Lake Mapourika Sediments Tell History Of Earthquakes (Video)

by Daniel Kelly
— November 11, 2014

Of all the things lake sediments have been used to study – like telling the history of the Spanish climate or showing the unyielding force of California drought – predicting the future likelihood of earthquakes is probably one of the most novel.

Researchers at GNS Science in New Zealand recently put together a research summary for Lake Scientist describing an investigation looking at the probability of quakes near Lakes Mapourika and Paringa that sit along the country’s Alpine Fault. They’ve recently shot a video to further outline the research.

Lake Mapourika. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons User Richard Palmer)

A lot of different equipment was used in the study, including sediment corers, multi-sensor core loggers and modeling software. But as the video illustrates (along with a great explanation of study methods), sometimes bigger tools are needed.