Thorndon Container Wharf: Temporary Works for Recovery of Container Operations (New Zealand)

Case Studies on Conservation and Seismic Strengthening/Retrofitting of Existing Structures ◽

10.2749/cs002.127 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 127-144

Author(s):

Rob Presland ◽

Alistair Boyce ◽

Engliang Chin

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Business Continuity ◽

Lateral Loads ◽

Severe Damage ◽

Container Cranes ◽

Working Length ◽

Container Handling ◽

Kaikoura Earthquake ◽

Sufficient Strength

<p>The Thorndon Container Wharf sustained severe damage in the November 2016 M7.8 Kaikoura earthquake. Substantialworks, of a temporary nature, were required to restore thewharf for container handling operations. The temporary securing works included gravel columns within the reclamation fill and restraining and underpinning of the wharf. All of these works were designed and constructed over a 9-month period to provide a temporary facility for container handling operations for a period of up to 3 years. The temporary securingworks were required to secure the container cranes, maintain support to the wharf structure, and ensure the reclamation behind the wharf had sufficient strength to support lateral loads imposed by the restraining system. This was to enable container operations to recommence and to maintain business continuity, pending action on replacement or reinstatement of the container wharf. This paper outlines the development of the design of the temporary works to secure and return to operations a 125- m working length of wharf and reclamation.</p>

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High-Intensity Assignments for the 22 February 2011 Mw 6.2 Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand, Earthquake: A Contribution toward Understanding the Severe Damage Caused by This Event

Seismological Research Letters ◽

10.1785/0220180385 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 90 (4) ◽

pp. 1468-1482 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Tatiana Goded ◽

Matt Gerstenberger ◽

Mark Stirling ◽

Jim Cousins ◽

Silvia Canessa

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Ground Motion ◽

Peak Ground Velocity ◽

Correlation Equations ◽

Intensity Data ◽

Severe Damage ◽

Damage Distribution ◽

Intensity Correlation ◽

Needed Information ◽

Detailed Picture

ABSTRACT This article presents modified Mercalli intensity (MMI) data for the 22 February 2011 Mw 6.2 Christchurch, New Zealand, earthquake. These data include intensity levels above MMI 8 that have not been assigned previously. Two sources of data have been used in this research: GeoNet’s “Felt Classic” online questionnaires and felt reports gathered during a field study in Christchurch in February 2013. Taken together, these sets of data provided 331 valid (i.e., with all the needed information) felt reports in areas of MMI 8 or above, with 299 (90%) of the reports used to assign MMI levels above 8. This article presents a more detailed picture of the geographical damage distribution of this earthquake than has previously been available. The data differentiate damage in the center of Christchurch, with 8 communities assigned a community MMI (CMMI) of 9, 11 communities a CMMI of 10, and 8 communities a CMMI of 11, which is the maximum possible intensity in the New Zealand MMI scale, and a level of intensity not previously reported in New Zealand (Dowrick et al., 2008). The geographical damage distribution for Christchurch has been updated for intensities below MMI 8. This was done using a recently developed method that groups intensity data and allows intensities to be aggregated for a community and a single value assigned. Comparisons between MMI and peak ground velocity using the CMMI data and two ground-motion intensity correlation equations (GMICEs) indicate an underestimation of MMI when using the GMICEs and the need to review New Zealand’s GMICE.

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Using a calibrated upper living position of marine biota to calculate coseismic uplift: a case study of the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake, New Zealand

Earth Surface Dynamics ◽

10.5194/esurf-8-351-2020 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 8 (2) ◽

pp. 351-366

Author(s):

Catherine Reid ◽

John Begg ◽

Vasiliki Mouslopoulou ◽

Onno Oncken ◽

Andrew Nicol ◽

...

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Ground Deformation ◽

Tide Gauge ◽

Strong Motion ◽

Calibration Method ◽

Biological Data ◽

Tectonic Uplift ◽

Marine Biota ◽

Tide Gauge Records ◽

Kaikoura Earthquake

Abstract. The 2016 Mw=7.8 Kaikōura earthquake (South Island, New Zealand) caused widespread complex ground deformation, including significant coastal uplift of rocky shorelines. This coastal deformation is used here to develop a new methodology, in which the upper living limits of intertidal marine biota have been calibrated against tide-gauge records to quantitatively constrain pre-deformation biota living position relative to sea level. This living position is then applied to measure coseismic uplift at three other locations along the Kaikōura coast. We then assess how coseismic uplift derived using this calibrated biological method compares to that measured using other methods, such as light detection and ranging (lidar) and strong-motion data, as well as non-calibrated biological methods at the same localities. The results show that where biological data are collected by a real-time kinematic (RTK) global navigation satellite system (GNSS) in sheltered locations, this new tide-gauge calibration method estimates tectonic uplift with an accuracy of ±≤0.07 m in the vicinity of the tide gauge and an overall mean accuracy of ±0.10 m or 10 % compared to differential lidar methods for all locations. Sites exposed to high wave wash, or data collected by tape measure, are more likely to show higher uplift results. Tectonic uplift estimates derived using predictive tidal charts produce overall higher uplift estimates in comparison to tide-gauge-calibrated and instrumental methods, with mean uplift results 0.21 m or 20 % higher than lidar results. This low-tech methodology can, however, produce uplift results that are broadly consistent with instrumental methodologies and may be applied with confidence in remote locations where lidar or local tide-gauge measurements are not available.

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Triple junction kinematics accounts for the 2016 Mw7.8 Kaikoura earthquake rupture complexity

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ◽

10.1073/pnas.1916770116 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 116 (52) ◽

pp. 26367-26375 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Xuhua Shi ◽

Paul Tapponnier ◽

Teng Wang ◽

Shengji Wei ◽

Yu Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

New Zealand ◽

Triple Junction ◽

Large Scale ◽

Strike Slip ◽

Plate Motion ◽

Fault System ◽

Coseismic Deformation ◽

Coseismic Slip ◽

Slab Geometry ◽

Kaikoura Earthquake

The 2016, moment magnitude (Mw) 7.8, Kaikoura earthquake generated the most complex surface ruptures ever observed. Although likely linked with kinematic changes in central New Zealand, the driving mechanisms of such complexity remain unclear. Here, we propose an interpretation accounting for the most puzzling aspects of the 2016 rupture. We examine the partitioning of plate motion and coseismic slip during the 2016 event in and around Kaikoura and the large-scale fault kinematics, volcanism, seismicity, and slab geometry in the broader Tonga–Kermadec region. We find that the plate motion partitioning near Kaikoura is comparable to the coseismic partitioning between strike-slip motion on the Kekerengu fault and subperpendicular thrusting along the offshore West–Hikurangi megathrust. Together with measured slip rates and paleoseismological results along the Hope, Kekerengu, and Wairarapa faults, this observation suggests that the West–Hikurangi thrust and Kekerengu faults bound the southernmost tip of the Tonga–Kermadec sliver plate. The narrow region, around Kaikoura, where the 3 fastest-slipping faults of New Zealand meet, thus hosts a fault–fault–trench (FFT) triple junction, which accounts for the particularly convoluted 2016 coseismic deformation. That triple junction appears to have migrated southward since the birth of the sliver plate (around 5 to 7 million years ago). This likely drove southward stepping of strike-slip shear within the Marlborough fault system and propagation of volcanism in the North Island. Hence, on a multimillennial time scale, the apparently distributed faulting across southern New Zealand may reflect classic plate-tectonic triple-junction migration rather than diffuse deformation of the continental lithosphere.

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