Slow slip events under the North Island equivalent to a magnitude 7 earthquake

Two recent slow-slip events have caused movement at the tectonic plate boundary of the same magnitude as a magnitude-7 earthquake.

The slow-slide events under the central and eastern North Island occurred during 2022, but most people won’t know because humans don’t feel them.

One event, under Manawat, is still in progress, although it appears to be slowing down. The other, under Hawk’s Bay was relatively short-lived and seemed to be discontinued.

Slow slip events are similar to earthquakes in slow motion, which unfold over weeks to months, said Laura Wallace, a geophysicist at GNS Science.

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Tectonic plates slip past each other, relieving the cumulative tectonic stress that built up while locking the plates together.

Wallace said that these slow-motion events do not occur along the boundaries of the state plate.

For example, the plates beneath Wellington and Wairarapa were closed together for probably hundreds of years.

GeoNet

This model shows the movement in the Hikurangi subduction zone under Kapiti Manawati since December 2021, in centimeters.

“The pressure that builds up between the locked plates will eventually mitigate a major earthquake sometime in the future.”

The slow slip event under the leadership of Manawat initially began under Kāpiti in late 2021, then traveled north.

This was the first slow slide in the Manawatu region in about six years. These events usually occur every five years in the region.

“30-50 km below Manawatu, the Pacific Plate started moving slowly again in January after it got stuck in the Australian plate above,” Wallace said.

About 15 cm of movement along the subduction zone plate boundary, below the central North Island, has been recorded so far at GeoNet GPS Network locations in Manawatu.

GeoNet

This model shows the amount of movement in the Hikurangi subduction zone under Hawke’s Bay since late June 2022, in centimeters.

“We usually see 3.5 cm of movement there every year, so that’s a movement that lasted four years in just seven months,” Wallace said.

The slip also caused surface movement of up to 2-3 cm, mostly eastward and upward, at the GeoNet GPS locations above the slip.

This amount of movement over a six-month period is equivalent to what would happen in a 6.9-magnitude earthquake.

The short-lived Hook’s Bay slow-slip event was an example of the type of event that occurs frequently in the shallow part of the Hikurangi subduction zone.

The area, along the east coast of the North Island, is the plate boundary where the Australian plate sinks west under the Pacific plate.

Wallace said the slow-slide event at Hawke’s Bay began in late June 2022 and appears to have ended in mid-July.

GNSS Science

The Pacific plate descends below the Australian plate along the Hikurangi subduction zone off the east coast of the North Island.

It caused a displacement of up to 2 cm at some GPS locations along the east coast of the North Island above the subduction zone.

This indicates more than 7 cm of movement over the offshore subduction zone below Hawke’s Bay. That movement on the plate boundary was equivalent to an earthquake of magnitude 6.8.

Wallace said that the combined slow-slide events in Hawke’s Bay and Manawatu involved motion equivalent to a magnitude 7 earthquake.

The slow slip event at Manawatū could have caused the pressure changes at the plate boundary that led to the slow slip event in Hawke’s Bay.

The reason for the occurrence of slow slip at some sites along the Hikurangi subduction zone is likely to be related to the characteristics of the rocks, and the presence of water in the subduction zone.

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