General Distribution and Characteristics of Active Faults and Folds in the Waimate District and Waitaki District, South Canterbury and North Otago
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General distribution and characteristics of active faults and folds in the Waimate District and Waitaki District, South Canterbury and North Otago D. J. A. Barrell GNS Science Consultancy Report 2015/166 Environment Canterbury Report R15/135 December 2016 DISCLAIMER This report has been prepared by the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences Limited (GNS Science) exclusively for and under contract to the Canterbury Regional Council (Environment Canterbury) and the Otago Regional Council (ORC). Unless otherwise agreed in writing by GNS Science, GNS Science accepts no responsibility for any use of or reliance on any contents of this Report by any person other than Environment Canterbury and shall not be liable to any person other than Environment Canterbury and ORC, on any ground, for any loss, damage or expense arising from such use or reliance. The data presented in this Report are available to GNS Science for other use from December 2016. BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCE Barrell, D.J.A. 2016. General distribution and characteristics of active faults and folds in the Waimate District and Waitaki District, South Canterbury and North Otago. GNS Science Consultancy Report 2015/166. 124 p. © Environment Canterbury Report No. R15/135 ISBN 978-0-908316-65-6 (PRINT) ISBN 978-0-908316-51-9 (WEB) Project Number 440W1495 CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ....................................................................................................... V 1.0 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 1 1.1 BACKGROUND ................................................................................................... 1 1.2 SCOPE AND PURPOSE ........................................................................................ 4 2.0 INFORMATION SOURCES ........................................................................................ 7 3.0 GEOLOGICAL OVERVIEW ........................................................................................ 9 3.1 ROCKS AND LANDFORMS.................................................................................... 9 3.2 RECOGNITION OF ACTIVE FAULTS AND FOLDS .................................................... 10 4.0 CLASSIFICATION OF ACTIVE FAULTS AND FOLDS ............................................ 15 4.1 DESCRIPTIVE CLASSIFICATION .......................................................................... 15 4.2 ACTIVITY CLASSIFICATION ................................................................................ 16 4.3 AS-YET UNDETECTED ACTIVE FAULTS AND FOLDS .............................................. 18 4.4 EARTHQUAKE MAGNITUDES .............................................................................. 18 5.0 DISTRIBUTION AND CHARACTERISTICS OF ACTIVE FAULTS AND FOLDS ..... 19 6.0 IMPLICATIONS FOR HAZARDS.............................................................................. 29 7.0 CONCLUSIONS ....................................................................................................... 33 8.0 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................... 35 9.0 REFERENCES ......................................................................................................... 37 FIGURES Figure 1.1 The tectonic setting of the Waimate and Waitaki districts............................................................. 2 Figure 1.2 Illustrations of historical fault offsets of the ground surface in the Canterbury region. .................. 3 Figure 1.3 A northward oblique aerial view of the Ostler Fault Zone, about 12 km southwest of Twizel. .......................................................................................................................................... 4 Figure 3.1 Diagrams illustrating styles of active faults and folds. ................................................................ 11 Figure 3.2 Illustrations of faults exposed in investigation trenches. ............................................................. 13 Figure 5.1 General distribution of active faults and folds in the Waimate and Waitaki districts (northwestern and northeastern overlapping panels). ................................................................ 21 Figure 5.2 General distribution of active faults and folds in the Waimate and Waitaki districts (southern overlapping panel). ..................................................................................................... 22 Figure 5.3 Distribution of active faults in the Waitaki Fault System (feature 12). ......................................... 