The Wairoa North Fault has a maximum potential for normal fault rupture and is the closest known active fault to the city of

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

being to the south east.

Geology

The Wairoa North Fault is along the western aspect of the Hunua Ranges which is a horst with a mesozoic greywacke basement between it and the inferred inactive Firth of Thames Fault. There are multiple inferred inactive faults in the ranges but the area of the Wairoa North Fault was discovered to be seismologically active with low magnitude earthquakes after recordings began in the 1950s. The fault has 3 segments with potential for full rupture events every 12,600 years. To the north the faults now inactive extensions created the Clevedon Valley, and to the south these extensions separates the highest part of the Hunua Ranges from the Happy Valley basin. The fault appears to be along the eastern border of the Stokes Magnetic Anomaly System (New Zealand Junction Magnetic Anomaly) that essentially goes down almost the entire west coast of New Zealand. To the north the Wairoa North Fault continues as the inactive Waikopua Fault which is now projected with high confidence to become the North Waikopua Fault off shore, then the Islington Bay/Mototapu Fault between

Rangitoto Rangitoto Island is a volcanic island in the Hauraki Gulf near Auckland, New Zealand. The wide island is a symmetrical shield volcano cone, reaching a height of . Rangitoto is the youngest and largest of the approximately 50 volcanoes of the Au ...

and Mototapu, before probably continuing as the Whangaparaoa Passage Fault. To the south the Wairoa North Fault is continued by the inactive Wairoa South and Maunganua faults.

Earthquakes

The Wairoa North Fault has had some notable seismic events in the past: *1835 Auckland Earthquake: A magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck

Clevedon, New Zealand Clevedon, previously known as Wairoa South, is a rural town in Auckland, New Zealand, located in the Franklin ward, one of the thirteen administrative divisions of Auckland city. The town is governed by the Auckland Council. The town is the ...

, with its epicenter located on the Waikopua segment of the Wairoa North Fault, and with a depth of 25 km. The shaking of the quake was felt strongly throughout the

region, potentially causing damage to buildings and infrastructure. So far, it is unknown if this

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...

caused a segment rupture or a full rupture of the Wairoa North Fault, and shows that research and additional studies regarding the fault is vital in order to understand its full potential and behavior.

References

{{Seismic faults of New Zealand Seismic faults of New Zealand