April 28, 2016 - NEW ZEALAND - White Island erupted last night.
The volcanic island, off the coast of the Bay of Plenty, erupted yesterday between 9.30pm and 11pm, GNS Science said.
As a consequence of this activity the Volcanic Alert Level is now raised
to Level 3 (Minor Volcanic Eruption) and the Aviation Colour Code to
Orange.
No eruptive activity has been seen since about 11pm yesterday.
The eruption was accompanied by a moderately elevated seismic activity, GNS said. The seismic activity is now back to normal.
Material appears to have been deposited over north side of the crater
floor and up onto north crater wall. There is not yet a clear view of
crater area visible from cameras.
Volcanologists are monitoring the volcano and further information will be released as soon as it is available.
Over the last couple of weeks, GNS scientists have observed a fall of 2m in the water level of the crater lake.
However,
they have not noted any changes in other monitored parameters, like the
amount of volcanic gas being emitted, fumarole temperatures and the
presence of volcanic tremor or earthquakes.
During a visit last week by GNS volcanologist Brad Scott he was able to
confirm the lake level had dropped 2m in the last 2 weeks. The lake was
now about the same level as it was in 2014. The drop in water level of
the crater lake has revealed several islands or crater outlines and the
lake temperature has increased 2C, from 56C to 58C, since February.
There had been a small decrease in the temperature of the hottest
fumarole (169C to 161C) since February. The SO2 gas output has ranged
between 90 and 480 tonnes per day (1.0 to 5.5 kg per second) of gas
during the last 5 weeks. These are typical values for White Island.
The level of volcanic tremor continues to vary, but remains below those
observed in 2012 when unrest was stronger and small eruptions occurred.
February 2, 2016 - NEW ZEALAND - A 6.6 magnitude earthquake 1100km off the North Island was responsible for the tremors that shook New Zealanders this morning.
Geonet seismologist John Ristau said the tremors felt in Bay of Plenty, Tararua and Canterbury were not official earthquakes.
There had been reports that a 5.3 magnitude quake was recorded 35 km
south of Murupara and that 5.0 magnitude quake struck 20 km north west
of Pongaroa.
A third quake was said to have hit 15km south-west of Amberley.
USGS shakemap intensity.
The shakes weren't official earthquakes but ripple effects of a 6.6. earthquake near Raoul Island.
Geonet received more than 500 reports of people who had felt shakes, Mr Ristau said.
There would be few aftershocks because the earthquake was so deep, he said.
Several people have reported feeling the quakes on social media, in areas including Bay of Plenty and Wellington.
Fire Service and police northern communications have received no reports of damage.
A spokesman for the Murupara police said he was outside when the
earthquake was recorded as happening and he didn't feel a thing. He said
there had been no calls from members of the public.
A woman spoken to at Murupara Area School was also surprised to hear
reports of a quake - saying she didn't feel anything and nobody at the
school had felt the quake. - New Zealand Herald.
Seismotectonics of the Eastern Margin of the Australia Plate
The eastern margin of the Australia plate is one of the most sesimically active areas of the world due to high rates of convergence between the Australia and Pacific plates. In the region of New Zealand, the 3000 km long Australia-Pacific plate boundary extends from south of Macquarie Island to the southern Kermadec Island chain. It includes an oceanic transform (the Macquarie Ridge), two oppositely verging subduction zones (Puysegur and Hikurangi), and a transpressive continental transform, the Alpine Fault through South Island, New Zealand.
Since 1900 there have been 15 M7.5+ earthquakes recorded near New Zealand. Nine of these, and the four largest, occurred along or near the Macquarie Ridge, including the 1989 M8.2 event on the ridge itself, and the 2004 M8.1 event 200 km to the west of the plate boundary, reflecting intraplate deformation. The largest recorded earthquake in New Zealand itself was the 1931 M7.8 Hawke's Bay earthquake, which killed 256 people. The last M7.5+ earthquake along the Alpine Fault was 170 years ago; studies of the faults' strain accumulation suggest that similar events are likely to occur again.
USGS plate tectonics for the region.
North of New Zealand, the Australia-Pacific boundary stretches east of Tonga and Fiji to 250 km south of Samoa. For 2,200 km the trench is approximately linear, and includes two segments where old (greater than 120 Myr) Pacific oceanic lithosphere rapidly subducts westward (Kermadec and Tonga). At the northern end of the Tonga trench, the boundary curves sharply westward and changes along a 700 km-long segment from trench-normal subduction, to oblique subduction, to a left lateral transform-like structure.
