1855 Wairarapa earthquake

Earthquake in New Zealand October 2024 March 2024 1855 Wairarapa earthquake yes New Zealand 23 January 1855 21:00 8.2 w yes 33 km en-UK -41.20 175.20 inline,title region:NZ New Zealand, North Island 7–9 deaths The 1855 Wairarapa earthquake occurred on 23 January at about 9.17 p.m.,28 February 1855 NEW ZEALANDER https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZ18550228.2.4 24 March 2022 paperspast.natlib.govt.nz affecting much of the Cook Strait area of New Zealand, including Marlborough in the South Island and Wellington and the Wairarapa in the North Island. In Wellington, close to the epicentre, shaking lasted for at least 50 seconds. The moment magnitude of the earthquake has been estimated as 8.2, the most powerful recorded in New Zealand since systematic European colonisation began in 1840.M 8.2 Wairarapa Tue, Jan 23 1855. GeoNet. This earthquake was associated with the largest directly observed movement on a strike-slip fault, maximum 18 m. This was later revised upward to about 20 m on slip, with a local peak of 8 m on vertical displacement on lidar studies.Manighetti I Perrin C Gaudemer Y S Dominguez N Stewart J Malavieille S Garambois Repeated giant earthquakes on the Wairarapa fault, New Zealand, revealed by Lidar-based paleoseismology Scientific Reports 10 2124 2020 2124 10.1038/s41598-020-59229-3 free 32034264 7005692 2020NatSR..10.2124M It has been suggested that the surface rupture formed by this event helped influence Charles Lyell to link earthquakes with rapid movement on faults.Sibson, R.H. (2006). "Charles Lyell and the 1855 Wairarapa earthquake in New Zealand: Recognition of fault rupture accompanying an earthquake". Seismological Research Letters. 77 (3): 358–363. Tectonic setting New Zealand lies along the boundary between the Australian and Pacific plates. In the South Island most of the relative displacement between these plates is taken up along a single dextral (right lateral) strike-slip fault with a major reverse component, the Alpine Fault. In the North Island the displacement is mainly taken up along the Kermadec subduction zone, although the remaining dextral strike-slip component of the relative plate motion is accommodated by the North Island Fault System (NIFS).Mouslopoulou, V., Nicol, A., Little, T.A. & Walsh, J.J. (2007). "Terminations of large strike-slip faults: an alternative model from New Zealand". In: Cunningham, W.D. & Mann, P (eds). Tectonics of Strike-Slip Restraining and Releasing Bends. Geological Society of London, Special Publication, 290; p. 387–415. 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.Van Dissen, R. & Yeats, R.S. (1991). "Hope Fault, Jordan Thrust, and uplift of the Seaward Kaikoura Range, New Zealand". Geology, 19, 393–396. The earthquake occurred on the Wairarapa Fault which is part of the NIFS. Earthquake characteristics Map of the North Island Fault System showing the Wairarapa Fault|thumb|300 px Marine terrace The earthquake was associated with the rupturing of approximately 150 km on of the Wairarapa Fault. A horizontal displacement of up to 18 m was accompanied by uplift and tilting of the Remutaka Range on the northwestern side of the fault with vertical offsets of about 6 metres near the fault reducing to almost nothing on the western coast of the Wellington Peninsula. The estimated magnitude of about 8.2 is unusually large for an earthquake associated with movement on a mainly strike-slip fault, and the coseismic offset would have been the largest known for such an event. It has been suggested that this was caused by the rupture propagating down to where the fault links through to the top of the subducting Pacific plate.Rodgers D.W. Little T.A. 2006 World's largest coseismic strike-slip offset: The 1855 rupture of the Wairarapa Fault, New Zealand, and implications for displacement/length scaling of continental earthquakes Journal of Geophysical Research 111 B12408 B12408 10.1029/2005JB004065 2006JGRB..11112408R free That such megathrust coupling with overlying surface faults is possible was subsequently observed with the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake, and a new model for a subset of shallow megathrust earthquakes, including this