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Kōrero: Active faults

The Alpine Fault

Image
The Alpine Fault

The Alpine Fault forms the western edge of the Southern Alps. There have been repeated earthquake ruptures on the Alpine Fault every few hundred years. Usually producing uplifts of only a few metres at a time, the cumulative effect has been to create this mountain range over the last million years.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

GNS Science

Reference: CN06053

by Lloyd Homer

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

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Me pēnei te tohu i te whārang

Eileen McSaveney, Active faults – What is an active fault?, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/photograph/4346/the-alpine-fault (accessed 4 June 2026).

He kōrero nā Eileen McSaveney, i tāngia i te 2 March 2009.