Australia-Pacific convergence rates increase northward from 60 mm/yr at the southern Kermadec trench to 90 mm/yr at the northern Tonga trench; however, significant back arc extension (or equivalently, slab rollback) causes the consumption rate of subducting Pacific lithosphere to be much faster. The spreading rate in the Havre trough, west of the Kermadec trench, increases northward from 8 to 20 mm/yr. The southern tip of this spreading center is propagating into the North Island of New Zealand, rifting it apart. In the southern Lau Basin, west of the Tonga trench, the spreading rate increases northward from 60 to 90 mm/yr, and in the northern Lau Basin, multiple spreading centers result in an extension rate as high as 160 mm/yr. The overall subduction velocity of the Pacific plate is the vector sum of Australia-Pacific velocity and back arc spreading velocity: thus it increases northward along the Kermadec trench from 70 to 100 mm/yr, and along the Tonga trench from 150 to 240 mm/yr.
The Kermadec-Tonga subduction zone generates many large earthquakes on the interface between the descending Pacific and overriding Australia plates, within the two plates themselves and, less frequently, near the outer rise of the Pacific plate east of the trench. Since 1900, 40 M7.5+ earthquakes have been recorded, mostly north of 30°S. However, it is unclear whether any of the few historic M8+ events that have occurred close to the plate boundary were underthrusting events on the plate interface, or were intraplate earthquakes. On September 29, 2009, one of the largest normal fault (outer rise) earthquakes ever recorded (M8.1) occurred south of Samoa, 40 km east of the Tonga trench, generating a tsunami that killed at least 180 people.
Across the North Fiji Basin and to the west of the Vanuatu Islands, the Australia plate again subducts eastwards beneath the Pacific, at the North New Hebrides trench. At the southern end of this trench, east of the Loyalty Islands, the plate boundary curves east into an oceanic transform-like structure analogous to the one north of Tonga.
Australia-Pacific convergence rates increase northward from 80 to 90 mm/yr along the North New Hebrides trench, but the Australia plate consumption rate is increased by extension in the back arc and in the North Fiji Basin. Back arc spreading occurs at a rate of 50 mm/yr along most of the subduction zone, except near ~15°S, where the D'Entrecasteaux ridge intersects the trench and causes localized compression of 50 mm/yr in the back arc. Therefore, the Australia plate subduction velocity ranges from 120 mm/yr at the southern end of the North New Hebrides trench, to 40 mm/yr at the D'Entrecasteaux ridge-trench intersection, to 170 mm/yr at the northern end of the trench.
Large earthquakes are common along the North New Hebrides trench and have mechanisms associated with subduction tectonics, though occasional strike slip earthquakes occur near the subduction of the D'Entrecasteaux ridge. Within the subduction zone 34 M7.5+ earthquakes have been recorded since 1900. On October 7, 2009, a large interplate thrust fault earthquake (M7.6) in the northern North New Hebrides subduction zone was followed 15 minutes later by an even larger interplate event (M7.8) 60 km to the north. It is likely that the first event triggered the second of the so-called earthquake "doublet".
July 19, 2013 - NEW ZEALAND- A 4.3 quake hit the east coast of New Zealand tonight, following a 4.5 magnitude quake in central New Zealand this afternoon, and a 5.7 earthquake that rattled people in Wellington and Blenheim this morning.
USGS earthquake locations.
Geonet reported tonight's quake was 20km east of Te Araroa, a settlement on the east coast of the north island, near the southern edge of the Bay of Plenty. The quake was 62km deep and hit at 11.42pm.
GeoNet reported this afternoon's was of a "strong" intensity, 35km east of Seddon, at a depth of 15km. The quake hit at 3.21pm.
The first quake struck at 9.06am and was centred 30km east of Seddon, south of Blenheim, at a depth of 8km.
Rated as severe, it turned Wellington office workers white-knuckled as it swayed high-rises in the capital, with buildings also being rocked in Blenheim.
The shallow tremor was felt as far away as Christchurch and New Plymouth.
In Wellington it was felt as one jolt, gradually picking up in intensity, while those in Blenheim felt two shakes.
GeoNet said it received more than 6000 reports after the jolt. It said the fact it struck off the South Island spared the region from its full force, though there were a few reports that it had a damaging intensity.
Though it had knocked goods off shelves in Blenheim it was much too small to cause a tsunami, GeoNet said.
An offshore earthquake needed to be at least magnitude 7.5 for a tsunami to be considered possible.
The quake was preceded by a magnitude-2.9 "foreshock" in the same location 6 minutes before the main shock.
An Earthqake Commission spokeswoman said 14 claims had been received following the first quake, but she expected more once people got home from work.