earthquake, was developed.Substantial Upper Plate Faulting Above a Shallow Subduction Megathrust Earthquake: Mechanics and Implications of the Surface Faulting During the 2016 Kaikoura, New Zealand, Earthquake Tectonics 10.1029/2022TC007645 MW Herman KP Furlong HM Benz 2023 42 5 e2022TC007645 2023Tecto..4207645H free Other evidence for this hypothesis is geomorphological evidence, particularly the uplifted beach ridges observed at Turakirae Head, that appear to record three previous coseismic uplifts of the Remutaka Range caused by earthquakes similar in magnitude to the 1855 event, with a recurrence interval of about 2200 years.McSaveney, M.J. Graham, I.J. Begg, J.G. Beu, A.G. Hull, A.G. Kyeong, K. Zondervan, A. amp 2006 Late Holocene uplift of beach ridges at Turakirae Head, south Wellington coast, New Zealand New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics 49 3 337–358 10.1080/00288306.2006.9515172 2006NZJGG..49..337M 129074978 free At least ten large earthquakes were identified along the fault during the Holocene. Three of the most recent, including the 1855 earthquake, produced average slips of 16.5 m ± 2.2 m. The unusually large slip to rupture length ratio meant the earthquake would have been a high stress drop, hence, energetic event. This may be possibly attributed to the geologically young nature of the fault, being about 1 to 3 million years old, making it an immature structure. Faults in their early developmental stage have been observed to generate earthquakes with the most greatest stress drop and strong ground motion.Manighetti I. Perrin C. Gaudemer Y. Dominguez S. Stewart N. Malavieille J. Garambois S. Repeated giant earthquakes on the Wairarapa fault, New Zealand, revealed by Lidar-based paleoseismology Scientific Reports 2020 10 2124 2124 10.1038/s41598-020-59229-3 free 32034264 7005692 2020NatSR..10.2124M Damage thumb|1855 painting of landslip near Newlands by Charles Emilius Gold Wellington experienced severe shaking but the resulting damage was reduced as the city had been extensively rebuilt following the 1848 Marlborough earthquake using mainly wooden structures;"The Earthquake of 1855", Early Wellington, 1928, Louis E. Ward only one recorded fatality (by collapse of a brick chimney) occurred, though several other buildings were damaged. Reports identify at least another four people (possibly as many as eight) as having died in the Wairarapa during the earthquake and a bridge over the Hutt River was wrecked. Numerous landslides were associated with the earthquake,Hancox Graham Townend John Langridge Rob Jones Andrew The 1855 Wairarapa Earthquake Symposium Greater Wellington Regional Council September 2005 84–94 Landslides and liquefaction effects caused by the 1855 Wairarapa earthquake: then and now 0-909016-87-9 including the harbour-side cliffs near NewlandsGeoNet M 8.2 Wairarapa Tue, Jan 23 1855 – story https://www.geonet.org.nz/earthquake/story/2178057 24 March 2022 GeoNetFeb 2015 Hutt Expy https://www.google.com/maps/@-41.2305735,174.8413441,3a,37.5y,26.29h,98.89t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sQfh4IWYYervhP6oaiyDR1g!2e0!5s20171201T000000!7i13312!8i6656 24 March 2022 Google Maps and numerous events along the slopes of the Remutaka Range. Minor damage was recorded in places as far away as New Plymouth, Lyttelton and Christchurch. The uplift of the northwestern side of Wellington Harbour rendered many of the jetties in the harbour unusable, although this new area of land provided a new rail and road route to the north. Much of modern Wellington's central business district is formed by reclamations on land raised from the harbour by the event, as shown by the series of "Shoreline 1840" plaques.Jackson Amy How quakes shook up the shore http://www.stuff.co.nz/science/10678058/How-quakes-shook-up-the-shore 24 November 2018 Stuff 2 November 2012Massive earthquake hits southern North Island https://nzhistory.govt.nz/massive-earthquake-hits-wellington nzhistory.govt.nz Ministry for Culture and Heritage 24 November 2018 At Turakirae Head the newest raised beach was formed by an uplift of 6.4 m on in the 1855 quake.Homer Lloyd 1 March 2016 Raised beaches, Turakirae Head https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/13489/raised-beaches-turakirae-head 