PO Box 56 Shallow earthquakes tend to occur to the southeast of this seismic zone, while the deeper ones occur towards the northwest. This fault has ruptured four times in the past 900 years, each time producing an earthquake of about magnitude 8. c) Very little stress builds up along the plates. By the end of this activity, students should be able to: understand the movement of plate boundaries in different parts of New Zealand. The Alpine Fault is considered to be a visible, “on-land” boundary of the two constituent plates, and also marks the transition from a transform to convergent boundary. The Alpine Fault is a geological fault, known as a right-lateral strike-slip fault, that runs almost the entire length of New Zealand's South Island. Another example of a transform boundary on land is the Alpine Fault of New Zealand. Conversely, in the southwest of South Island where the Australian Plate is being subducted below the Pacific Plate, the deeper earthquakes occur on the southeast edge of the seismic zone where the Benioff zone dips steeply to the southeast. Geodetic measurements (Beavan et al., 1999) and offset glacial deposits (Fig. Most earthquakes strike less than 50 miles (80 kilometers) below the Earth’s surface. It forms a transform boundary, so yes. The Alpine Fault marks a transform boundary between the two plates, and further south the Indo-Australian Plate subducts under the Pacific Plate forming the Puysegur Trench. There is some uplift along it, and that has led to the development of the Southern Alps in the south island of New Zealand. New Zealand’s Alpine Fault is a seismically active, “crust-busting” plate boundary fault. Active crustal deformation is generally concentrated within plate boundary zones. The Alpine Fault is the dominant structure defining the Australian-Pacific plate boundary in the South Island of New Zealand. This molten rock rises to the surface through the thinned crust and is either erupted from volcanoes like Ruapehu, Tongariro and Ngaruhoe or sits within the crust and heats it, and the water it contains, up causing geothermal activity around Taupo and Rotorua. During the late Cenozoic, the fault increasingly became the locus of slip between the Australian and Pacific plates. Transform Plate Boundaries are locations where two plates slide past one another. Here, the main part of South Island is being thrust over the Australian Plate on a bearing of about 250 degrees. Understanding the behavior of plate boundary faults and the recurrence of major earthquakes along these faults is critical for understand-ing seismic hazards. Strike-Slip Faults. The southern part of Zealandia, which is to the east of this boundary, is the plate's largest block of continental crust. It forms a transform boundary between the Pacific Plate and the Indo-Australian Plate. Teachers and educators can turn online educational tests and quizzes into games directly from their browser to be used as review. Along the Alpine Fault the plates are not only moving past each other, they are also moving towards each other. To the south of New Zealand, and underneath Fiordland, the two plates are also moving toward each other but here the Australian Plate is being subducted under the Pacific Plate. Public domain Photo credit Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view.php?id=67355. Date 2009. Water released from the Pacific Plate deep under North Island combines with the hot rock of the Australian Plate at about 100km depth and causes a small amount of that rock to melt. Relative movement across the Marlborough Fault System is dextral or right-lateral. The rocks at the Alpine Fault are under shear stress since the bodies of rock slip horizontally past each other. The transform fault is simply a strike-slip fault as the plates move, the crust is fractured and broken. click "search options" again to close the pull down or refresh the page, d) both convergent and divergent boundaries. The San Andreas connects a divergent boundary in the Gulf of California with the Cascadia subduction zone. Like all plate boundaries, the movement of crust along transform and strike-slip faults creates earthquakes. English:Map of the Marlborough Fault System, the set of dextral strike-slip faults that accommodates the switch from the Alpine Fault to the Kermadec Trench along the plate boundary through New Zealand. Langridge said researchers in California and New Zealand have a long history of earthquake science collaboration and are learning from each other about the treatment of active faults and fault segmentation for seismic hazard models. They occur when the hanging wall drops down and the footwall drops down. The subduction zone in the north is linked to the subduction zone in the south by a series of very large faults that run through Marlborough (Marlborough Fault System) and down the west coast of South Island (Alpine Fault). This compressional movement is causing the Southern Alps to be uplifted at a rate of approximately 7 millimetres per year forming a high elongate mountain range parallel to the Alpine Fault. The most famous example of this is the San Andreas Fault Zone of western North America. Another example of a transform boundary on land is the Alpine Fault of New Zealand. Individual fault lines are usually narrower than their length or depth. Normal faults, or extensional faults, are a type of dip-slip fault. This means that the fault neither creates nor destroys the lithosphere. The Alpine Fault is located on the South Island of New Zealand. Another major strike-slip fault that cuts across land is the Alpine fault in New Zealand that cuts across the south island. That is, the slip … In the plot above the area of the circles correlates with the area percentage of samples occupied by the grain size. Motion on the Alpine fault is not completely strike-slip. Students can play FREE, fun and interactive games to help prepare for exams, tests, and quizzes. The Southern Alps have been formed over millennia by upthrust from successive earthquakes on the Alpine Fault. New Zealand lies at the edge of both the Australian and Pacific tectonic plates. It was first suggested by John Tuzo Wilson, a Canadian geophysicist, in 1965. Base is a screenshot from NASAWorldWind, from the free … b) convergent. At this location, two plates are sliding past each other slowly over time. 8.2a). The Alpine Fault also ruptures, which leads to seismic activity as well as considerable horizontal movement, up to 30 m every 1000 years. It runs as a single structure for over 500 km. The Australian plate is sliding horizontally towards the north-east, at the same time as the Pacific plate is pushing up, forming the Southern Alps. It runs as a single structure for over 500 km. Introduction. The Australian and Pacific Plates generally don't move smoothly past each other. 