A photograph of the former site of Siobhan Murphy's house at 436 Oxford Terrace. Murphy's house was demolished after her land was zoned Red. Grass has grown over the site.
A photograph of the former site of a house at 466 Oxford Terrace. The house was demolished after the land was zoned Red. Grass has begun to grow on the site.
A photograph of the former site of a house at 58 Bangor Street. The house was demolished after the land was zoned Red. The grass has begun to grow over the site.
A photograph of the former site of Siobhan Murphy's house at 436 Oxford Terrace. Murphy's house was demolished after her land was zoned Red. Grass has grown over the site.
A photograph of the former site of Siobhan Murphy's house at 436 Oxford Terrace. Murphy's house was demolished after her land was zoned Red. Grass has grown over the site.
A photograph of the former site of the Locke family's house at 392 Oxford Terrace. The Locke's house was deconstructed after their land was zoned Red. Grass has grown over the site.
A photograph of the former site of Siobhan Murphy's house at 436 Oxford Terrace. Murphy's house was demolished after her land was zoned Red. Grass has grown over the site.
A photograph of the former site of Siobhan Murphy's house at 436 Oxford Terrace. Murphy's house was demolished after her land was zoned Red. Grass has grown over the site.
A photograph of the former site of Siobhan Murphy's house at 436 Oxford Terrace. Murphy's house was demolished after her land was zoned Red. Grass has grown over the site.
A photograph of the former site of the houses at 422, 424, and 426 Oxford Terrace. The houses were demolished after the land was zoned Red. Grass has begun to grow over the sites.
The former site of the CTV building.
Cordons around demolition sites on Latimer Square.
Cordons around demolition sites on Latimer Square.
Hawkins Construction site office on Creyke Road.
The Avon-Heathcote Estuary is of significant value to Christchurch due to its high productivity, biotic diversity, proximity to the city, and its cultural, recreational and aesthetic qualities. Nonetheless, it has been subjected to decades of degradation from sewage wastewater discharges and encroaching urban development. The result was a eutrophied estuary, high in nitrogen, affected by large blooms of nuisance macroalgae and covered by degraded sediments. In March 2010, treated wastewater was diverted from the estuary to a site 3 km offshore. This quickly reduced water nitrogen by 90% within the estuary and, within months, there was reduced production of macroalgae. However, a series of earthquakes beginning in September 2010 brought massive changes: tilting of the estuary, changes in channels and water flow, and a huge influx of liquefied sediments that covered up to 65% of the estuary floor. Water nitrogen increased due to damage to sewage infrastructure and the diversion pipeline being turned off. Together, these drastically altered the estuarine ecosystem. My study involves three laboratory and five in situ experiments that investigate the base of the food chain and responses of benthic microalgae to earthquake-driven sediment and nutrient changes. It was predicted that the new sediments would be coarser and less contaminated with organic matter and nutrients than the old sediments, would have decreased microalgal biomass, and would prevent invertebrate grazing and bioturbation activities. It was believed that microalgal biomass would become similar across new and old sediments types as the unstable new sediments were resuspended and distributed over the old sediments. Contact cores of the sediment were taken at three sites, across a eutrophication gradient, monthly from September 2011 to March 2012. Extracted chlorophyll a pigments showed that microalgal biomass was generally lower on new liquefied sediments compared to old sediments, although there was considerable site to site variation, with the highly eutrophic sites being the most affected by the emergence of the new sediments. Grazer experiments showed that invertebrates had both positive and negative site-specific effects on microalgal biomass depending on their identity. At one site, new sediments facilitated grazing by Amphibola crenata, whereas at another site, new sediments did not alter the direct and indirect effects of invertebrates (Nicon aestuariensis, Macropthalmus hirtipes, and A. crenata) on microalgae. From nutrient addition experiments it was clear that benthic microalgae were able to use nutrients from within both old and new sediments equally. This implied that microalgae were reducing legacy nutrients in both sediments, and that they are an important buffer against eutrophication. Therefore, in tandem with the wastewater diversion, they could underpin much of the recovery of the estuary. Overall, the new sediments were less favourable for benthic microalgal growth and recolonisation, but were less contaminated than old sediments at highly eutrophic sites. Because the new sediments were less contaminated than the old sediments, they could help return the estuary to a noneutrophic state. However, if the new sediments, which are less favourable for microalgal growth, disperse over the old sediments at highly eutrophic sites, they could become contaminated and interfere with estuarine recovery. Therefore, recovery of microalgal communities and the estuary was expected to be generally long, but variable and site-specific, with the least eutrophic sites recovering quickly, and the most eutrophic sites taking years to return to a pre-earthquake and non-eutrophied state. changes in channels and water flow, and a huge influx of liquefied sediments that covered up to 65% of the estuary floor. Water nitrogen increased due to damage to sewage infrastructure and the diversion pipeline being turned off. Together, these drastically altered the estuarine ecosystem. My study involves three laboratory and five in situ experiments that investigate the base of the food chain and responses of benthic microalgae to earthquake-driven sedimen tand nutrient changes. It was predicted that the new sediments would be coarser and less contaminated with organic matter and nutrients than the old sediments, would have decreased microalgal biomass, and would prevent invertebrate grazing and bioturbation activities. It was believed that microalgal biomass would become similar across new and old sediments types as the unstable new sediments were resuspended and distributed over the old sediments. Contact cores of the sediment were taken at three sites, across a eutrophication gradient, monthly from September 2011 to March 2012. Extracted chlorophyll a pigments showed that microalgal biomass was generally lower on new liquefied sediments compared to old sediments, although there was considerable site to site variation, with the highly eutrophic sites being the most affected by the emergence of the new sediments. Grazer experiments showed that invertebrates had both positive and negative site-specific effects on microalgal biomass depending on their identity. At one site, new sediments facilitated grazing by Amphibola crenata, whereas at another site, new sediments did not alter the direct and indirect effects of invertebrates (Nicon aestuariensis, Macropthalmus hirtipes, and A. crenata) on microalgae. From nutrient addition experiments it was clear that benthic microalgae were able to use nutrients from within both old and new sediments equally. This implied that microalgae were reducing legacy nutrients in both sediments, and that they are
Pile of cement blocks on a demolition site.
