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Videos, UC QuakeStudies

A video recording of a lecture presented by Associate Professor Misko Cubrinovski as part of the 2011 University of Canterbury Earthquake Lecture Series.

Articles, UC QuakeStudies

Stage IV of the Christchurch liquefaction study updated the Stage II liquefaction hazard and ground damage maps with further data collected from other organisations, and included two additional maps indicating liquefaction sensitivity to groundwater levels. Stage IVa of the Christchurch liquefaction study used revised groundwater levels and adjustments to the liquefaction prediction algorithm. The outputs of the report were liquefaction hazard and ground damage maps for both average summer (low) and average winter (high) groundwater levels. The maps produced as part of Stage IVa of the report were subsequently included in an Environment Canterbury public education poster The Solid Facts on Christchurch Liquefaction which also contained information on how liquefaction occurs and what can be done to mitigate the liquefaction hazard. Stage IV of the Christchurch liquefaction study contained a number of recommendations to improve the liquefaction potential and ground damage maps for Christchurch. See Object Overview for background and usage information.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Liquefaction silt. The photographer comments, "After the earthquake in Christchurch New Zealand, liquefaction covered the streets, but after it had risen from below ground whilst the ground was shaking it the liquid in the liquefaction wanted to drain away".

Audio, Radio New Zealand

Sue Holmes, resident of Seabreeze Close in Bexley, which was built on reclaimed land which has liquefied after the Canterbury earthquake; Dr Tom Wilson, lecturer in Hazard and Disaster Management, from the department of Geological Sciences, Canterbury University; and Bob Parker, Mayor of Christchurch.

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Dried liquefaction silt in North New Brighton. The photographer comments, "Here you can see the very fine surface layer of liquefaction starting to shrink, crack and then curl up on itself".

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Liquefaction silt and sand cover the lawn of a residential property. The photographer comments, "This is a garden inundated with liquefaction. Though most liquefaction is grey in Christchurch there must have been golden sandy beaches before the volcanoes erupted millions of years ago".

Images, UC QuakeStudies

Grass growing through liquefaction silt in Avondale. The photographer comments, "Although this grass seems to be growing on the liquefaction created by the earthquakes in Christchurch, New Zealand, they are actually only growing through it. Nothing seems to grow even though seeds will sprout almost anywhere else. The seeds are growing in the soil which got covered up by the liquefaction. If liquefaction gets mixed with even a little soil then nature can get a foothold".

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

Liquefaction during the 4th September 2010 Mw 7.1 Darfield earthquake and large aftershocks in 2011 (Canterbury earthquake sequence, CES) caused severe damage to land and infrastructure within Christchurch, New Zealand. Approximately one third of the total CES-induced financial losses were directly attributable to liq- uefaction and thus highlights the need for local and regional authorities to assess liquefaction hazards for present and future developments. This thesis is the first to conduct paleo-liquefaction studies in eastern Christchurch for the purpose of de- termining approximate return times of liquefaction-inducing earthquakes within the region. The research uncovered evidence for pre-CES liquefaction dated by radiocarbon and cross-cutting relationships as post-1660 to pre-1905. Additional paleo-liquefaction investigations within the eastern Christchurch suburb of Avon- dale, and the northern township of Kaiapoi, revealed further evidence for pre-CES liquefaction. Pre-CES liquefaction in Avondale is dated as post-1321 and pre-1901, while the Kaiapoi features likely formed during three distinct episodes: post-1458 and possibly during the 1901 Cheviot earthquake, post-1297 to pre-1901, and pre-1458. Evaluation of the liquefaction potential of active faults within the Can- terbury region indicates that many faults have the potential to cause widespread liquefaction within Avondale and Kaiapoi. The identification of pre-CES liquefac- tion confirms that these areas have previously liquefied, and indicates that residen- tial development in eastern Christchurch between 1860 and 2005 occurred in areas containing geologic evidence for pre-CES liquefaction. Additionally, on the basis of detailed field and GIS-based mapping and geospatial-statistical analysis, the distribution and severity of liquefaction and lateral spreading within the eastern Christchurch suburb of Avonside is shown in this study to be strongly in uenced by geomorphic and topographic variability. This variability is not currently ac- counted for in site-specific liquefaction assessments nor the simplified horizontal displacement models, and accounts for some of the variability between the pre- dicted horizontal displacements and those observed during the CES. This thesis highlights the potential applications of paleo-liquefaction investigations and ge- omorphic mapping to seismic and liquefaction hazard assessments and may aid future land-use planning decisions.

Research papers, University of Canterbury Library

The focus of the study presented herein is an assessment of the relative efficacy of recent Cone Penetration Test (CPT) and small strain shear wave velocity (Vs) based variants of the simplified procedure. Towards this end Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analyses were performed on the CPT- and Vs-based procedures using the field case history databases from which the respective procedures were developed. The ROC analyses show that Factors of Safety (FS) against liquefaction computed using the most recent Vs-based simplified procedure is better able to separate the “liquefaction” from the “no liquefaction” case histories in the Vs liquefaction database than the CPT-based procedure is able to separate the “liquefaction” from the “no liquefaction” case histories in the CPT liquefaction database. However, this finding somewhat contradicts the assessed predictive capabilities of the CPT- and Vs-based procedures as quantified using select, high quality liquefaction case histories from the 20102011 Canterbury, New Zealand, Earthquake Sequence (CES), wherein the CPT-based procedure was found to yield more accurate predictions. The dichotomy of these findings may result from the fact that different liquefaction field case history databases were used in the respective ROC analyses for Vs and CPT, while the same case histories were used to evaluate both the CPT- and Vs-based procedures.