Archive for February, 2007

Bay of Plenty Earthquakes

Tuesday, February 27th, 2007

Residents of the Bay of Plenty have reported slightly more earthquakes than normal in recent weeks, with 15 quakes being felt at several towns and settlements. The earthquakes have struck at four distinctly separate locations in the area, all at shallow depths.

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Earthquake Near Raoul Island

Monday, February 26th, 2007

A moderately strong earthquake struck in the Kermadec Islands, east of Raoul Island this morning.

The magnitude 5.5 quake, which struck at 9:47 a.m. New Zealand Daylight Time on Monday 26th February 2007, was located 70 km east of Raoul Island at a depth of 10 km.

[Compiled from data supplied by the US Geological Survey and its contributing agencies]

Kermadec Earthquakes

Friday, February 16th, 2007

A pair of 5th magnitude earthquakes struck the southern Kermadec Islands late last evening, New Zealand time. The earthquakes, which struck 4 minutes apart, were located 300 km south of Raoul Island.

The first quake, of magnitude 5.2, struck at 11:24 p.m. New Zealand Daylight Time on Thursday 15th February 2007 at a depth of 10 km. Four minutes later, a magnitude 5.4 quake struck nearby at a depth of 35 km.

[Compiled from data supplied by the US Geological Survey and its contributing organisations.]

Crater Lake Changes at White Island Volcano

Thursday, February 15th, 2007

GNS Science issued an alert bulletin for White Island volcano in the Bay of Plenty this morning, following the crater lake reaching the highest temperature ever recorded.

The volcano’s crater lake started rising from its typical temperature of 48-50 ºC in August 2006, passing 60 ºC during January 2007. Recent visits to the volcano have confirmed the continued increase in temperature which is now 74 ºC, the highest temperature ever recorded.

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Geological Summary for New Zealand Area, December 2006

Wednesday, February 14th, 2007

Earthquake activity continued at a low level. White Island, Mt Ngauruhoe, and Mt Ruapehu remained at Alert Level 1.

Geonet, the USGS (NEIC) and IGNS reported 22 earthquakes in the New Zealand area between the Kermadec Islands in the north, and the Auckland Islands to the south during December 2006. The magnitude distributions were as follows:
M6 to 6.9 (1), M5 to 5.9 (1), M4 to 4.9 (8) M3 to 3.9 (10).
An additional 2 events in the magnitude 2 range were deemed worthy of mention.

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Offshore Quake Near Wellington

Wednesday, February 7th, 2007

A deep magnitude 4.8 earthquake struck off-shore near Wellington this afternoon.

The earthquake, which struck at 1:44 p.m. on February 7th 2007 (NZDT), was centred 30 km west of Porirua, 40 km north-west of Wellington (just north of the Marlborough Sounds), at a depth of 50 km.

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Island Watch: Quakes Near Vanuatu, Fiji, Tonga

Tuesday, February 6th, 2007

A pair of 5th magnitude earthquakes near Tonga late on February 5th NZ Daylight Time were the latest in a series of earthquakes to strike near Vanuatu, Fiji, Tonga and the Kermadecs in the past week.

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Earthquake, Inland Hawke’s Bay

Monday, February 5th, 2007

A deep magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck inland Hawke’s Bay this morning.

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December 2006 Windier, Stormier

Thursday, February 1st, 2007

Tawa’s climate during December 2006 was stormier than the previous three years, with prolonged windy periods and temperatures lower than 2003 and 2005, but on par with 2004.

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