The Canterbury Earthquake Sequence 2010-2011 (CES) induced widespread liquefaction in many parts of Christchurch city. Liquefaction was more commonly observed in the eastern suburbs and along the Avon River where the soils were characterised by thick sandy deposits with a shallow water table. On the other hand, suburbs to the north, west and south of the CBD (e.g. Riccarton, Papanui) exhibited less severe to no liquefaction. These soils were more commonly characterised by inter-layered liquefiable and non-liquefiable deposits. As part of a related large-scale study of the performance of Christchurch soils during the CES, detailed borehole data including CPT, Vs and Vp have been collected for 55 sites in Christchurch. For this subset of Christchurch sites, predictions of liquefaction triggering using the simplified method (Boulanger & Idriss, 2014) indicated that liquefaction was over-predicted for 94% of sites that did not manifest liquefaction during the CES, and under-predicted for 50% of sites that did manifest liquefaction. The focus of this study was to investigate these discrepancies between prediction and observation. To assess if these discrepancies were due to soil-layer interaction and to determine the effect that soil stratification has on the develop-ment of liquefaction and the system response of soil deposits.
A photograph of liquefaction on the ground near the Kaiapoi River.
A photograph of liquefaction and surface flooding around a lamp post near Anzac Drive in Bexley.
A photograph of liquefaction near Anzac Drive in Bexley. UC Geology students are out collecting data.
A tombstone submerged in a pile of liquefaction in a cemetery in Christchurch.
Sand volcano of liquefaction silt outside McDonald Hartshorne on Manchester Street.
A photograph of liquefaction on the ground near the Kaiapoi River.
A photograph of liquefaction silt captioned by Paul Corliss, "Avonside and Retreat Roads post earthquake".
Uneven paving and liquefaction on the corner of Durham Street and Armagh Streets.
Flooding and liquefaction in a residential property in Bexley.
A photograph of liquefaction and flooding in a residential street in Christchurch.
A Transfield Services worker digging liquefaction out of a manhole in north-east Christchurch.
Flooding and liquefaction silt on St Johns Street in Woolston.
A house in Richmond surrounded by flooding and liquefaction. The photographer comments, "Liquefaction and overflow from Dudley Creek flooded the section".
A photograph of mud and liquefaction in Hagley Park following the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
A photograph of mud and liquefaction in Hagley Park following the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
A photograph of a pile of liquefaction with animal prints running through it.
A large patch of liquefaction amongst graves and tombstones in a cemetery in Christchurch.
A large patch of liquefaction amongst graves and tombstones in a cemetery in Christchurch.
A large patch of liquefaction amongst graves and tombstones in a cemetery in Christchurch.
A photograph of mud and liquefaction in Hagley Park following the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
Liquefaction silt surrounding a large crack on the side of Ferry Road.
A photograph of cracks and liquefaction in the surface of Hagley Park.
A photograph of liquefaction in a garden on Avonside Drive.
A photograph of cracks and liquefaction in the surface of Hagley Park.
Flooding and liquefaction in a residential property in Bexley.
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Flemington Avenue in New Brighton with a digger and a pile of liquefaction. Most of the rest of the liquefaction has now been removed from the street with the help from the Student Volunteer Army".
A photograph captioned by BeckerFraserPhotos, "Liquefaction bubbled up into the shower and the bath after 22nd February and several other aftershocks. This shower has been cleaned several times, but the liquefaction keeps coming back".
A van partially submerged in liquefaction. The photographer comments, "A van that unluckily drove into a hole caused by the terrible liquefaction on Beach Road, North New Brighton during the Christchurch earthquake".