The 2016 Kaikoura earthquake was one of the most complex faulting events ever observed. GNS Science researcher Yoshiro Kaneko and University of Tokyo researcher Ryosuke Ando used computer simulations to investigate how the complex three‐dimensional geometry of faults played a role in the seismic activity that occurred during the Kaikoura earthquake. Their model has led to a better understanding of how and why the earthquake occurred. Their work demonstrates the importance of three‐dimensional fault geometry in understanding the dynamics of multifault earthquakes.

Further information

A link to an abstract of the paper, published in AGO100 Advancing Earth and Space Science, is here.