Kaikoura Canyon seafloor is recovering faster than expected after the 2016 earthquake

After the 2016 earthquake wiped out nearly all of Kaikoura Valley’s seafloor ecosystems, scientists say it is showing promising signs of recovery.

A recent study, which looked at 2020 data from the sea floor, found that just four years after the magnitude 7.8 earthquake, parts of the sea floor had returned to their pre-earthquake state. Scientists earlier predicted that it would take up to 12 years to fully recover.

NIWA and Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington doctoral student Katie Bigham said the region showed “amazing resilience to the physical and geochemical disturbances caused by the earthquake”.

Bigham said the quake triggered a “whole valley flow event” that reshaped the sea floor and carried 850 megametric tons of sediment out of the Hikurangi Channel.

Read more: * Kaikoura earthquake disrupts sperm whales’ ability to find food for at least a year, study finds * Life finds its way in ‘underwater Grand Canyon’ off Kaikoura * Quake deepens underwater Kaikoura Canyon by 50 meters

The event was “devastating” for marine life in New Zealand’s only deep-sea marine reserve.

Bigham said that despite the earthquake’s devastating devastation, it gave scientists the opportunity to study the earthquake’s underwater effects on seafloor communities.

“It is encouraging that the ecosystem is showing great resilience. Many marine organisms have returned, and some parts of them are on their way to fully recovering.”

Seafloor photographs taken shortly after the quake showed that the quake was “catastrophic” for the once productive marine community, but within months scientists detected a significant increase in some species.

Supplied / Supplied

NIWA scientists continue to study the seafloor of Kaikoura Canyon after the 7.8-magnitude earthquake in 2016.

Images taken in 2020, just four years after the earthquake, showed the seafloor community looking similar to what it did before the quake.

NIWA Principal Scientist in Marine Ecology and Professor of Marine Biology at the University of Victoria, Dr Ashley Rudin, said it was the “very nature” of the volatile environment that made it such a resilient ecosystem.

“We think this habitat can easily recover because it is an area that is often at the mercy of Mother Nature,” said Rodin.

The earthquake was a one-time event in 140 years, Rodin explained, which may seem rare but in evolutionary terms was “the blink of an eye.”

This means, Rodin said, that species in the area were regularly subjected to stresses, such as earthquakes, and that species had adapted to them.

The results of the study were “encouraging” to show the long-term efficacy of the marine reserve, but scientists still have questions.

Bigham said questions remain about how humans interact with these environments and how deep-sea fisheries were affected by the quake.

So while the initial research was promising, more research was needed.

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