THE MW 6.7 GEORGE SOUND EARTHQUAKE OF OCTOBER 15, 2007: RESPONSE AND PRELIMINARY RESULTS

The Mw 6.7 George Sound earthquake of October 15, 2007, occurred only a few kilometres offshore of Fiordland, within a region where the subduction zone of the Australian Plate beneath the Pacific Plate intersects the offshore extension of the Alpine Fault. Rapid response deployments of portable seismographs, a strong motion recorder and GPS receivers relatively close to the epicentre soon after the main shock allowed us to relate the event to thrusting at the subduction interface. The main shock moment tensor solution places the event at a shallow depth of 21 km. The sequence of aftershocks that followed the main event presents predominantly reverse faulting mechanisms with depths of 20 to 25 km. Earthquake re-locations using data recorded by the portable seismometers reveal a cluster of aftershocks at 17 to 25 km. This cluster defines a steeply SE-dipping plane, while another cluster at about 7-12 km depth images a NW-dipping plane within the overlying plate. Preliminary results from the seismic, geodetic and near-field strong motion geophysical data are consistent with rupture on an east dipping fault plane, presumed to be the subduction interface.