The alpine fault will cause a major earthquake one day on the West Coast of the South Island. An international team of scientists, led by New Zealand project managers, is trying to find out more information about the fault. They are drilling deep into the earth, to analyse the rocks around the fault. The drilling is on the Whataroa river valley, about half an hour north of Franz Josef glacier.
The last eruption of the alpine fault was in 1717. Scientists believe it erupts every 200 to 400 years. It will happen again but nobody knows when. This project will not help to predict the next earthquake but it could help to predict what will happen at that time.
The New Zealand alpine fault is very similar to the fault in California and in Turkey although there are differences. Because earthquakes occur in many countries, scientists from many countries are working on this project in New Zealand.
They started the work on drilling in August and planned to continue right through the university holidays. Unfortunately, in the last few days, the casing to line the drill hole broke while it was being put in place. It cannot be repaired. The drill had already reached 900m but the plan was to reach 1300m. They have now made the decision to seal this hole and stop work in the meantime. It may be 2016 before the work continues again.
Although this is disappointing, scientists say that they have discovered many interesting things about the rocks and the temperature of the water in this hole. It is very hot. They expect it could be 190 Celsius at 1300m.
If you are interested, check some of the blogs
here.
Vocabulary
• alpine – mountain
• analyse – look at the rocks under a microscope
• casing – a heavy metal lining of the hole
• seal – close with cement