South Island's Lithospheric Activity

How does Earth's lithospherechange over time in the South Island of New Zealand?

Presentation by Liam O'Leary

To start, where is the location of the South Island?

Latitude and Longitude: -45.152671 S, 169.892633 WRelative Location: Southeast of the continents of Austraila and Asia, east of Africa and Tasmania, southwest of North Pacific Ocean and North America the South Pacific Ocean,

Sources and Image Credits:Note that some links were shortened to conserve space, but are still valid.http://goo.gl/NGwLY3, http://itouchmap.com/latlong.html, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Island, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpine_Fault, http://livingmoonastrology.com/tag/ceres/, http://goo.gl/KxN58V, http://goo.gl/OGtI2P

So tell me, what is happening to the South Island's lithosphere?To state simply, the two plates under the South Island, the oceanic Austrailan and Pacific Plates, are pushing and sliding against each other at a transform plate boundary, causing earthquakes and the formation of a fault line. This fault line, formely known as the Alpine Fault, lies from the western border of the Southern Alps, to past Arthur's Pass, where it then breaks apart to form several other smaller fault lines, which are accumlately called the Malborough Fault System. "Average slip rates" in the vicinity of the central area is thirty millimeters a year, which is very fast when compared to other boundaries.Various earthquakes have occured in the regions surrounding the fault line. Examples of more recent ones include the 2003 and 2009 Fiordland earthquakes, which had approximate magnitudes of 7.1 and 7.8. Below are two photos of damage caused by earthquakes occuring in South Island.

Make Connections: How is this affecting society?As you would come to expect, infrastructure is damaged or destroyed due to the area's earthquakes. In the case of a smaller, less powerful earthquake, buildings and whatever is inside would shake and maybe break, with the possibility of power being lost. But, with higher magnitude, buildings could be damaged or destroyed, with streets and bridges being aroded. To be protected from these natural distaters, people would need to have a stable food / water supply, along with making sure their shelter is stable and could not tobble over easily. In the case of a dangerous earthquake, people should be able to leave the area surrounding the earthquake easily.Below is a photo of a crew attempting to rise a giant eagle statue that was on top of the Wellington Airport, which feel through due to a earthquake. Fun fact: this and the other of two were inspired by the movie "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug".