Coastal Forest Establishing on Former Seabed Following Kaikoura Earthquake

The 2016 magnitude 7.8 Kaikoura earthquake meant many different things to many different people. GNS reported the quake started at Waiau in North Canterbury and travelled northeast at about 2 km a second ending up off Cape Campbell in Marlborough, covering 174 km in about 74 seconds. Along 110 km of coastline, vertical movement ranged from subsidence of 2.5 m to uplift of 6.5 m.

Driving the coastline today, the uplifted areas are clearly visible, and it's fascinating to see forest ecosystems starting to take hold in areas that were seabed less than three years ago. Ngaio (Myoporum laetum), a coastal forest tree endemic to New Zealand, is establishing amongst rocks and bedrock. It's easy to envisage in a decade or two that coastal forest will be covering areas of former seabed between the sea and State Highway One.