It was too early to itemise the claims, she said.
By 11am there had been 17 aftershocks in the region, the largest a magnitude 3.7, 30km east of Seddon.
Aftershocks were likely to continue for the next 24 hours.
Early analysis had the fault movement as "reverse faulting", meaning each side of the fault was being compressed.
'LIKE A BLOODY ROLLERCOASTER'
In Marlborough, Lake Grassmere farmer Peter Davison said he had never seen his house buck and shake so much.
"It was like being on a bloody rollercoaster," he said.
He was looking out the window of his Marfells Beach Rd home when it hit.
It was worse than the Boxing Day quake in 2010, which he had been in Christchurch for, he said.
"I've never felt anything like it," he said.
SHAKEN UP: This Geonet map shows quake felt reports across New Zealand. Yellow is strong, green is moderate and blue is light.
His fishing rods had fallen and lay scattered around his library and pictures were askew on the walls.
"It's a wooden house and I've never seen the walls move like this," he said.
Blenheim New World supermarket owner Ashley Shore said about 100 items fell off the shelves, but no-one was too fazed.
"The team cleaned it up pretty quickly and there was actually customers in the aisles who just carried on shopping," he said.
Seddon Supervalue till operator Carrie Rule said staff and the one customer at the supermarket during the earthquake were a bit shaky.
"She was a good one," Rule said.
WATCH: Strong earthquakes rock central NZ.
"We're all still a bit shaky but it wasn't too bad, no stock fell off the shelves or anything, but apparently there was a truck in the car park which was shaking back and forth."
Winemaker Peter Yealands from the Awatere Valley said it was the biggest quake he could recall.
"The tanks moved a bit and the staff were a bit scared, as you'd expect," Yealands said.
It was the first major quake for the Yealands Estate winery, since it was built in 2008. Sitting on a fault line area it had been designed to withstand a magnitude-8 earthquake.
Wellington office workers reported ducking under their desks when the quake arrived at 9.06am, and there was a report of lifts in some buildings being out of action.
It "felt like I was standing on a skate board," Mena Bassily said.
"I was at the gym on one floor and hoped it was only Wellington, not a bigger remote earthquake harming another NZ city somewhere else".
Auckland school teacher Barbara Brewer, visiting Wellington for the national under-19 netball championships was shocked.
"Holy shite, how often do quakes that shake the whole house happen?" she said.
The coach of the Auckland side which last night won the national title, had been in the shower.
RAIL PRECAUTIONS
KiwiRail had put precautionary restrictions on trains going through tunnels or over bridges, a spokeswoman said.
They extended from Otaki, just south of Levin, to just north of Kaikoura, she said.
Restrictions meant trains would travel slowly across bridges and through tunnels.
All the structures and lines would be checked before the restrictions were lifted.
Bridge inspections were being done as a precaution in Marlborough, Marlborough Roads general manager Frank Porter said.
Marlborough Roads was not aware of any issues. No problems been reported. - Stuff.
June 03, 2013 - NEW ZEALAND - MetService has issued severe weather watches for parts of the country.
Westland, Buller, Nelson, Marlborough, Canterbury, Wellington,
Wairarapa, Bay of Plenty and Rotorua are among the regions set to face
heavy rain and wild weather over the next 24 hours.
Motorists stuck at Burkes Pass - Source: Renier Figuracion.
Pictures sent to ONE News show heavy snow has been causing disruptions for motorists on the last day of the long weekend.
Vehicles with chains waited for hours this afternoon for roads to open in Burkes Pass, just north of Tekapo.
Eight firefighters in the area were called to push at least half a
dozen cars out of the snow and assist police with road control,
Volunteer Fire Chief Officer Craig Willis said.
MetService says there is a high possibility of heavy snow in North
Canterbury and Marlborough tomorrow as the cold southerly rain turns
into snow above 400 meters.
Burkes Pass closes due to snow - Source: Bethany Rentoul.
Heavy rain and gales are expected for central New Zealand tomorrow as
a front is expected to move slowly across the upper South Island and
lower North Island .
Snow of about 500 meters is predicted for Hanmer Springs and Seddon areas. Road toll
As of early evening, there had been no deaths on the road this long
weekend, putting the country on track to achieving the first zero road
toll over the Queen's Birthday Holiday since records began.
But with snow and flooding in many southern areas, police are warning motorists to take extra care. - TVNZ.
