The alpine fault

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THE SOUTH Island is split diagonally down the middle by a major fault line forms part of the Pacific Ring of Fire.

I am standing across the fault line. To my right is the Australian plate moving northwards at around five centimetres a year crashing into Asia creating the mountains of Indonesia. To my left is the Pacific Plate riding over Australian plate at about one centimetre per year creating the Southern Alps.

It has been about five hundred years since a major earthquake here, but one could strike here at any time as the pressure continues to build between the plates.

Blog from today:
Where the Pacific ring of fire glows green