Call us appraisalists, historical researchers, or even cyber archaeologists. Most of our day consists of using a wide variety of historical material to pull together the histories of sites around Canterbury (and to make sure those archaeologists in the field … Continue reading →
A presentation by Vice-Chancellor Dr Rod Carr on "Opportunities from the Quakes".
A poem by Jeffrey Paparoa Holman from "Shaken Down 6.3", Canterbury University Press 2012.
The brick facade has fallen from the former Princess Cinema in New Brighton, exposing the rooms inside, and crushing a car parked below. The photographer comments, "The front of the old Princess Cinema in New Brighton after the earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand on 22 February. Under the pile of bricks is a luckily unoccupied blue car. The word CLEAR on the broken facade is to show that there is no one in the car. This building has now been knocked down as it was so dangerous".
As life-changing experiences go, the earthquake on 22 February 2011 was fairly significant. On the one hand, our house was red-zoned (but still liveable), friends lost their lives and the city lost many of the old buildings that, for me, … Continue reading →
The Townsend Observatory is located in the Arts Centre of Christchurch, in what used to be Canterbury College (now University of Canterbury). The Townsend telescope itself is a historic 6-inch Cooke refractor built in 1864 for early Christchurch colonist, Mr James Townsend, and gifted by him to Christchurch College in 1891. At the same time, the Canterbury Astronomical Society handed over its funds to the College to help erect an observatory. The College used this, and money it had set aside for a medical school, to build a biological laboratory with an attached observatory tower, which was completed in 1896. The Biology Building and Observatory Tower was the last major design by architect Benjamin Mountfort. Mr Walter Kitson was appointed custodian of the telescope and regular public open nights commenced. and continued until 2010, with the telescope being operated by students of the Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Canterbury. The Observatory Tower was badly damaged in the 4 September 2010 earthquake and collapsed in the 22 February 2011 earthquake. The telescope was badly damaged by the collapse, but, amazingly, the optics were found entirely intact. The Department of Physics and Astronomy plans to restore the Townsend Telescope so that it can be returned to a replica Observatory Tower in its central city home, enabling the people of Christchurch, and visitors, to enjoy views of the night sky through this beautiful and historic telescope once again.
A zone of active tectonism occurs in mid and north Canterbury, from the Rakaia to the Waipara Rivers, which coincides with seismicity concentrations and several Quaternary surface anomalies and is here defined as the Porters Pass Tectonic Zone. Although parallel to the Marlborough faults to the north, the lack of regional definition suggests this zone is much younger in its inception reflecting a southward movement of the plate rotation vector. The objectives of this study were to map the structures associated with this zone in the segment between the Rakaia and Waimakariri Rivers with detailed analysis concentrated in the upper Kawai Valley. Quaternary offsets on the main lineament of the Porters Pass Fault were traced through the area and evidence for the rate of movement, probable magnitudes and return periods of related seismic events was sought. The basement was found to be complicated by pre-existing deformation structures in Torlesse Group rocks which have been subsequently been re-activated or rotated by recent fault movement probably beginning in the Pleistocene. This phase is dominantly thrusting and uplift has lead to the erosion of most of the overlying sedimentary cover. Remnants of the Cret-Tertiary sediments still remain as fault-bounded packets. Evidence suggests that a change to development of a regional lateral shear associated with the Porters Pass Tectonic Zone transects the thrust system with complex interaction between the older reverse and new strike-slip faults. Offset rates along the segments of the Porters Pass Fault are not well constrained but are believed to be approximately in the range of 11-13 mm/year for at least the last 130,000 years. This rate is similar to other large faults in the Marlborough region. Two earthquake events have been identified and dated at 600 and 2000 years ago, with a magnitude of greater than 6.5. Evidence suggests characteristic earthquakes along the Porters Pass Fault are greater than Magnitude 7. This result has some major ramifications for the expected seismic hazards for nearby Christchurch.
A digitally manipulated image of Michael Parekowhai's sculpture 'On First Looking into Chapman's Homer' on Madras Street. The photographer comments, "This is the work of New Zealand artist Michael Parekowhai titled 'On First Looking into Chapman's Homer'. There are two bronze pianos and a very dominant looking bronze bull on each".
A scanned copy of a black and white photograph depicting a music concert at the UCSA. The photo is from the 1980s.
A digger in front of a partially-demolished building in Cathedral Square. In the background the Farmers and MFL buildings are visible. The photographer comments, "This was taken on the CERA CBD red zone tour. Being on the left hand side of the coach for 75% of the journey I was facing the red zone fence looking at the outside of the red zone".
