Md. Yetton et Dc. Nobes, Recent vertical offset and near-surface structure of the Alpine Fault in Westland, New Zealand, from ground penetrating radar profiling, NZ J GEOL, 41(4), 1998, pp. 485-492
The Alpine Fault in central Westland is an oblique slip fault with a predom
inantly strike-slip component of 25-35 mm/yr. The smaller vertical componen
t has been variously estimated at between 5.5 and 14 mm/yr. Ground penetrat
ing radar and level profiles of the Alpine Fault beside the Toaroha River i
n Westland indicate that there has been vertical movement of 21.75 +/- 0.5
m of a fluvial surface dated at between 2420 and 3150 yr. This yields an av
erage vertical movement of 7.8 +/- 1 mm/yr, and is consistent with an estim
ate derived from regional studies at Paringa, which excludes the local effe
cts of tilting. It is a little higher than uplift rates of 5.5 mm/yr previo
usly estimated by Bull and Cooper, based on the current elevation of inferr
ed uplifted Pleistocene marine terraces from the same general area, but is
of the same order as their estimate.