Hope Fault

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The Hope Fault is a right-lateral oblique slip fault in the South Island of New Zealand. It extends northeast from the Alpine Fault on the West Coast to the Pacific Ocean near Kaikoura on the islands East Coast. The last rupture of the Hope Fault was in 1888 when an earthquake of estimated magnitude 7-7.3 displaced the fault horizontally by approximately 2.5m. This was the first time that lateral movement was internationally recognised in a fault. Movement on the Hope Fault over many thousands of years has opened up the hanmer basin and the presence of the fault is also the cause of the hot springs in Hanmer Springs.

[edit] References

• Cowan, 1991