Christchurch New Zealand

Hi, this is Hunter with a news flash.  Attention travelers in New Zealand.  There has been a 7.1 magnitude earthquake 40k west of Christchurch at 43 degrees 32' S, 172 degrees 07' E.  This has had extensive damage to all buildings in the area.  Also all commercial planes are grounded because of the risk of aftershocks and a cracked runway.  This earthquake has been caused by a transform fault called the Alpine fault running the length of the island.  A transform fault is a fault that moves past each each other.

This a fault type where a lot of earthquakes happen.  Recently there have been 7 other earthquakes in the last 150 years that range from 7.1-7.8 magnitude earthquakes. This fault has a variety of geological features it produces.  Like in New Zealand it produced mountains, at the Dead Sea it produced a rift valley and in California it is flat.  Most of these features aren't created by the fault because there is little pressure exerted on either plate.  Most of these features are created by how the fault was moving before it became at transform fault.  The main way you can tell a transform fault from the others is that the transform fault is one of the few that is very easy to see because there is no pressure or volcanos where they are. This fault also forms no volcanos because there is no pressure or melting rock to do so.

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http://www.dailygalaxy.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/07/29/san_andreas_fault.jpg