Completeness of the Paleoseismic Active‐Fault Record in New Zealand

Research Article| October 19, 2016 Completeness of the Paleoseismic Active‐Fault Record in New Zealand A. Nicol; A. Nicol aDepartment of Geological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8140, New Zealandandy.nicol@canterbury.ac.nz Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar R. J. Van Dissen; R. J. Van Dissen bGNS Science, P.O. Box 30368, Lower Hutt 5040, New Zealand Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar M. W. Stirling; M. W. Stirling cDepartment of Geology, University of Otago, P.O. Box 56, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar M. C. Gerstenberger M. C. Gerstenberger bGNS Science, P.O. Box 30368, Lower Hutt 5040, New Zealand Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Author and Article Information A. Nicol aDepartment of Geological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8140, New Zealandandy.nicol@canterbury.ac.nz R. J. Van Dissen bGNS Science, P.O. Box 30368, Lower Hutt 5040, New Zealand M. W. Stirling cDepartment of Geology, University of Otago, P.O. Box 56, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand M. C. Gerstenberger bGNS Science, P.O. Box 30368, Lower Hutt 5040, New Zealand Publisher: Seismological Society of America First Online: 14 Jul 2017 Online Issn: 1938-2057 Print Issn: 0895-0695 © 2016 by the Seismological Society of America Seismological Research Letters (2016) 87 (6): 1299–1310. https://doi.org/10.1785/0220160088 Article history First Online: 14 Jul 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Search Site Citation A. Nicol, R. J. Van Dissen, M. W. Stirling, M. C. Gerstenberger; Completeness of the Paleoseismic Active‐Fault Record in New Zealand. Seismological Research Letters 2016;; 87 (6): 1299–1310. doi: https://doi.org/10.1785/0220160088 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietySeismological Research Letters Search Advanced Search ABSTRACT Recent damaging earthquakes in New Zealand ruptured faults that were not known to be active. We analyzed New Zealand historical moderate‐to‐great magnitude earthquakes since 1845 (Mw 6–8.2) to estimate the level of completeness of earthquake fault sources in the National Seismic Hazard Model (NSHM) and the paleoseismic record. Our analysis assumes that the historical earthquakes are representative of the paleoseismic record and, due to the small number of events (45 Mw≥6), is qualitative. We find that about half of all historical earthquakes Mw≥7.0 ruptured faults that, based on today's state of knowledge of active‐fault locations, would not have been identified as active prior to the event. The majority of historical events on faults previously not identified as active were Mw<7.3 and either did not displace the ground surface or were located in areas where the rates of erosion or burial exceed fault‐slip rates. Incompleteness of active‐fault sources in the present NSHM is the greatest for earthquake fault sources with long recurrence intervals of ≥10,000 yr. These inferred unidentified active faults will, in many cases, be located in low strain‐rate areas, where they may make an important contribution to the seismic‐hazard budget. You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.