November 28, 2012 - NEW ZEALAND - Rotorua and the Bay of Plenty have been a hotbed of unusual aerial activity, with multiple sightings of strange phenomena in the region's skies. On Monday or Tuesday night on October 29 or 30, at least four people at the Challenge petrol station on Malfroy Rd witnessed five glowing orbs move slowly across the road toward Sunset Rd for about 30 seconds before they disappeared behind trees. A Challenge petrol station employee, who only wanted to be known as Michelle, said she and at least three others watched the orbs, which appeared about 8pm just before dark. "A customer came in and asked 'can you see that?', we were all wondering what was going on. "They were all perfectly round with a larger orange-coloured orb leading about four smaller orbs all in a line about the same distance apart. They were moving on an angle before they disappeared behind some trees." Michelle said the glowing orbs were in the sky about 200m to 300m away from the service station forecourt and they watched them for about 30 seconds.
"There's no way they were lights from a plane, they were too big and were not flashing. Our first thought was it was something military but there was no noise and they were just floating there. "We were all a bit freaked out but we weren't imagining things. I'm not one to sensationalise things ... I was reading the paper every day to see if anyone else had seen them." Michelle said they all knew they had seen something strange but she had not talked about it since. "People might think I'm a bit mad, but I was in the air force and I know what an aeroplane looks like," she said. In another recent sighting, a Lake Tarawera resident who wished to remain anonymous, said he photographed a bright orange orb as it slowly moved across the lake about two months ago. The man, who lives on Spenser Rd, said he and his wife watched a colourful floating orb for about five minutes before it floated off to the right of Rainbow Mountain heading toward Tauranga. "We saw it heading from roughly a southern position heading north low in the sky. It appeared to be a rotating ball with varying colours. It was not along any flights paths that I see airplanes on either. "It continued going north at a steady, relatively slow speed, so I had time to get out the camera but unfortunately the picture isn't that great."
The man said he was left with a strange feeling he had seen something out of the ordinary. During a number of separate sightings this month a rural Rotorua resident filmed what he described as a "blinking ufo object and big bright sphere object" as well as a "bright light ufo, strange skies ufo and fireballs". The man uploaded his films to the video sharing website YouTube identifying himself as horsefarmer1000. In one of the videos there is also an obvious meteor shower at the end and satellites in the sky. But, there are some floating, flashing lights in the videos which do not look like an aeroplane or helicopter. One of the videos has had more than 3280 views with the filming taking place on November 4 and November 8. Horsefarmer1000 declined to be interviewed by The Daily Post but links to his films were sent to New Zealand UFO investigation organisation Ufocus NZ. Ufocus director Suzanne Hansen said she had watched the videos but said without speaking to the person it was difficult to say what was going on. "I did not see anything that could not be explained in conventional terms. "If people believe they have captured a UFO on film, we are able to send it to the United States for photographic data analysis with either a physicist and optical data analyst, or a retired Nasa scientist, who assist Ufocus NZ in our work. "We think this is a more credible way of ascertaining its veracity than posting it on YouTube." However, Ms Hansen said the organisation had received some very detailed sighting reports in the Rotorua/Tauranga/Kaimai area in the past year.
"In December 2011 we received a report from a small group of witnesses who observed an object, which was not an aircraft, which came to within 15m of their position and "followed" them for a couple of kilometres. "In March of this year, we received a report from a scientist who had a similar experience at a Northland beach and who provided an identical description to that given by the December 2011 witnesses. She said in June, a person onboard an aircraft approaching Tauranga from Rotorua saw a silver/white disc-shaped object at a low altitude above the treetops and in July a retired commercial pilot saw a large silver spherical object accompanied by two white/silver V shaped objects over Tauranga Harbour. Ms Hansen said there had been numerous reports in the Bay of Plenty and throughout the country, of very large orange balls of light. "It is interesting to note that when the December 2011 witnesses first sighted an anomalous light, it was a large orange orb. As it came closer they were able to see the object within this orange glow. "At close proximity the object had "switched off" the glow and the witnesses were able to see considerable detail." Ms Hansen said the organisation had received more UFO sighting reports this year than in any other year. If you have had an encounter or sighting of a UFO you can contact Ms Hansen here. - NZ Herald.
Scientists from New Zealand discovered a hydrothermal vent on an undersea volcano. During a three week expedition, they took samples from a variety of deep-sea habitats. The researchers from the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) have been studying four different undersea habitats: seamounts, hydrothermal vents, continental slope and canyons, at depths of between 2,297 and 4,921 feet (700 and 1500 meters).
A sonar image of the Tangaroa Seamount.
