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Story: Wairarapa region

Wairarapa fault

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Wairarapa fault

The Wairarapa fault runs up the centre of this image, in which Lake Wairarapa is at top left. In 1855 New Zealand’s largest recorded earthquake occurred on the fault. Measuring magnitude 8.2, the quake uplifted the land by as much as 6.4 metres and moved it horizontally up to 18 metres.

Using this item

GNS Science

Reference: CN8414/22

by Lloyd Homer

Permission of GNS Science must be obtained before any use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Ben Schrader, Wairarapa region – Land and climate, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/12064/wairarapa-fault (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Ben Schrader, published 2 March 2009, updated 1 March 2017.