The Alpine Fault in western South Island ruptures every 200-400 years in a magnitude ~7.9 earthquake, and is thought to have last ruptured in 1717 AD. The Alpine Fault is globally significant and similar in character to the San Andreas Fault in America or the North Anatolian Fault in Turkey. However, the Alpine Fault is unique in the fact that rapid uplift and mountain building has exhumed fault rocks from depth, and uplift continues to restrict earthquake activity to depths that are shallower than normal.
The DFDP project proposes to drill, sample, and monitor the Alpine Fault at depth, to take advantage of excellent surface exposures and the relatively shallow depths of geological transitions, and hence to better understand fundamental processes of rock deformation, seismogenesis, and earthquake deformation.
The project is currently being led by John Townend (Victoria University of Wellington) and Rupert Sutherland (GNS Science), and involves scientists at GNS Science, the universities of Auckland, Canterbury, Otago, and Victoria, and several overseas organisations.
Additional domestic and international leadership and participation are welcome as the research plans are being consolidated, and researchers interested in contributing should contact the DFDP team via the link below.
References
Townend, J., 2009. Drilling, sampling, and monitoring the Alpine Fault. EOS, 90, p. 312. (63kb pdf)
Townend, J., Sutherland, R., and Toy, V., 2009. Deep Fault Drilling Project - Alpine Fault, New Zealand. Scientific Drilling, 8, doi: doi:10.2204/iodp.sd.8.12.2009. (2mb pdf)
Click here to view the January 2008 scientific proposal (820kb pdf)
Click here for details of the March 2009 science workshop
Contact a member of the DFDP team here
