Huge Earthquake in New Zealand

[High Speed Pursuit]

Here's to hoping and praying our friend Bruce and his family are safe.

 

[Dr Lebaron]

Further south he is, the better.

 

[80mirada]

Hopefully we will here from him soon and he is okay

 

[BudW]

I do hope our friends in that area are OK.

We have been getting 5.4's and 5.6's in Oklahoma pretty much all of the time now.

My property used to be in site of an old river bed – so I have very sandy. The quakes don't seam to affect me that much – which might because of the sandy soil – IDK.
That said, my house is built about 12 feet above flood stage so this area must have been altered from a previous quake or it was one really big river at one time.

Some people think the quakes are caused by drilling for oil and/or fraking. I don't see how the later is it because of the water they are pumping into ground is only a mile or so deep and the quakes originate about 4 to 8 miles underground – so I just don't see it (note: I'm no geologist, either).
Quakes have been going on here for at least 300 years – that part is documented.

Now the removal of oil could be a big part of it – again I have no idea.

For those who don't know, petroleum is caused by dinosaur excrement and not anything else.
BudW

 

[Aspen500]

The quakes being caused by oil drilling is something made up by the tree huggers, just like them saying humans are causing "climate change". It's all a hoax to get grant money out of the government so they can do "studies". Nothing humans do could cause an earthquake or alter the climate. It would be exactly the same now if humans never existed.

Bruce is on the South Island, I wonder where exactly?

 

[kkritsilas]

I do hope our friends in that area are OK.

We have been getting 5.4's and 5.6's in Oklahoma pretty much all of the time now.

My property used to be in site of an old river bed – so I have very sandy. The quakes don't seam to affect me that much – which might because of the sandy soil – IDK.
That said, my house is built about 12 feet above flood stage so this area must have been altered from a previous quake or it was one really big river at one time.

Some people think the quakes are caused by drilling for oil and/or fraking. I don't see how the later is it because of the water they are pumping into ground is only a mile or so deep and the quakes originate about 4 to 8 miles underground – so I just don't see it (note: I'm no geologist, either).
Quakes have been going on here for at least 300 years – that part is documented.

Another interesting thing is that conventional oil in Alberta (vs. oil sands oil) needs to be physically be pumped out of oil wells, whereas Saudi Arabian oil is under pressue, so it will gush out on its own, at least for a while. The pressure comes from the same bacterial action that broke down the organic matter; it also generates gases that can build up pressure. It takes power to lif up the Alberta oil, but you need pressue tested/certified equipment in Saudi Arabia.

Now the removal of oil could be a big part of it – again I have no idea.

For those who don't know, petroleum is caused by dinosaur excrement and not anything else.
BudW

Oil is the by product of baterial eating organic matter (dinosaur excrement is part of that). Most oil comes from large masses of sea plankton organic matter. The world's largest oil fields, in Saudi Arabia, for example, are from when Saudi Arabia was covered in sea water, with the top layer of the sea basically covered in sea plankton which got trapped when the tectonic plates moved around and pushed the land masses upwards. The huge masses of sea plankton died due to no seawater, were coverd up by sand, and the bacteria started to break down the dead sea plankton, basically leaving oil behind.

This is true tor most of the large oil deposits around the worldm whether it be North Sea oil, West Texas crude, Pennsylvania crude, Middle East oil, Nigerian oil, or Oil Sands oil.

Closer to home, in Alberta, the same is true. However, there was less oxygen in the ground, and a different kind of bacteria, so our oil is "sour" (oil is more sour in the western part of the province vs. eastern part of the province). in that it has more sulphur in it than Middle East or North Sea oil, which must be taken out before the oil is refined. Oil sands oil is thicker because a different kind of bacteria conumed it, and didn't do as good a job.

 

[volareandgtcat]

I do hope he checks in soon. I do read his posts, even if I don't respond

 

[Bruceynz]

Hi Guys,

We are ok down under! The mopar still roars, sad 2 people died in the quakes, lots of land slides and roads split open! We have earthquakes and you guys get hurricanes and flooding! Been through a lot of quakes here in NZ and experienced them in Tokyo as well! Still getting after shocks here!

Thanks
Bruce

 

[Bruceynz]

This quake was not centered in a large city more country side with small towns around.

 

[Aspen500]

Good to hear you,,,,,,,,,,and your Mopar,,,,,,,,are OK.
Don't worry, the U.S. gets plenty of earthquakes along with the hurricanes and flooding and, we can't forget the ever popular tornado's. What you get of course depends on what part of the country you live in.

 

[Bruceynz]

yeah kinda sucks! NZ has been earthquake free for quite some time, hey did you see the super moon? biggest it will be in 68 years! not sure if it was just a southern hemisphere thing or world thing, was cloudy last night so didn't see it

 

[Aspen500]

We got it in the northern HEMIsphere too. Last night it was big and bright, you could've almost read a book outside. This evening, saw a giant orange ball rising in the east and then,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,the clouds that were coming in from the west made it to the horizon and ruined it all

 

[Justwondering]

Bruce -
glad your car is okay ... and you too of course - he he

I've had the house shake during the last two oklahoma earthquakes that BudW has weathered so well. Still surprises me...

Really... glad you are well.

 

[Bruceynz]

Thanks! All good down here, we had some bad quakes in Feb 2011 in my city where 168 people were killed. They are not good, my city is still recovering 6 years on and looking like another 6 more to go before its sorted! A lot of the infrastructure was damaged, water, sewer,electricity etc and they are still got a lot of work to do in some places.

 

[Bruceynz]

In NZ we have xmas holidays and summer holidays at the same time, 23rd through to the 9th Jan, the roads that are badly damaged are all the ones north of chch, this one road was the main road that all the trucks and the trains ran along side to shift goods, on top of that Kaikoura is a holiday spot that many people visit in summer, they sort of need to have the roads useable within a months time, but from the damage I see there is months of work there!

 

[volareandgtcat]

That's pretty scary stuff ... glad all is ok.

 

[BudW]

At least the roads appear to be well built.

 

[Bruceynz]

I am heading south of chch for my holiday to a place called Tekapo, its a hydro lake, because the water is glacier water it is very blue but it is also very cold! No road damage south of chch.

 

[BudW]

Glaciers – from how long ago?

Chch – Christchurch ??

Looks like a nice area.

 

[Bruceynz]

Glaciers in the mountains, very old, NZ is on the ring of fire the mountain range is two plates pushing together, it runs through the whole south island. In the second photo the we boy kneeling down is my son, just noticed him there now

Tekapo Tourism - The online tourist and visitor guide to Lake Tekapo and the Mackenzie. Accommodation, activities and information.

and have a look here

Aoraki / Mount Cook - Wikipedia

and if you want to keep driving further south another 5 or 6 hours you can have a look here

Milford Sound Information | Cruises & Tours