Canterbury Earthquakes

[Storm Struck]

Felt like a 4.8 to me wasnt as sharp jolting as those 5 plus quakes so have a general feel for them, in a way i am glad it was off south shore as the quakes have been moving north the past few days with quite a few centred under north new brighton/parklands.

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

I was in a garage in Hillmorten when it struck.
Noisy and rattly but nothing much to comment about.

[Storm Struck]

So another long night again, we had a 4.0 magnitude just after 10pm but was just drifting off to sleep when the house took off from under me again.
Quite strong jolting and rolling for about 10-12 seconds, followed by a second modertae jolt 2 minutes later.
5.1 magnitude was the first one, centred simular spot to the 5.8 on december 23rd, and the second one was a 4.3 magnitude just some 5km off the coast at kaiapoi here next to the big kaiapoi fault which has been talked about in the press just on saturday.
Keep getting low rumbles coming through only small since though so thank god for that, but its certainly unnerving.

[Richard]

whoo, i was just looking at Canterbury Quake Live when that one hit,have to be a 5 + i would say

[Storm Struck]

Another violent wake up, there was actually two parts to that quake it settled down then took off again so i would imagine the 5.5 reading will be revised.
Definatly felt closer to a 6.0 but very close to the coast, still shaking abit myself havnt checked the house yet.
Aftershocks were fairly constant afterwards but have been quiet for a good 20 minutes now which feels very odd.

[Richard]

Gees ya reckon it was that big Jase??,didn't feel close to a 6 here

[Storm Struck]

May have been because we are very close to the epicentre's, but i think it will go up to about maybe 5.7 atleast.

[Richard]

I can only compare the fives and over here,low fives and its a gentle rock,6 and the house bangs,&knocks&and swings the pot plants about,that 5.45am one felt somewhere between

[Orion]

I felt that 5.45am quake, in two parts - a 'heads-up' and a few seconds later the unmistakeable lurch & rattle. Guessed it'd be big further north.
Take care.

[Nev]

GNS have the 5.45am one at M5.5 with a default depth of 15km, although media reports are that it was actually 2 quakes, 12 seconds apart - both of similar magnitude

[snowstormwatcher]

Felt the 5.5 here.

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

Just a jittering motion here with no noise, but it did seem to have a bit of a jolt at the end like 'Dump thunder'

[CHCH Weather Chaser]

Not looking forward to returning to all this!

[Orion]

Yesterday morning about 6.30am I set up my Earthquake Indicator Mark I model, a 1.5l plastic bottle half-filled with water coloured with red food-colouring, laid on its side on the windowsill. From where I sat I could clearly see the reflection on the surface of the liquid. It was constantly quivering for a couple of hours, before going as still as I'd expected it to be. I can only suppose that showed some sort of subterranean vibration reaching us, even though I noticed no more shaking. [No other variables.] How extraordinary.
Take care up there.

[Richard]

What a neat for a earthquake indicator,it certainly much show the very small vibration well,right then,going to set one of those up myself.

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

Better indicator than the ones I had placed around the place, here.
None have fallen down here, incidentally, since the quake at 3:18pm on the 23rd.

[Storm Struck]

Different set of quakes these John i think, because they are out to sea the energy is focused on strong rolling/circular motion rather than jolting and jarring which means the house goes with the movement.
Starting to think of further plans for future potential large events, as theres been alot of talk about some of these bigger offshore faults including one at the head of the waimak river.
Nothing we can do about it but prepare really, just unfortunate we are in the middle of a seismic series of events in the region which may well continue for some years yet.
Its been nice today ( i will touch wood yes ) there hasnt been any felt here last one was at 10:30pm last night, i have no idea what will happen next as there are alot more faults in the bay than on the plains so its anyones guess.

[tgsnoopy]

I still reckon a pencil stood on end is a good indicator.

The surface of water indicator one you describe isn't one I've tried (Yet).

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

Today, I was talking to someone today who lived through the Inangahua and the Edgecumbe earthquakes.
They mentioned that the aftershocks died down more quickly after the initial earthquake as compared to the Christchurch Area Earthquakes, which seem to continue, as compared to those quakes.
In my thinking ,is because, the ruptures/faults are much there waiting to be activated rather than in areas where other established earthquakes have occured, hense more and elongated period of aftershocks for the Christchurch Area .

I'm calling the earthquake period as the ChCh Area Earthquakes, from now, as from September the 4th of 2010, the series of quakes have occured in a west to east area from Darfield to Pegasus Bay rather than in other areas of Canterbury. Places like Waimate or Cheviot or Ashburton or Timaru,haven't had a quake located close to their town

[tgsnoopy]

I suspect Christchurch has had something like 6 different major quakes each with their own aftershocks.

After the time period that's elapsed since the first quake, I think it's pretty safe to think they aren't about to stop any time soon. Sadly I also wouldn't be at all surprised if an above magnitude 6 event occurs again.

My concern is the continuation of stress activating adjacent faults, maye even ones that aren't that close. What about that Alpine Fault or Wellington even, heck it might even go off up here.

[David]

My concern is the continuation of stress activating adjacent faults, maye even ones that aren't that close. What about that Alpine Fault or Wellington even, heck it might even go off up here.

I don't think the shakes in Chch could influence faults as far away as that. There is a fault in Pegasus Bay capable of producing a magnitude 7 quake and the aftershocks are getting close to that, hopefully it doesn't rupture.

[Storm Struck]

My concern is the continuation of stress activating adjacent faults, maye even ones that aren't that close. What about that Alpine Fault or Wellington even, heck it might even go off up here.

I don't think the shakes in Chch could influence faults as far away as that. There is a fault in Pegasus Bay capable of producing a magnitude 7 quake and the aftershocks are getting close to that, hopefully it doesn't rupture.

The other fault which was talked about on the news last night, is off the waimak river and also has the potential to produce up to a 7.0.
However i think the lenth of the fault which is about the same as the port hills fault, would reduce the potential magnitude size because for surface faults the longer they are the bigger potential magnitude.
Maybe more around 6.4-6.7 and even that being very close by here would cause considerable damage to the house compared to any of the events of the past 15 months.
You can see this fault on quake live looks like a hump, there has been a few centred around this fault already over the past few weeks with a 4.1 on december 23rd and a 4.3 on January 2nd.
They are really just a part of our lives now, i even stayed in bed for the 5.1 and 5.5's the other morning i think its something in you that tells you whether its going to be big or not whether to run under the door, and you can judge by the incoming rumble too.

[Storm Struck]

The briefing today wasnt really anything we didnt already know, just sounds like they are covering thier buts as each month passes the possibilty of another 6 plus is low just like it has been for the past 15 months yet we still keep getting 6 plus events.
The decades of shakes ahead i think is abit over the top, or atleast it needs to be explained in more detail to the public i think as im sure many think they mean it will go on like it is now for 20-30 years which isnt the case.
They do peter out over time, just depends whether or not we get another really big one and where its located as to how long the sequence of aftershocks from it would go on for.
I would say we would be looking at 5-8 years with the next 2-3 years the more active and slowing down after that but thats just my opinion.
Just had another shake too which was 4.7 quite more rolly these ones rather then being jolty.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/christc ... g-briefing

[NZ Thunderstorm Soc]

Nothing felt over here today

[Razor]

That 5.2 at 1.20am was a real doozy over here. Reactivated the Port Hills too with a small one in Cashmere this morning.

On it bloody goes.