image: Inset shows New Zealand's North Island and South Island, with dashed box outlining the site of the more detailed map. The line of yellow circles shows the sites where scientists from the University of Utah and elsewhere made measurements to reveal the location of water rising upward beneath the north end of the South Island. The Pacific Plate of Earth's crust is diving or subducting beneath New Zealand and the rest of the Australian Plate of the crust. The study found that near the Pacific coast, water rising from the subduction zone is helping form new faults. Farther inland on the South Island, the rising water aids the movements of the Alpine fault and other strike-slip faults southeast of it. Closer to the island's west coast, water from deep within the subduction zone apparently aid the rupture of steep thrust faults, shown by lines over the tan, orange and red areas. view more
Credit: Phil Wannamaker and Doug Jensen, University of Utah.