Strike-slip ground-surface rupture (Greendale Fault) associated with the 4 September 2010 Darfield earthquake, Canterbury, New Zealand

Abstract

Abstract This paper provides a photographic tour of the ground-surface rupture features of the Greendale Fault, formed during the 4 September 2010 Darfield earthquake. The fault, previously unknown, produced at least 29.5 km of strike-slip surface deformation of right-lateral (dextral) sense. Deformation, spread over a zone between 30 and 300 m wide, consisted mostly of horizontal flexure with subsidiary discrete shears, the latter only prominent where overall displacement across the zone exceeded about 1.5 m. A remarkable feature of this event was its location in an intensively farmed landscape, where a multitude of straight markers, such as fences, roads and ditches, allowed precise measurements of offsets, and permitted well-defined limits to be placed on the length and widths of the surface rupture deformation.