24 March 2022 teara.govt.nz Along with other historic earthquakes in the Wellington region, the severe uplift and landslides along the coastline caused by the 1855 Wairarapa earthquake would have likely extirpated local populations of Durvillaea antarctica southern bull kelp.10.1111/jpy.13179 Northward range extension for Durvillaea poha bull kelp: Response to tectonic disturbance? Journal of Phycology 57 5 1411–1418 2021 Vaux Felix Craw Dave Fraser Ceridwen I. Waters Jonathan M. 33942304 2021JPcgy..57.1411V 23372208710.1111/mec.16535 35582778 Parallel recolonisations generate distinct genomic sectors in kelp following high magnitude earthquake disturbance? Molecular Ecology 31 18 4818–4831 2022 Vaux Felix Parvizi Elahe Craw Dave Fraser Ceridwen I. Waters Jonathan M. 9540901 free 2022MolEc..31.4818V For comparison, a large-scale die off of Durvillaea was observed following the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake.10.5194/esurf-8-351-2020 Using a calibrated upper living position of marine biota to calculate coseismic uplift: a case study of the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake, New Zealand Earth Surface Dynamics 8 351–366 2020 Reid Catherine Begg John Mouslopoulou Vasiliki Oncken Onno Nicol Andrew Kufner Sofia-Katerina 2 2020ESuD....8..351R freeEffect of earthquake and storm disturbances on bull kelp (Durvillaea ssp.) and analyses of holdfast invertebrate communities University of Canterbury 2018 Master of Science in Environmental Sciences Mondardini Luca 10092/1509510.1002/aqc.3122 The Kaikōura earthquake in southern New Zealand: Loss of connectivity of marine communities and the necessity of a cross-ecosystem perspective Aquatic Conservation 29 9 1520–1534 2019 Schiel David R. Alestra Tommaso Gerrity Shawn Orchard Shane Dunmore Robyn Pirker John Lilley Stacie Tait Leigh Hickford Michael Thomsen Mads 2019ACMFE..29.1520S 195403585 https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/25905520 https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/2856-kelp-forests-after-the-kaikoura-earthquake Kelp forests after the Kaikōura Earthquake 23 January 2020 Science Learning Hub 21 February 202010.1111/mec.15303 31711270 SNP analyses reveal a diverse pool of potential colonists to earthquake-uplifted coastlines Molecular Ecology 29 1 149–159 2020 Peters Jonette C. Waters Jonathan M. Dutoit Ludovic Fraser Ceridwen I. free 2020MolEc..29..149P 1885/282690 free The removal of D. antarctica along the Wellington coastline in 1855 (or earlier) would have created an ecological opportunity, which may have facilitated a northward range expansion for Durvillaea poha from the South Island. Tsunami The earthquake generated New Zealand's largest historical locally generated tsunami, with a maximum run-up of 10 - 11 m on.Wairarapa tsunami, 23 January 1855 https://www.geonet.org.nz/tsunami/story/2178057 15 November 2013 GeoNet10.1144/GSL.SP.1999.146.01.21 Possible tsunami deposits from the 1855 earthquake, North Island, New Zealand Geological Society, London, Special Publications 146 353–374 1999 Goff James R. Crozier Michael Sutherland Venus Cochran Ursula Shane Phil 140651446 New Zealand's National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research created an animated tsunami simulation model based on the 1855 Wairarapa event, which was screened on the television tele-drama "Aftershock".NIWA tsunami animation – National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research See also 1843 Wanganui earthquake 1888 North Canterbury earthquake List of earthquakes in New Zealand List of historical earthquakes List of tsunamis References Further reading http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/historic-earthquakes/3 Historic earthquakes – The 1855 Wairarapa earthquake McSaveney Eileen 2 March 2009 Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand 26 December 2011 Category:Earthquakes in New Zealand Wairarapa earthquake Wairarapa earthquake Category:Wairarapa Category:History of the Wellington Region Category:Tsunamis in New Zealand Category:19th-century tsunamis Category:1855 natural disasters Category:January 1855 Category:1850s in Wellington Category:1855 disasters in New Zealand