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Timothy Stern, Emeritus Professor of Geophysics, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington

Earthquakes can be destructive for distant cities built on top of basins – now we know why

Earth Earthquakes Wellington
A Wellington high-rise being demolished after damage from the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake. Crispin Anderton/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

Sedimentary basins – depressions in Earth’s crust caused by tectonic activity – tend to be flat and are favoured places to build cities. But during earthquakes, they can become natural resonance chambers.

Just like sound waves echoing around an empty hall, this means seismic waves can get trapped in these basins and bounce from side to side to create “seismic echoes”.

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