"We were able to collect both underwater footage and specimens of chemosynthetic barnacles, mussels, and shrimps on Tangaroa Seamount, confirming active hydrothermal venting," says voyage leader Dr. Malcolm Clark. "These animals are adapted to the specific combination of depth, temperature and chemical composition of the venting fluids." The team hopes that the work will lead to a better understanding of how human activities such as seabed drilling, fishing and mining affect deep-sea communities. There are 50 submarine volcanoes stretching along New Zealand’s Kermadec Ridge. It's a significant feature of the Western Pacific, extending almost 932 miles (1,500 kilometers) to the edge of the New Zealand exclusive economic zone (EEZ) northeast of the Kermadec Islands. Hydrothermal vents associated with these volcanoes release hot water and gases with different chemical compositions, so specific communities have adapted to survive in each area. "The benthic community on Tangaroa seamount, a combination of mussels and barnacles and shrimps, isn't unique, but differs from that found on a number of neighboring seamounts,” says Clark.
“The seamount communities were also very different from those we observed and sampled on the slope and canyons, which typically had muddy seafloor, rather than rocks. This trip confirmed our working hypothesis that the environments generated in these different deep-sea habitats vary in their characteristics, and they result in faunal communities that can differ, within close proximity. The implication is that the exploitation of one seamount could have an effect that is not the same as the seamount close by." The information obtained from this voyage will be combined with the first voyage and analyzed over the coming year to determine the overall vulnerability patterns. These will then be used in ecological risk assessments to help improve environmental management. "We collected thousands of specimens,” says Clark. “There is almost certainly something new, as typically almost 10 percent of what we catch in the deep sea is new to science or new to New Zealand. The voyage also sampled extensively in canyons which have not been surveyed before, and so the expectation is that there will be many new discoveries once the samples and photographic data are analyzed." A short video highlighting some of the vent and seamount fauna discovered during the expedition is available on Vimeo here. The picture shows a squid found in the area. - Global Adventures.
Scientists are saying the Tanagaroa seamount off the Bay of Plenty coast should be declared off limits to commercial exploitation by fishing and mining. A group of Wellington scientists have just confirmed volcanic activity on the deep water seamount. Niwa principal scientist Malcolm Clark says they have discovered new hydrothermal vents, which create chimney-like structures.
A sonar image of the Tangaroa Seamount.
"Some of the venting we found was very high temperature, black smoker type situations, where the temperature is several hundred degrees Celsius," says Malcolm. He has just returned from taking the first biological samples of the animals which have adapted to Tangaroa's unique environmental conditions. The top of the seamount is nearly a kilometre below the ocean's surface. "These are species which are adapted to live in quite extreme conditions, high levels of hydrogen sulphide which is toxic to most life forms, quite high temperatures, they're deep, there's no light, they're under quite high pressure," says Malcolm. The research will help agencies protect these habitats from fishing or mining. "These seamounts and deep sea areas in general are sites of deep sea trawling for species like orange roughy and they're also of interest for seabed mining," says Malcolm. While there's no sea bed mining at the moment, Australian-based companies Nautilus and Neptune minerals have licences to explore for what is known as "sea floor massive sulphides". "These are deposits that are rich in copper and zinc and also some gold and silver associated with them that occur on the seamounts," says Malcolm.
Niwa's research vessel Tangaroa recently returned from a three-week voyage, with pictures, film footage and samples of new discoveries from the deep-sea floor, including footage of a new hydrothermal vent on an undersea volcano on the Tangaroa seamount. "We were able to collect both underwater footage and specimens of chemosynthetic barnacles, mussels, and shrimps on Tangaroa Seamount," says Malcolm. There are 50 submarine volcanoes stretching along the Kermadec Ridge. It's a significant feature of the Western Pacific, extending almost 1500km to the edge of the New Zealand., northeast of the Kermadec Islands. Hydrothermal vents associated with these volcanoes release hot water and gases with different chemical compositions, so specific communities have adapted to survive in each area. "The benthic community on Tangaroa seamount, a combination of mussels and barnacles and shrimps, isn't unique, but differs from that found on a number of neighbouring seamounts. "The seamount communities were also very different from those we observed and sampled on the slope and canyons, which typically had muddy seafloor, rather than rocks. "This trip confirmed our working hypothesis that the environments generated in these different deep-sea habitats vary in their characteristics, and they result in faunal communities that can differ, within close proximity," says Malcolm. "The implication is that the exploitation of one seamount could have an effect that is not the same as the seamount close by." - SUN Live.
Last week, a landslide occurred on the main road out of Gisborne in the North Island of New Zealand, which blocked the Waioeka Gorge. Remarkably, the landslide was captured with a high quality video. The slip dropped without much warning. According to officials, the gorge, which is used to link Gisborne and the Bay of Plenty, could be closed for up to six weeks after the landslide.
