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Jesse Kearse, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington

Seismic ‘whiplash’ – new research shows what happens when earthquakes stop suddenly

GettyImages Erhan Sevenler/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

The magnitude of an earthquake depends on how far a rupture travels along a fault line before it stops. For the first time, we have now directly observed how a large earthquake comes to a halt.

By analysing seismic recordings taken within a few kilometres of faults, we have identified a ground motion signal we call a “stopping phase”. It records the moment the earthquake stops.

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