23 Figure 6.1 Fault scarp formed on the Chelungpu Fault during the magnitude 7.6 Chi-Chi Earthquake, Taiwan, 1999. ......................................................................................................... 30 GNS Science Consultancy Report 2015/166 i TABLES Table 5.1 Categories and terms used in this report to describe active faults and folds in the Waimate and Waitaki districts. ................................................................................................... 24 Table 5.2 Summary of evidence and estimated deformation characteristics of active faults and folds recognised in the Waimate and Waitaki districts (see text and appendices for explanation). ............................................................................................................................... 25 APPENDICES A1.0 APPENDIX 1: GIS LAYERS ....................................................................... 43 A2.0 APPENDIX 2: COMMENTARY ON THE MAPPING OF ACTIVE FAULT/FOLD FEATURES IN THE WAIMATE AND WAITAKI DISTRICTS ................................................................................................. 45 A2.1 BACKGROUND INFORMATION ............................................................................ 45 A2.2 SOUTHERN ALPS FAULTS (FEATURE 1) .............................................................. 46 A2.2.1 Huxley fault (feature 1a, Figure 5.1; see Figure A2.1) .................................... 46 A2.2.2 Hopkins fault (feature 1b, Figure 5.1; see Figure A2.1) .................................. 46 A2.2.3 Dingle Fault (feature 1c, Figure 5.1; see Figure A2.2) .................................... 47 A2.2.4 Ahuriri Fault (feature 1d, Figure 5.1; see Figure A2.2, Figure A2.3) ............... 48 A2.2.5 Barrier Range Fault (feature 1e, Figure 5.1; see Figure A2.2, Figure A2.3) ................................................................................................................ 49 A2.3 WATSON FAULT (FEATURE 2, FIGURE 5.1; SEE FIGURE A2.2) ............................. 49 A2.4 SNOWY GORGE FAULT (FEATURE 3, FIGURE 5.1; SEE FIGURE A2.3) ................... 50 A2.5 TIMARU CREEK FAULT (FEATURE 4, FIGURE 5.1; SEE FIGURE A2.3) ................... 51 A2.6 LINDIS PASS FAULT ZONE (FEATURE 5, FIGURE 5.1) .......................................... 51 A2.6.1 Dalrachney Fault (feature 5a, Figure 5.1; see Figure A2.3, Figure A2.4) ....... 51 A2.6.2 Longslip Fault (feature 5b, Figure 5.1; see Figure A2.3, Figure A2.4) ............ 52 A2.6.3 Lindis Pass Fault Zone activity ........................................................................ 53 A2.7 OSTLER FAULT ZONE (FEATURE 6, FIGURE 5.1; SEE FIGURE A2.4, FIGURE A2.5) .............................................................................................................. 53 A2.8 OMARAMA SADDLE FAULT (FEATURE 7, FIGURE 5.1; SEE FIGURE A2.4) .............. 55 A2.9 HAWKDUN FAULT (FEATURE 8, FIGURE 5.1; SEE FIGURE A2.4) .......................... 56 A2.10 OTEMATATA FAULT (FEATURE 9, FIGURE 5.1; SEE FIGURE A2.4, FIGURE A2.6) .............................................................................................................. 56 A2.11 FALSTONE FAULT (FEATURE 10, FIGURE 5.1; SEE FIGURE A2.5) ......................... 57 A2.12 GIBSON FAULT (FEATURE 11, FIGURE 5.1; SEE FIGURE A2.6) ............................. 57 A2.13 WAITAKI FAULT SYSTEM (FEATURE 12, FIGURE 5.1 & FIGURE 5.3) ..................... 58 A2.13.1 Middle Range Fault (feature 12a, Figure 5.3; see Figure A2.5, Figure A2.6) ................................................................................................................ 59 A2.13.2 Bitterness Fault (feature 12b, Figure 5.3; see Figure A2.6) ........................... 60 A2.13.3 Narrows fault (feature 12c, Figure 5.3; see Figure A2.6) ............................... 61 A2.13.4 Wharekuri Fault (feature 12d, Figure 5.3; see Figure A2.6, Figure A2.7) ...... 62 A2.13.5 Fern Gully Fault (feature 12e, Figure 5.1; see Figure A2.6) .......................... 63 A2.13.6 Waitangi Fault (feature 12f, Figure 5.1; see Figure A2.6) .............................. 64 ii GNS Science Consultancy Report 2015/166 A2.13.7 Awahokomo Fault (feature 12g, Figure 5.3; see Figure A2.6) ....................... 66 A2.13.8 Deep Stream Fault (feature 12h, Figure 5.3; see Figure A2.6) ...................... 67 A2.13.9 Little Awakino Fault and Kurow Hill Fault (features 12i & 12j, Figure 5.3; see Figure A2.7).............................................................................................. 68 A2.13.10 Dryburgh Fault (feature 12k, Figure 5.3; see Figure A2.6, Figure A2.7, Figure A2.8) ........................................................................................... 69 A2.13.11 Stonewall Fault (feature 12l, Figure 5.3; see Figure A2.7, Figure A2.8, Figure A2.13) ........................................................................................