Story: Historic earthquakes

Offset road (2nd of 2)

Offset road

This country road heading northwards across the Canterbury Plains has been offset horizontally by the fault rupture. The surface of the asphalt has been damaged in a narrow band of a few metres. The land in the foreground has moved left (west) and the land in the background has moved right (east). The centre line of the road now almost exactly lines up with the verge line – a displacement of around 4 metres.

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Photograph by John Begg

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How to cite this page:

Eileen McSaveney, 'Historic earthquakes - The 2010 Canterbury (Darfield) earthquake', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/photograph/31155/offset-road (accessed 20 April 2024)

Story by Eileen McSaveney, published 12 Jun 2006, reviewed & revised 28 Mar 2011, updated 1 Nov 2017