Alpine fault

Movement along the Alpine Fault is deforming the microcontinent of Zealandia, with the southern part (on the Pacific Plate) sliding past and slightly onto the northwest part (on the Indo-Australian Plate)

The Alpine Fault is a geological fault that runs entirely through New Zealand's South Island. It forms a boundary between the Pacific Plate and the Indo-Australian Plate. Earthquakes along the fault have formed the Southern Alps.

Alpine Fault Media

• 

  Snow delineates the escarpment formed by the Alpine Fault along the Southern Alps' north-west edge, near the South Island's west coast. This satellite image shows the aftermath of a blizzard that hit the island in July 2003.

• 

  Map of the northern end of the Alpine Fault and Marlborough Fault System.

• 

  New Zealand before the activation of the Alpine Fault (30 Ma).

• 

  Outcrop showing hydrothermally altered cataclasite in green, within the Alpine Fault zone, Waikukupa River.

• 

  Alpine Fault outcrop showing banded cataclasite and breccia, Waikukupa River.

• 

  Earthquake risk zones New Zealand. Until 2011, the lack of historical earthquakes on the Alpine Fault was interpreted as meaning lower risk.