This activity was developed for the Earthquake Commission (EQC) and I am at the south island of New Zealand! The Alpine fault, and its transition to the Marlborough Fault System in the northern South Island of New Zealand, offer such an opportunity using late Holocene geologic slip rates and vectors to assess an important on-land transitional plate boundary. The research team drilled to a depth of 893 m directly into the active Alpine Fault in Whataroa, New Zealand. The Alpine Fault is sometimes compared with California’s San Andreas Fault, being another fast-moving strike slip fault near a plate boundary. However, its long term behaviour is unknown. plate boundaries under the North and South Islands representing the North Island subduction zone and the South Island Alpine Fault. This diagram shows the South Island of New Zealand. By the end of this activity, students should be able to: understand the movement of plate boundaries in different parts of New Zealand. Find out how it was discovered and learn what science can tell us about Alpine Fault earthquakes. The Alpine Fault is a geological fault, known as a right-lateral strike-slip fault, that runs almost the entire length of New Zealand's South Island. Recent field investigations revealed a unique opportunity to develop a long earthquake record for the Alpine Fault. Gold was discovered in distinctive rocks near Queenstown on the southeast side of the fault. New Zealand’s own major, plate boundary fault – the Alpine Fault – is one of the fastest slipping faults in the world and is known to rupture in large earthquakes. The fault line is where the Eurasian and … Take a tour along the Alpine Fault, Aotearoa New Zealand’s on-land plate boundary and one of the longest natural straight lines in the world! The Alpine Fault runs right through the heart of New Zealand's glacier county on the country's south island. The fault moves at about 26 mm … More exactly, the Alpine Fault. 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