Model describes New Zealand's complex tectonic environment
Monday, March 19, 2012 - 17:30
in Earth & Climate
At the Hikurangi fault, off the eastern coast of New Zealand's North Island, the Pacific tectonic plate sinks beneath the Australian plate. Farther south, in the Marlborough Fault System, which cuts through the country's larger South Island, the interaction between the two slabs turns such that the plates grind edge-on.