A photograph of the former site of Doug Sexton's house at 378 Oxford Terrace. Sexton's house was demolished after his land was zoned Red. Grass has begun to grow in the site.
A photograph of the former site of the houses at 422, 424, and 426 Oxford Terrace. The houses were demolished after the land was zoned Red. Grass has begun to grow over the sites.
A photograph of the former site of Robin Duff's house at 386 Oxford Terrace. Duff's house was demolished after his land was zoned Red. Grass has begun to grow on the site.
A photograph of the former site of Doug Sexton's house at 378 Oxford Terrace. Sexton's house was demolished after his land was zoned Red. Grass has begun to grow in the site.
A photograph of the former site of Doug Sexton's house at 378 Oxford Terrace. Sexton's house was demolished after his land was zoned Red. Grass has begun to grow in the site.
A photograph of the former site of Robin Duff's house at 386 Oxford Terrace. Duff's house was demolished after his land was zoned Red. Grass has begun to grow on the site.
A video of an interview with artefact analyst Gwen Jackson, about the artefacts found at the site of the Theatre Royal. Hundreds of artefacts were found under the Isaac Theatre Royal, including bottles and ceramic shards. This was part of a greater project by archaeologists to examine pre-1900 sites in the Christchurch central city before work is conducted on them. Archaeological assessment of pre-1900 buildings is required by the 1993 Historic Places Act before work can be done on the site.
A map showing the location of a building site.
Vacant site left after the demolition of a building.
A photograph of volunteers preparing the site for Foamapalooza.
The site of my favourite Indian restaurant in Christchurch.
Recurrent liquefaction in Christchurch during the 2010-2011 Canterbury earthquake sequence created a wealth of shallow subsurface intrusions with geometries and orientations governed by (1) strong ground motion severity and duration, and (2) intrinsic site characteristics including liquefaction susceptibility, lateral spreading severity, geomorphic setting, host sediment heterogeneity, and anthropogenic soil modifications. We present a suite of case studies that demonstrate how each of these characteristics influenced the geologic expressions of contemporary liquefaction in the shallow subsurface. We compare contemporary features with paleo-features to show how geologic investigations of recurrent liquefaction can provide novel insights into the shaking characteristics of modern and paleo-earthquakes, the influence of geomorphology on liquefaction vulnerability, and the possible controls of anthropogenic activity on the geologic record. We conclude that (a) sites of paleo-liquefaction in the last 1000-2000 years corresponded with most severe liquefaction during the Canterbury earthquake sequence, (b) less vulnerable sites that only liquefied in the strongest and most proximal contemporary earthquakes are unlikely to have liquefied in the last 1000-2000 years or more, (c) proximal strong earthquakes with large vertical accelerations favoured sill formation at some locations, (d) contemporary liquefaction was more severe than paleoliquefaction at all study sites, and (e) stratigraphic records of successive dike formation were more complete at sites with severe lateral spreading, (f) anthropogenic fill suppressed surface liquefaction features and altered subsurface liquefaction architecture.
A PDF copy of pages 334-335 of the book Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV. The pages document the transitional project 'Pages Rd Fulton Hogan Site Mural'. Photos: Shaun Murphy
A photograph of the site of a demolished building on the corner of Bealey Avenue and Victoria Street. Wire fencing has been placed around the site as a cordon. Signs on the fence indicate that many of the businesses which were in the area have moved and are still open.