A pile of tarseal scraped from the damaged River Road sits in front of a house. The photographer comments, "Road repairs and abandoned houses".
Trees on River Road in Avonside, seen before the earthquakes. The photographer comments, "River Rd, looking across to corner of Avonside Drive and Bracken St".
A group of residents stand on River Road in Richmond. The road is badly cracked and buckled, and bas been partly blocked off with road cones and warning tape. The photographer comments, "Neighbours discussing the situation".
Water and liquefaction flows into the Avon River in Richmond. The water level is very high, and the water is cloudy with silt. The photographer comments, "Water from Dudley Creek took a shortcut across the road into the Avon. It doesn't have much of a drop from the road to the river".
A bicycle stands with its front wheel wedged in a road crack. The photographer comments, "Cracks in the road can be useful - a free bike stand. Corner of North Avon Rd and River Rd".
Damage to Medway Street in Richmond. The road surface is cracked and buckled, and covered in liquefaction silt. A temporary road sign restricting speed to 30 is visible, with road cones behind. The photographer comments, "Medway St, between Woodchester Ave and River Rd. Woodchester Ave on right just beyond the 30 sign".
A portaloo sits outside a house on River Road. The road is under repair, and the tarmac has been removed leaving a gravel surface. The photographer comments, "Our old house was given a portaloo; I'm not sure why".
Large cracks in Avonside Drive, where the road has slumped towards the river. The photographer comments, "Swanns Rd bridge, Avonside".
A man signals directions to a car attempting to make a u-turn on the badly damaged River Road. The road surface is cracked and buckled. The photographer comments, "More stranded cars, and rubbernecking sightseers turning around to go back the way they came".
A Treetech Specialist Treecare Ltd truck on River Road in Richmond. The photographer comments, "Treetech did a lot of work making trees and power lines safe".
A resident on a bicycle stops to talk to a neighbour on River Road. The photographer comments, "Neighbours Denise Fraser (395) and Deidre Crichton (389)
Aftermath of September 4th Earthquake in Canterbury (area covers Christchurch City) NZ. Damage to bridge on Spencerville Road crossing the Lower Styx river.
A warning sign posted on River Road beside the Avon River reads "Health warning, contaminated water. Due to sewage overflows this water is unsafe for human contact and activity and is a public health risk. Please keep all people and pets out of contact with the water and do not cosume and seafood or shellfish collected from this area." The photographer comments, "A bike ride around the CBD. River Rd subsidence".
A pile of gravel and tarseal in front of a house in Richmond during repairs to River Road. The photographer comments, "Our house was becoming progressively more shattered with each aftershock".
A power pole on River Road is on a lean, stretching the power lines taut. Two lines have broken and are hanging from the pole. The photographer comments, "Power poles stretched wires to breaking point".
A car stuck in a large pothole on River Road. The wheels on the right hand side of the car have fallen into the hole, leaving the car grounded against the road surface. The photographer comments, "This car belonged to a postal delivery worker - the NZ Post bike rack is mounted on the towbar. The owner must have biked home. Later a tow truck arrived to extract the car from the hole that had opened under its front wheel".
A group of residents stand talking on the footpath beside River Road. The photographer comments, "Our neighbours were mostly already displaced by the Sep 4 2010 quakes. We all happened to arrive at the same time, so we had a good chat. From L-R; Deidre Crichton (389), Julie and Philip Cheyne (391), Marike Begg (363), Susannah and Kim Collins (383), Andy Corbin (389)".
We examined the stratigraphy of alluvial fans formed at the steep range front of the Southern Alps at Te Taho, on the north bank of the Whataroa River in central West Coast, South Island, New Zealand. The range front coincides with the Alpine Fault, an Australian-Pacific plate boundary fault, which produces regular earthquakes. Our study of range front fans revealed aggradation at 100- to 300-year intervals. Radiocarbon ages and soil residence times (SRTs) estimated by a quantitative profile development index allowed us to elucidate the characteristics of four episodes of aggradation since 1000 CE. We postulate a repeating mode of fan behaviour (fan response cycle [FRC]) linked to earthquake cycles via earthquake-triggered landslides. FRCs are characterised by short response time (aggradation followed by incision) and a long phase when channels are entrenched and fan surfaces are stable (persistence time). Currently, the Te Taho and Whataroa River fans are in the latter phase. The four episodes of fan building we determined from an OxCal sequence model correlate to Alpine Fault earthquakes (or other subsidiary events) and support prior landscape evolution studies indicating ≥M7.5 earthquakes as the main driver of episodic sedimentation. Our findings are consistent with other historic non-earthquake events on the West Coast but indicate faster responses than other earthquake sites in New Zealand and elsewhere where rainfall and stream gradients (the basis for stream power) are lower. Judging from the thickness of fan deposits and the short response times, we conclude that pastoral farming (current land-use) on the fans and probably across much of the Whataroa River fan would be impossible for several decades after a major earthquake. The sustainability of regional tourism and agriculture is at risk, more so because of the vulnerability of the single through road in the region (State Highway 6).