The Ring of Fire is a tectonic belt of volcanoes and earthquakes.
The 1960 Valdivia earthquake and tsunami or the Great Chilean earthquake on 22 May 1960 was the most powerful earthquake ever recorded. Most studies have placed it at 9.4–9.6 on the moment magnitude scale, while some studies have placed the magnitude lower than 9.4. It occurred in the afternoon, and lasted 10 minutes. The resulting tsunamis affected southern Chile, Hawaii, Japan, the Philippines, eastern New Zealand, southeast Australia, and the Aleutian Islands.
The Clutha River is the second longest river in New Zealand and the longest in the South Island. It flows south-southeast 338 kilometres (210 mi) through Central and South Otago from Lake Wānaka in the Southern Alps to the Pacific Ocean, 75 kilometres (47 mi) south west of Dunedin. It is the highest volume river in New Zealand, and the swiftest, with a catchment of 21,000 square kilometres (8,100 sq mi), discharging a mean flow of 614 cubic metres per second (21,700 cu ft/s). The river is known for its scenery, gold-rush history, and swift turquoise waters. A river conservation group, the Clutha Mata-Au River Parkway Group, is working to establish a regional river parkway, with a trail, along the entire river corridor.
Lake Pedder, once a glacial outwash lake, is a man-made impoundment and diversion lake located in the southwest of Tasmania, Australia. In addition to its natural catchment from the Frankland Range, the lake is formed by the 1972 damming of the Serpentine and Huon rivers by the Hydro-Electric Commission for the purpose of hydroelectric power generation. Consequently, the lake is also known, somewhat derisively, as the Huon-Serpentine Impoundment.
The Ahaura River is in the South Island of New Zealand. This river drains the western flanks of the Southern Alps and flows into the Grey River.
The Awarau River, usually known as Larry's Creek is located within the South Island of New Zealand. The river is about 27 kilometres (17 mi) long and runs northwest from its headwaters in the Victoria Range to its confluence with the Inangahua River north of Reefton. It also drains part of the Brunner Range and there was a track along that range linking to Lyell by 1901, though none existed in 1874. A track also ran south over Kirwan Hill to the Montgomerie River.
The Buller River is a river in the South Island of New Zealand. The Buller has the highest flow of any river in the country during floods, though it is only the 13th longest river; it runs for 177 km (110 mi) from Lake Rotoiti through the Buller Gorge and into the Tasman Sea near the town of Westport. A saddle at 710 m (2,330 ft) separates the Buller from the Motupiko River and that is divided from the Wairau River by a 695 m (2,280 ft) saddle, both aligned along the Alpine Fault, as is the top of the Buller valley.
Raoul Island is the largest and northernmost of the main Kermadec Islands, 900 km (560 mi) south south-west of 'Ata Island of Tonga and 1,100 km (680 mi) north north-east of New Zealand's North Island. It has been the source of vigorous volcanic activity during the past several thousand years that was dominated by dacitic explosive eruptions.
The Cromwell Gorge is a steep gorge cut by the former Clutha River in the Central Otago region of New Zealand's South Island. It winds 19 km (12 mi) between the Dunstan and Cairnmuir Mountains, linking the townships of Cromwell and Clyde. It is one of three substantial river gorges in Central Otago, the others being the Kawarau Gorge to the west of Cromwell, and the Roxburgh Gorge south of Alexandra.
On 26 December 2004, at 07:58:53 local time (UTC+7), a major earthquake with a magnitude of 9.2–9.3 struck with an epicentre off the west coast of northern Sumatra, Indonesia. The undersea megathrust earthquake, known by the scientific community as the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake, was caused by a rupture along the fault between the Burma Plate and the Indian Plate, and reached a Mercalli intensity up to IX in some areas.
The climbing galaxias or kōaro is a fish of the family Galaxiidae found in Australia, New Zealand, and nearby islands. The name climbing galaxias is used in Australia, and koaro or kōaro in New Zealand. Further vernacular names include short-finned galaxias, broad-finned galaxias, Cox's mountain galaxias, and Pieman galaxias.
Stream capture, river capture, river piracy or stream piracy is a geomorphological phenomenon occurring when a stream or river drainage system or watershed is diverted from its own bed, and flows instead down the bed of a neighbouring stream. This can happen for several reasons, including:
The Mōkihinui River is a river located on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island, about 40 kilometres north of Westport. Meridian Energy had proposed the Mokihinui Hydro project on the river in 2007 but it was cancelled in May 2012. In 2019, it was announced that 64,400 ha of land in the Mōkihinui River catchment, including 15 km (9.3 mi) of river bed, would be added to Kahurangi National Park.
The Seaforth River is a river in New Zealand, flowing into Dusky Sound. About 9 km (5.6 mi) and 41 m (135 ft) up from Supper Cove in Dusky Sound is Lake Maree. The river rises about another 20 km (12 mi) to the north, on the slopes of the Black Giants, at about 1,300 m (4,300 ft). Like many former British Empire locations, it and its lakes have Scottish names.
The Waiheke River is a river of the West Coast Region of New Zealand's South Island. It flows west from its origins on Mount Barron in the Southern Alps to reach the Ahaura River, which it forms where it joins the Tūtaekurī River, 20 kilometres northwest of Lake Sumner.
The North Island Fault System (NIFS) is a set of southwest–northeast trending seismically-active faults in the North Island of New Zealand that carry much of the dextral strike-slip component of the oblique convergence of the Pacific Plate with the Australian Plate. However despite at least 3 km (1.9 mi) of uplift of the axial ranges in the middle regions of the fault system during the last 10 million years most of the shortening on this part of the Hikurangi Margin is accommodated by subduction.
The Stanley River is a river of the Tasman Region of New Zealand's South Island. It flows southeast from its sources in the Douglas and Anatoki Ranges, reaching the Waingaro River 12 kilometres west of Upper Takaka.
The Robinson River is a river in the West Coast Region of the South Island of New Zealand. It is a tributary of the Upper Grey River and much of the river lies within the Lake Sumner Conservation Park. Rising on the slopes of Mount Boscawen on the main divide about 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) south of the Lewis Pass, the river runs west-southwest along a straight, narrow valley before turning northwest to reach the Upper Grey.
The Matahina power station is a hydroelectric power facility in Bay of Plenty in New Zealand on the Rangitaiki River downstream of the Aniwhenua Power Station. The river was dammed to form Lake Matahina from which water is drawn and diverted through the power station before being discharged back into the river. The Matahina dam is the largest earth embankment dam in the North Island of New Zealand.
Lake Ellery is a glacially-formed lake in South Westland on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. It has a steep and entirely forested catchment, with a diverse flora and fauna, and is accessible only by foot or boat. Sediments laid down by its tributaries have preserved a 2,000-year record of ruptures of the nearby Alpine fault.
