projectsalpine=<FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE="12"><b>Investigation of the pre-historic earthquake history of the Alpine Fault</b></font><br>Mark Yetton has been carrying out research funded by the Earthquake Commission and a large number of local authorities and infrastructure providers on the earthquake hazard associated with the Alpine Fault. 
The work has involved trenching of the fault and radiocarbon dating of pre-historic sediments that have been ruptured by fault movement and the overlying younger layers that have not been ruptured. Additional evidence has been gathered from the radiocarbon dating of buried logs in river fans and landslides that mark periods of massive landscape disturbance that is typical of earthquake damage in rugged terrain. Some of the most compelling evidence has come from inter-related studies of forest age and pre-historic damage patterns in conjunction with Dr Andrew Wells, formally of Lincoln University.The conclusion from four lines of independent evidence is that the most recent surface rupture and earthquake on the Alpine Fault occurred in AD 1717 and this was a very large event that extended over 375km from Milford Sound to the Ahaura River (30 km northwest of Lake Brunner).