GSNZ Wellington branch meeting
Unravelling the mystery of the legendary Haowhenua earthquake, with Chris Rollins
Mātauranga recounts that when Māori first settled Wellington Harbour, the land where Wellington airport now sits was a shallow seaway, and Miramar was an island.
Sometime around the year 1460, an earthquake known as Haowhenua uplifted the land, joining Miramar to the mainland. This was perhaps the most dramatic natural event ever witnessed by humans in the lower North Island, and references to this story can be seen around Wellington today. It is fortunate that this knowledge has been passed down, as a repeat of the Haowhenua event today could be devastating to modern Wellington.
Yet despite these impacts and implications, no one has ever worked out how large the Haowhenua earthquake really was and which fault(s) ruptured. We are attempting to solve this enduring mystery by bringing together mātauranga about the earthquake (in collaboration with Muaūpoko iwi, who trace their whakapapa to the first settlers of Wellington Harbour), coastal geology data, geophysical constraints on subsurface structure, and probabilistic 3D earthquake modelling.
This talk will also be available by Zoom, please contact wellington@gsnz.org.nz for the link.