NZ Seismicity

Summary Plots

Summary plots of catalogued events since 2007: Central North Island (taupo.pdf), Central NZ (wellington.pdf), Canterbury-Westland (canterbury.pdf) and Fiordland (fiordland.pdf). The magnitudes of events originating from the SeisComp3 system (events after 1 Jan 2012) are inconsistent with those from CUSP (events before 1 Jan 2012). Using magnitude cut-offs of 3.0 and 2.6 for CUSP and SeisComp3 based events, respectively, gives similar annual counts of event numbers. The catalogue is incomplete for smaller magnitude events.

Historical events since 1840 with magnitude ≥ 6 have been plotted (historical.pdf). The catalogue almost certainly has a deficit of tabulated events in this magnitude range prior to 1920, and probably at some other times too (see the cusum plot on Page 4).

Major NZ Events

Event Date (UTC) M Plots/Forecasts
ENE of East Cape 2021-03-04   13:28 7.1 Forecasts
Kaikoura 2016-11-13   11:03 7.8 kaikoura2016.pdf, GNS sftp dir
Te Araroa 2016-09-01   16:38 7.1 teararoa2016.pdf, GNS sftp dir
St Arnaud 2015-04-24   03:37 6.2
East of East Cape 2014-11-16   22:33 6.5 eastcape2014.pdf
Eketahuna 2014-01-20   02:53 6.2
Seddon 2 2013-08-16   02:31 6.5
Seddon 1 2013-07-21   05:09 6.5 seddon2013.pdf
Pegasus Bay 2011-06-13   02:21 6.0
Christchurch 2011-02-21   23:51 6.2 chch.pdf
Darfield 2010-09-03   16:35 7.2 darfield2010.pdf
Dusky Sound 2009-07-15   09:22 7.8 dusky2009.pdf
Gisborne 2007-12-20   07:55 6.7 gisborne2007.pdf
Puysegur Trench 2004-11-22   20:26 7.0 puysegur2004.pdf
Fiordland 2003-08-21   12:13 7.1 fiordland2003.pdf
East Cape 2001-08-21   06:51 7.1 eastcape2001.pdf
Bay of Plenty 1997-02-27   (swam) 5.6 bop1997.pdf
Offshore East Cape 1995-02-05   22:51 7.1 eastcape1995.pdf
Bay of Plenty 1994-12-15   11:20 6.3 bop1994.pdf
Arthur's Pass 1994-06-18   03:25 6.7 arthur1994.pdf
Secretary Island 1993-08-10   00:52 6.8 secretary1993.pdf
Hawks Crag Westport 1991-01-28   12:58 6.0 westport1991.pdf
Weber II 1990-05-13   04:23 6.4 weber1990.pdf
Edgecumbe 1987-03-02   01:43 6.5 edgecumbe1987.pdf
Bay of Plenty 1984-12-28   (swam) 6.7 bop1984.pdf
Puysegur Bank 1979-10-12   10:25 7.3 puysegur1979.pdf
Milford Sound 1976-05-04   13:56 6.5 milford1976.pdf
Inangahua 1968-05-23   17:24 7.1 inangahua1968.pdf
Wairarapa 2 1942-08-01   12:34 6.8
Wairarapa 1 1942-06-24   11:16 6.9
Pahiatua 1934-03-05   11:46 7.2
Hawke's Bay 2 1931-02-13   01:27 7.3
Hawke's Bay 1 1931-02-02   22:47 7.4
Murchison 1929-06-16   22:48 7.3
Arthur's Pass 1929-03-09   10:50 7.0
SE of East Cape 1914-10-06   19:16 6.6
Masterton 1913-04-12   07:42 5.6
Cheviot 1901-11-15   20:15 6.8
North Canterbury 1888-08-31   16:45 7.0
Cass 1881-12-04   20:05 6.0
Linton 1881-06-25   17:55 6.7
Waipukurau 1863-02-22   13:00 7.5
Wairarapa 1855-01-23   09:32 8.2
Marlborough 1848-10-15   14:10 7.4
Ruahine Range 1843-07-08   05:30 7.6
(175.1°E, 39.4°S) 1838 6.5
(175.0°E, 37.0°S) 1835 6.5
(167.0°E, 45.0°S) 1826 7.5
(167.0°E, 46.0°S) 1817 6.5
(174.0°E, 39.0°S) 1815 6.5
(167.0°E, 46.0°S) 1792-12-02   02hrs 5.5
(174.0°E, 41.0°S) 1773-05-11   05hrs 5.5
(174.8°E, 41.4°S) 1460 7.5

Data are sourced from GeoNet NZ. Also see The Encyclopedia of NZ and 10.1177/8755293019878190 Fig 2. Some related code examples are in the ‘demos’ in package ssEDA.

Global Seismicity

Global seismicity is summarised as an epicentral plot (world.pdf) of global events with magnitude ≥ 6 between 1964 and 2010. Data are taken from the PDE Catalogue and the selected magnitude is calculated as max(mb, Ms).