A broken television lies among other debris.
The partially demolished Ozone Hotel in New Brighton, with a digger in the background.
A 'sand volcano' of liquefaction silt in Bexley. The photographer comments, "Liquefaction is just a mixture of sand and water squeezed up from the ground, but with a little imagination it has a beauty in its untouched state".
Liquefaction silt in Bexley. The photographer comments, "This is not really a worm but a sliver of liquefaction that has fallen out of a tyre tread".
A concrete block wall with a large diagonal crack running through it. The photographer comments, "This wall has fascinated me. It has cracked across in a dead straight diagonal line during one of Christchurch's many earthquakes. How could this have occurred?".
Large cracks run through the brick cladding of this house in Wainoni. The photographer comments, "During the numerous earthquakes in Christchurch the land which ran alongside the Avon river on Avonside Drive slumped towards the waterway. Houses which were wooden framed and had an external brick veneer started to sink into the liquefied soil. This caused the brick walls to crack, but the houses' occupants though shook up were saved by the wooden framework from the houses collapsing on them".
A damaged house perched on the edge of the cliffs above Sumner. The photographer comments, "This house has slowly gone over the edge since the big earthquake in Christchurch in February 2011. Subsequent earthquakes has caused the rock face to crumble more and more".
A digitally manipulated image of the damaged statue of Scott which was removed from its original site beside Worcester Boulevard for safekeeping. The photographer comments, "During the February 2011 earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand the statue of Robert Falcon Scott broke across the ankles and most of the statue came crashing to the ground. To commemorate a 100 years of association with Antarctica Christchurch council has laid out for viewing the statue in a prostrate position. I was lucky to encounter the statue before it was put into its glass display enclosure".
Corrogated roofing from the demolition of the QEII complex. The photographer comments, "This collection of galvanised roofing looks so photogenic as I walked around the partly demolished Queen Elizabeth stadium and swimming pool".
A man reads a sign posted on the door of the Christchurch Art Gallery, which reads "The gallery is currently closed to the public". The photographer comments, "Red Carded - A red-coloured card shown by a referee to a player, especially in soccer, to indicate that the player is being ejected from the pitch. The Christchurch Art Gallery has left the building. All the current and future exhibitions of the Art Gallery are being mainly held out of doors".
The feet of a fallen mannequin rest against a shop window. The photographer comments, "It is enough to make your toes curl. This is a mannequin that has been on its back since this clothing store was cleared out after the Christchurch earthquake. The store, which is in the earthquake red zone, has been off limits and untouched in the for two years".
A brochure published by Environment Canterbury in January 2003, examining liquefaction and liquefaction hazard ratings.
A brochure covering the causes of earthquakes, how earthquakes could affect Canterbury, and public preparedness.
A brochure created by Environment Canterbury, published in July 2007, covering tsunami risk to Canterbury and preparation for a tsunami.
A short story by Jane Seaford titled, "Finding the Way Home".
Cracks in a pathway beside the Avon River in New Brighton, caused by the land slumping towards the river. The photographer comments, "On the left of the picture the ground has dropped down half a metre".
“It must have been a happy household,” was the remark made by one of our team members when she saw the artefact assemblage we are discussing on today’s blog post. Whilst children’s artefacts are relatively common finds on New Zealand … Continue reading →
Workers operate a drilling rig, sampling soil as part of EQC's geotechnical investigation of TC3 land. The photographer comments, "The work of getting 'soil' samples from all the areas marked as green/blue zones in Christchurch. These areas may be susceptible to liquefaction if a major earthquake occurs. The soil samples were a failure as all they found was sand".
The clock tower of the former Railway Station, encased in plywood to prevent further damage. A banner sponsored by The Press hangs below the clock, covered with words which symbolise the September earthquake. The photographer comments, "After the September earthquake the clocked stopped at 04:35 and everyone campaigned to have this clock left as it was. At that time the building was believed to be OK. Two more earthquakes later and the possible memorial will probably end up like a lot of Christchurch's heritage buildings on a huge pile of stone and bricks in Bottle Lake Forest".
A digger demolishing the Ozone Dressing Sheds building. The photographer comments, "This is the end of the Ozone Dressing Sheds built in 1914. The two storey Ozone Cafe, which was a hotel, will be given it's coup de grace on Friday. They were gutted in a spectacular fire in 1922, but were unable to be saved after the Christchurch earthquake on 22 February 2011".