No abstract

During the second phase of the Alpine Fault, Deep Fault Drilling Project (DFDP) in the Whataroa River, South Westland, New Zealand, bedrock was encountered in the DFDP-2B borehole from 238.5-893.2 m Measured Depth (MD). Continuous sampling and meso-to microscale characterization of whole rock cuttings established that, in sequence, the borehole sampled amphibolite facies, Torlesse Composite Terrane-derived schists, protomylonites, and mylonites, terminating 200-400 m above an Alpine Fault Principal Slip Zone (PSZ) with a maximum dip of 62°. The most diagnostic structural features of increasing PSZ proximity were the occurrence of shear bands and reduction in mean quartz grain sizes. A change in composition to greater mica:quartz+feldspar, most markedly below ~ 700 m MD, is inferred to result from either heterogeneous sampling or a change in lithology related to alteration. Major oxide variations suggest the fault-proximal Alpine Fault alteration zone, as previously defined in DFDP-1 core, was not sampled.

Fault rock assemblages reflect interaction between deformation, stress, temperature, fluid, and chemical regimes on distinct spatial and temporal scales at various positions in the crust. Here we interpret measurements made in the hanging‐wall of the Alpine Fault during the second stage of the Deep Fault Drilling Project (DFDP‐2). We present observational evidence for extensive fracturing and high hanging‐wall hydraulic conductivity (∼10−9 to 10−7 m/s, corresponding to permeability of ∼10−16 to 10−14 m2) extending several hundred meters from the fault's principal slip zone. Mud losses, gas chemistry anomalies, and petrophysical data indicate that a subset of fractures intersected by the borehole are capable of transmitting fluid volumes of several cubic meters on time scales of hours. DFDP‐2 observations and other data suggest that this hydrogeologically active portion of the fault zone in the hanging‐wall is several kilometers wide in the uppermost crust. This finding is consistent with numerical models of earthquake rupture and off‐fault damage. We conclude that the mechanically and hydrogeologically active part of the Alpine Fault is a more dynamic and extensive feature than commonly described in models based on exhumed faults. We propose that the hydrogeologically active damage zone of the Alpine Fault and other large active faults in areas of high topographic relief can be subdivided into an inner zone in which damage is controlled principally by earthquake rupture processes and an outer zone in which damage reflects coseismic shaking, strain accumulation and release on interseismic timescales, and inherited fracturing related to exhumation.

A probabilistic model for earthquake-induced persistent groundwater-level response as a function of peak ground velocity (PGV) has been constructed using a catalog of monitoring well observations spanning multiple earthquakes. The regional-scale, multi-site, multi-earthquake investigation addresses the occurrence and absence of hydraulic responses to large earthquakes spanning almost a decade of seismic shaking. Persistent groundwater-level changes, or absences of change, have been quantified in 495 monitoring wells in response to one or more of 11 recent New Zealand earthquakes larger than Mw 5.4 that occurred between 2008 and 2017. A binary logistic regression model with random effects has been applied to the dataset using three predictors: earthquake shaking (PGV), degree of hydrogeological confinement (monitoring well depth), and rock strength (site-average shear-wave velocity). Random effects were included as a partial proxy for variations in monitoring wells’ susceptibilities to earthquake-induced persistent water-level changes. Marginal probabilities have been calculated as a function of PGV and related to modified Mercalli intensity (MMI) levels using a New Zealand-specific MMI–PGV relationship that enables the likelihood of persistent water-level changes to be expressed for MMIs of II–VIII. This study capitalizes on one of the largest catalogs of earthquake hydrological observations compiled worldwide and is the first attempt at incorporating seismic and hydrogeological factors in a common probabilistic description of earthquake-induced groundwater-level changes. This modeling framework provides a more generalizable approach to quantifying responses than alternative metrics based on epicentral distance, magnitude, and seismic energy density. It has potential to enable better comparison of international studies and to inform practitioners making engineering or investment decisions to mitigate risk and increase the resilience of water-supply infrastructure.