Due to Google Classic Maps being discontinued the interactive maps will now be displayed using NZ Topo Maps.
When you click on the daily map image it will open in NZ Topo Maps and by default will be an interactive Topographical Map to the scale 1:250,000.
By using the slider control on the top right you can change this to satellite view only, or any combination in between.
Click on an icon for the details of each event.
On the daily maps each coloured dot orb or marker represents an earthquake, the colours indicate the size range.
The epicentre of the earthquake event is at the centre of the orb.
On the Classic Google maps mid 2011-mid 2014 clicking on an individual icon will open a small popup tag inside the map frame giving the detail information for that quake.
Once you have finished reading that tag you can simply click in the background map to close that tag and select another if you wish.
You can also move the map around inside the frame by clicking and holding down the left button of your mouse on the map itself, rather than having to use the up/down/left and right arrows.
You can see the earthquake maps in various versions, ie map, satellite, terrain and even Google Earth.
At the bottom of each map is text saying "see larger map". This will open a new page with the same map, but with the icons and magnitudes also as a list. The list is in a ascending time order. You can click on an icon on the map or a magnitude number on the list and a detail balloon (tag) will pop up on the map from the location of the event.
You may have to zoom in on the map if you are looking for details of an icon that is in a cluster.
From May - Dec31st 2010 events marked with a gold star icon are quakes that have been reported felt by the public to the Geonet Responses page on the Geonet web site.
Prior to May 2010 the largest quake of the day is marked with a tag showing the size in ML.
Dots that are marked with a yellow tag or have a larger set of rings or a larger watermark around them are earthquakes that have been reported to Geonet as felt by the public.
Details of Felt Responses can be viewed in the Comment box at the end of each post, where available
Recording Felt Responses on the popup markers and icons here was ceased on July31st 2012
Maps and Data are updated and revised as time allows.
I acknowledge the New Zealand GeoNet project and its sponsors EQC, GNS Science and LINZ, for providing data used in these maps and graphs
From 01-08-2010 to 31-12-2011 clicking on this icon under each map will open a text document list, in another tab (or window in IE), with the text version of the data downloaded from Geonet.
Earthquakes that have been reported as Felt by the public to Geonet through the Internet based GeoNet Felt Earthquake Reports are underlined or marked with an F on the daily list.
Prior to May 2010 further information about Felt quakes can be viewed by clicking the blue Comments link at the bottom of each post. Some 2010 posts have Felt Maps.
The intensity of the reports is scaled according to the
Modified Mercalli scale.
1 ton TNT = 4.184 GigaJoules of energy
Magnitude = Tons of TNT = Nuclear Bomb Equivalence #
4 = 15 = 0.00
5 = 475 = 0.02
6 = 15,023 = 0.79
7 = 475,063.= 5.0
8 = 15,022,833 = 790.6
9 = 475,063,712 = 25,003
The first atomic bomb exploded on July 16, 1945, Alamogordo, N.Mex. produced an explosion equal to that of 117,000 metric tons of TNT
The globe is broken down into regions based on geographic and politcal boundaries. Each region is assigned a unique number.
The boundaries of these regions are defined at one-degree intervals.
The Flinn-Engdahl (F_E) seismic and geographical regionalization scheme was proposed in 1965, defined in 1974 and revised in 1995.
After the 1995 revision there are 754 F-E regions, subsequently numbered from 1 to 757 with three gaps (172, 299 and 550) at dissolved regions.
The regions are grouped into 50 larger seismic regions.
Under the F_E system New Zealand is known as Region 11
subdivided into;
158 - off W coast of North.
159 - North Island
160 - off E coast of North Is.
161 - off W coast of South Is.
162 - South Island
163 - Cook Strait
164 - off E coast of South Is.
165 - north of Macquarie Is.
166 - Auckland Islands
167 - Macquarie Island
168 - south of New Zealand
Due to the comprehensive data available from Geonet/GNS and the development of new computer programs since this Blog started, it has become necessary to re-define the New Zealand Regions further.
The 38 G_L sub- regions are designated based on thousands of earthquake epi-centers located over the last 3 years, actual physical geology and locally known regional divisions, divided primarily into half degree latitude sections.
They are not intended to replace the F_E numbers but further define F_E Regions 160, 159, 163, and 162.
Region Map (click on for interactive image)
Numbering these sub regions allows more precise calculations of energy released (or locked in) and other data processing.
Preliminary Data 21 Events 1.629ML to 4.493ML
(updated 10.02.2012 NZDT) click on orb markers for details
Preliminary Data 51 Events 1.562ML to 5.147ML
(updated 10.02.2012 NZDT) click on orb markers for details
new zealand earthquakes ~ preliminary maps, lists and graphs ~ 1810-2014 