The 1848 Marlborough earthquake was a 7.5 () earthquake that occurred at 1:40 a.m. on 16 October 1848 and whose

epicentre The epicenter, epicentre () or epicentrum in seismology is the point on the Earth's surface directly above a hypocenter or focus, the point where an earthquake or an underground explosion originates. Surface damage Before the instrumental pe ...

was in the

Marlborough Marlborough may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Marlborough, Wiltshire, England ** Marlborough College, public school * Marlborough School, Woodstock in Oxfordshire, England * The Marlborough Science Academy in Hertfordshire, England Austral ...

region of the

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

of New Zealand. In

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

, the shaking lasted for about two minutes and caused widespread damage, especially to brick or stone structures. Most of the buildings damaged in the earthquake were rebuilt in wood and this contributed to the relatively low level of damage and loss of life in the more powerful Wairarapa earthquake that hit Wellington seven years later.

Tectonic setting

New Zealand lies along the boundary between the

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

and

Pacific Plate The Pacific Plate is an oceanic tectonic plate that lies beneath the Pacific Ocean. At , it is the largest tectonic plate. The plate first came into existence 190 million years ago, at the triple junction between the Farallon, Phoenix, and Iza ...

s. In the

most of the relative displacement between these plates is taken up along a single dextral (right lateral)

strike-slip fault In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust result from the action of plate tectonic ...

with a major

reverse Reverse or reversing may refer to: Arts and media * ''Reverse'' (Eldritch album), 2001 * ''Reverse'' (2009 film), a Polish comedy-drama film * ''Reverse'' (2019 film), an Iranian crime-drama film * ''Reverse'' (Morandi album), 2005 * ''Reverse'' ...

component, the

Alpine Fault The Alpine Fault is a geological fault that runs almost the entire length of New Zealand's South Island (c. 480 km) and forms the boundary between the Pacific Plate and the Indo-Australian Plate. The Southern Alps have been uplifted on the f ...

. In the

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

, the displacement is mainly taken up along the Kermadec subduction zone, although the remaining dextral strike-slip component of the relative plate motion is accommodated by the

North Island Fault System The North Island Fault System (also known as North Island Dextral Fault Belt or NIFS) is a set of southwest–northeast trending seismically-active faults in the North Island of New Zealand that carry most of the dextral (right lateral) strike- ...

(NIFS). A group of dextral strike-slip structures, known as the

Marlborough Fault System The Marlborough Fault System is a set of four large dextral strike-slip faults and other related structures in the northern part of South Island, New Zealand, which transfer displacement between the mainly transform plate boundary of the Alpine ...

, transfer displacement between the mainly

transform Transform may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Transform (scratch), a type of scratch used by turntablists * ''Transform'' (Alva Noto album), 2001 * ''Transform'' (Howard Jones album) or the title song, 2019 * ''Transform'' (Powerman 5000 album ...

and convergent type plate boundaries in a complex zone at the northern end of South Island.

Earthquake characteristics

The earthquake was associated with the rupturing of a minimum of 105 km of the

Awatere Fault The Awatere Fault is an active dextral (right lateral) strike-slip fault in the northeastern part of South Island, New Zealand. It forms part of the Marlborough Fault System, which accommodates the transfer of displacement along the oblique conv ...

, which is part of the Marlborough Fault System. A horizontal displacement of about 6 metres was accompanied by smaller vertical movements of varying sense. A shallow epicentral depth is inferred from the large number of felt aftershocks. A

moment magnitude The moment magnitude scale (MMS; denoted explicitly with or Mw, and generally implied with use of a single M for magnitude) is a measure of an earthquake's magnitude ("size" or strength) based on its seismic moment. It was defined in a 1979 pape ...

of about 7.5 has been estimated from the rupture length and measured displacements.Mason, D.P.M. & Little, T.A. 2006. Refined slip distribution and moment magnitude of the 1848 Marlborough earthquake, Awatere Fault, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics 49, 375–382.
/ref>

Damage

In Wellington, almost all buildings of brick or stone construction were damaged, including homes, churches, the jail, and the Colonial Hospital. Most wooden buildings were undamaged, although many lost their brick chimneys.
''Early Wellington'', 1928, Louis E. Ward Barrack Sergeant James Harris Lovel of the 65th Regiment and two of his young children, Amelia aged 4, and William aged 6, died after being crushed by falling bricks from a wall in Farish Street, Wellington. They are buried at Bolton Street Cemetery. In the Marlborough region itself, a number of homesteads were badly damaged. Several buildings damaged in the main shock were destroyed during strong aftershocks over the next few days. The only fatalities from the earthquake occurred when a damaged building collapsed during one of the aftershocks the following day.

References

External links

Geonet page on the 1848 Marlborough earthquake
{{DEFAULTSORT:1848 Marlborough Earthquake Earthquakes in New Zealand History of the Marlborough Region

October 1848 events 1848 disasters in New Zealand

Tectonic setting

Earthquake characteristics

Damage

See also

References

External links