1. Deep earthquakes under North Island form a well defined band (seismic zone) running northeast from Marlborough through White Island. Normal Faults. It’s the "on-land" boundary of the Pacific and Australian Plates. Teachers / Educators: Create FREE classroom games with your questions like the ones on this site. The San Andreas connects a divergent boundary in the Gulf of California with the Cascadia subduction zone. This horizontal movement causes c) transform. The Alpine Fault occurs at a transform boundary. At a transform boundary, two tectonic plates slide past each other. They move in a series in a small rapid motions each of which is accompanied by one or more earthquakes. The Alpine Fault is called a strike slip or transform fault. Collections. Although the New Zealand plate boundary is often described as simply two subduction zones linked by the transpressive Alpine Fault, in actuality the present is merely a snapshot view of an ongoing and complex evolution from convergence to subduction. b) Large amounts of stress builds up as plates move. The earthquakes form this pattern occur where the Pacific Plate is being subducted under the Australian Plate. Contains online school games for kids. d) Most faults occur in middle of plates. Fax +64 3 479 7527 Dunedin 9054 Publisher. The fracture region that makes up a transform plate boundary is known as the transform fault. Strike-slip faults have walls that move sideways, not up or down. Email geology@otago.ac.nz, Structure, Environment, Reaction, Petrology, Geology along the Otago Central Rail Trail, http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view.php?id=67355, Find the Otago Students’ Geological Society on. The Alpine Fault runs for over 600km up the spine of Te Waipounamu, the South Island, along the western side of the Southern Alps. plate boundaries under the North and South Islands representing the North Island subduction zone and the South Island Alpine Fault. The mountains are rising at 7 millimetres a year, but erosion wears them down at a similar rate. a) divergent. Transform Plate Boundaries - Transform Fault. Normal faults are the result of extension when tectonic plates move away from each other. Interested in finding out more about the Alpine Fault? Journal Article. What a Normal Fault Looks Like. Type. The type of plate boundary at the Alpine Fault is a transform boundary. It forms the sharp line separating the snow-covered Southern Alps in the east from the low coastal plain bordering the Tasman Sea in the west. I’ve analyzed quartz grain size data from ~250 rocks spanning 170 km of the fault. The Alpine Fault is a geological right-lateral strike-slip fault. Elsevier. a) There is little or no movement of rocks. What plate boundary must exist at Alpine Fault? T The Southern Alps have been uplifted on the fault over the last 12 million years in a series of earthquakes. The Marlborough Fault System is a series of subparallel strike-slip faults which run northeast-southwest. Transform plate boundaries occur where two lithospheric plate slide past each other horizontally along a single or a group of deep nearly vertical steep fault planes. The Alpine Fault is a geological fault that runs almost the entire length of New Zealand's South Island (c. 480 km) and forms the boundary between the Pacific Plate and the Indo-Australian Plate. The Alpine Fault runs for over 800km up the spine of the South Island. © Department of Geology The Alpine Fault crosses the South Island between the Puysegur subduction zone in the south and the Hikurangi subduction zone in the north (Fig. Transform Fault Boundaries is the third type of plate boundaries in which the plates slide past with each other horizontally as shown in the figure 1 below. Once you know what type a fault is, you can predict what can happen there during an earthquake. Which way is the Philippine plate moving? 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 the sharp line separating the snow-covered Southern Alps in the east from the low coastal plain bordering the Tasman Sea in the west. As the Pacific Plate is subducted below North Island, the part of the Australian Plate that makes up the central North Island is stretched and has, over many millions of years, become thinner than normal crust. The area of volcanic activity is referred to as the Taupo Volcanic Zone (see map above). New Zealand, Tel +64 3 479 7519 At the Alpine Fault, the two plates are locked, but in a large earthquake they grind past and into each other, pushing up the Southern Alps. Different from the periodic recurrence of earthquakes on fast-slipping and geometrically simple strike-slip faults, e.g., the Alpine Fault in New Zealand , we infer aperiodic earthquake behavior on the slow-slipping and the geometrically complex sinistral boundary between the African and Arabian plates. A smaller number of transform faults cut continental lithosphere. The Alpine Fault cuts through New Zealand. To play games using the questions from above, visit ReviewGameZone.com and enter game ID number: 23189 in the upper right hand corner or, Play Games with the Questions above at ReviewGameZone.com. The Alpine Fault is the dominant structure defining the Australian-Pacific plate boundary in the South Island of New Zealand. To the northeast of New Zealand, and underneath North Island, the Pacific Plate is moving towards, and being subducted below the Australian Plate. This pattern of deeper earthquakes towards the northwest of North Island reflects the northwest dip (or slope) of the boundary between the two plates (the Benioff zone). It occurs between the Pacific Plate... See full answer below. d) The part of the Indo-Australian plate that holds Australia is moving away from the part of the plate that carries India. The Alpine Fault, which runs for about 600km up the spine of the South Island, is one of the world’s major geological features. Boundary Type (C=Convergent, D=Divergent, or T=Transform) Year Observed (5, 10, or 20 million years) Geologic Events Observed (earthquakes, faults, ocean formation, mountains, volcanoes, island chains, seafloor spreading) Location One Himalayas 5 Event 1-20 Event 2-Location Two East Africa 5 Event 1-10 Event 2-20 Event 3-Location Three San Andreas fault zone 5 Event 1-10 Event 2-20 Event … Which type of plate boundary is responsible for producing most of the earthquakes in these two belts? The Alpine Fault is sometimes compared with California's San Andreas Fault, being another fast-moving strike slip fault near a plate boundary. Earthquakes along the fault, and the associated earth movements, have formed the Southern Alps. Transform boundaries also form on larger scales on land like the San Andreas fault in Western North America and the Alpine fault in New Zealand. It’s the part of the active boundary between the Pacific and Australian tectonic plates where they intersect on land. 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