TEPHRA SEISMITES
Evaluating earthquake hazards using liquefied volcanic-ash layers in lakes
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Lake Ngaroto (photo by F van Schie)
Latest Updates
Research on Te Puninga Fault continues with new trenching in February 2024
Hard on the heels of the paper published in January 2024 in the New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics, members of the tephra seismites team joined GNS Science colleagues to renew their research on the Te Puninga Fault at two newly dug trenches across the fault (which is near Morrinsville) in late February 2024.…
Tephra seismites group publishes open access paper on Te Puninga Fault with GNS Science in January 2024
We are pleased to advise that we have in the past few weeks (January 2024) published an open access paper in the New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics on our findings from research undertaken on the recently discovered Te Puninga Fault near Morrinsville. The paper is available here: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00288306.2023.2296875 The article is based on…
‘Our earth-shaking discoveries so far!’
The Tephra Seismites group ran a very successful hui, entitled ‘Our earth-shaking discoveries so far!’, for our supporters, mana whenua partners, and stakeholders, on Tuesday 25 July 2023. After an introduction to the project, we began with a workshop, ‘Core blimey!’ where we laid out opened lake cores, and had a discussion about the significance…
Project Summary
Liquefied volcanic-ash layers (‘tephra seismites’) preserved in lake sediments have never been reported. In northern New Zealand we have identified at least four such seismites in tephra-bearing lakes aged ~20,000 years in the Hamilton Basin. Our aim is to use this unique opportunity to develop a novel methodology to evaluate the frequency, possible magnitude, and likely locations of major earthquakes for the past 20,000 years in the basin. Click here to continue
Tephra Seismites 