top of the boundary between the Pacific and Australian tectonic plates. The two plates slip past each other in the South Island, creating the Alpine Fault.

What type of plate boundary was the Christchurch earthquake on?

A group of dextral strike-slip structures, known as the Marlborough Fault System, transfer displacement between the mainly transform and convergent type plate boundaries in a complex zone at the northern end of the South Island.

What plates were involved in the New Zealand earthquake?

Earthquakes in New Zealand occur because we are located on the boundary of two of the world’s major tectonic plates – the Pacific Plate and the Australian Plate. These plates are colliding with huge force, causing one to slowly grind over, under or alongside the other.

Where are the tectonic plates in New Zealand?

New Zealand lies at the edge of both the Australian and Pacific tectonic plates. To the northeast of New Zealand, and underneath North Island, the Pacific Plate is moving towards, and being subducted below the Australian Plate.

What type of plate boundary is New Zealand on?

convergent boundary

Modern tectonic setting and earthquakes
New Zealand is currently astride the convergent boundary between the Pacific and Australian Plates.

How many tectonic plates are there in New Zealand?

two

The plate boundary zone in New Zealand – sitting astride the boundary of two major tectonic plates.

Where are the tectonic plates?

Earth’s thin outer shell is broken into big pieces called tectonic plates. These plates fit together like a puzzle, but they’re not stuck in one place. They are floating on Earth’s mantle, a really thick layer of hot flowing rock.

How was NZ geologically formed?

About 540 million years ago, New Zealand was being formed on the eastern edge of the supercontinent Gondwana. Over millions of years, rivers carried sediments to the sea, and offshore volcanoes deposited ash on the sea floor.

Are tectonic plates?

A tectonic plate (also called lithospheric plate) is a massive, irregularly shaped slab of solid rock, generally composed of both continental and oceanic lithosphere. Plate size can vary greatly, from a few hundred to thousands of kilometers across; the Pacific and Antarctic Plates are among the largest.

Is New Zealand a transform plate boundary?

Transform Boundary – Alpine Fault, South Island, New Zealand The Alpine Fault is a geological fault, specifically a right-lateral strike-slip fault, that runs almost the entire length of New Zealand’s South Island. It forms a transform boundary between the Pacific Plate and the Indo-Australian Plate.

What type of landscape is Rotorua?

Rotorua is situated on the northeastern part of the Volcanic Plateau in the heart of the geothermal belt of North Island, and it is the centre of a remarkable array of hot springs, boiling mud pools, and spouting geysers.

What is Rotorua’s full name?

Te Rotorua nui ā Kahumatamomoe

Rotorua city, located along the southern shore, was named after the lake, shortened from its full name, Te Rotorua nui ā Kahumatamomoe.

Is New Zealand still Covid free?

New Zealand remained largely COVID-19 free until August but has been unable to beat an outbreak of the highly infectious Delta variant, forcing Ardern to abandon an elimination strategy and switch to treating the virus as endemic.

Is Rotorua in a volcano?

Rotorua is a volcanic wonderland with extraordinary landscapes and incredible geothermal attractions – each with their own unique features, rare flora and fauna, and all rich in Maori history and folklore. Sitting within the Pacific Rim of Fire, the region has one of the world’s most active geothermal fields.

Is Rotorua Caldera extinct?

After the eruption, the magma chamber underneath the volcano collapsed. The circular depression left behind is the current caldera, about 22 km (14 mi) in diameter and now occupied by Lake Rotorua.
Rotorua Caldera.

Can Rotorua erupt?

As Rotorua is well-known for its geothermal activity, one of our biggest potential hazards is infrequent hydrothermal eruptions and the collapse of unstable hot ground. The district is exposed to a wide variety of volcanic hazards including ash deposits from an eruption.

Do Calderas erupt?

A caldera-causing eruption is the most devastating type of volcanic eruption. It permanently alters the environment of the surrounding area. A caldera is not the same thing as a crater. Craters are formed by the outward explosion of rocks and other materials from a volcano.

What is the plate tectonic setting of Mount Rainier?

The tectonic setting for Mt. Rainier is a divergent boundary and subduction zone of the Juan de Fuca Plate and the North American Plate. The type of magma that will erupt from Mt. Rainier is andesite.

What type of volcano is formed by hot lava?

shield volcanoes

Stratovolcano. Stratovolcanoes have relatively steep sides and are more cone-shaped than shield volcanoes. They are formed from viscous, sticky lava that does not flow easily. The lava therefore builds up around the vent forming a volcano with steep sides.

What geologic process is related to caldera formation quizlet?

What geologic process is related to caldera formation? Calderas form when the summit of a volcano collapses.

What are the geologic processes related to caldera formation?

Calderas are some of the most spectacular features on Earth. They are large volcanic craters that form by two different methods: 1) an explosive volcanic eruption; or, 2) collapse of surface rock into an empty magma chamber.

What geographic process is related to caldera formation?

A caldera is a large depression formed when a volcano erupts and collapses. During a volcanic eruption, magma present in the magma chamber underneath the volcano is expelled, often forcefully. When the magma chamber empties, the support that the magma had provided inside the chamber disappears.

In which to plate tectonic settings would one expect magma to be generated?

As summarized in Chapter 3, magma is formed at three main plate-tectonic settings: divergent boundaries (decompression melting), convergent boundaries (flux melting), and mantle plumes (decompression melting).

What tectonic regime would you find Rhyolite?

Rhyolite usually forms in continental or continent-margin volcanic eruptions where granitic magma reaches the surface. Rhyolite is rarely produced at oceanic eruptions.

How are plate tectonic and volcanism related?

Most of the world’s volcanoes are found around the edges of tectonic plates, both on land and in the oceans. On land, volcanoes form when one tectonic plate moves under another. Usually a thin, heavy oceanic plate subducts, or moves under, a thicker continental plate.