New fault lines - the scientific view

For those who like to get, or check, their news from primary sources there is a GNS Science web page with the fault line information that has just been released. It includes two maps and a 7 minute video showing the different techniques used to survey what is happening underground. The video is great if you want know what the trucks were doing along the street, or the helicopter flying back and forth only a few hundred metres above. The page is here.

A huge amount of other information about the September and February earthquakes can be found on the GNS web page here. The information includes explanatory videos, maps and links to specific topics.

For a quite detailed explanation of the February earthquake, and information on the extent to which land rose or fell, see the GNS page here. The following quote, based on information available to GNS as at the 8th of April, is from that page:

The land has gone up as much as 40 centimetres around the western side of the Avon-Heathcote estuary. The Port Hills have gone up by varying amounts, from about 5 centimetres under Lyttelton Harbour to a maximum of about 25 centimetres at the base of the hills near the Heathcote valley.

As a direct result of the fault slip, the Bexley, Aranui, Wainoni, Avondale and New Brighton areas have gone down, mostly by less than 15 centimetres. Central, northern and northeastern Christchurch have also gone down, but generally by less than 5 centimetres. However, there may be additional subsidence as a result of ground compaction and liquefaction during the strong shaking.

The web page has a map showing the areas where the rise and fall has occurred.
.