Fault line discovered under New Zealand capital

The fault, referred to informally as the Aotea Fault, ran in a northeasterly direction for about 2 km under the harbor, and scientists said Wednesday it had yet to be identified on land.

They believed at least two significant earthquakes had occurred on the fault in the last 10,000 years.

The Aotea Fault, capable of moderate to large quakes in the order of magnitude 6.3 to 7.1, was part of a series of several dozen geological faults in the Wellington region, according to the government's Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences (GNS Science).


The fault did not appreciably increase the overall ground- shaking hazard in the New Zealand capital, GNS scientist Russ Van Dissen said in a statement.

"Any ground-shaking that this fault could produce is already considered in Wellington's seismic hazard calculations. So it is already accounted for in the building code," he said.

The Insurance Council of New Zealand issued a statement saying the discovery was unlikely to have any impact on insurance premiums for homeowners and businesses.
Source:Xinhua -  globaltimes.cn
8/10/14