MARLBOROUGH'S FRIGHT

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 10, 11 July 1940, Page 10

MARLBOROUGH'S FRIGHT

SEISMIC IN ORIGIN

FALL OF ROCK LIKELY

To solve the mystery of the explosion which scared the Seddon district in Marlborough on Tuesday morning, as reported in yesterday's "Post," it does not seem necessary to postulate the existence of a mine being washed up on the shore and exploding, or of a high-explosive shell fired at random by a passing raider —two of the many explanations offered by people who always have a theory ready to fit every occasion. The cause, almost certainly, .was seismological. At 8.22 a.m. on Tuesday a comparatively small earthquake shock was recorded at the Dominion Observatory, the distance from Wellington of its origin being about 30 miles, which would place it in the area startled by the sounds. Previous to this, at 7.54 a.m., another earthquake had been recorded, the centre of this, however, being rather farther away. In all probability, therefore, the noise resembling an explosion which was heard was caused by a fall of rock somewhere along the earthquake fault in the Awatere Valley, this fall being caused by the earthquake which the Dominion Observatory recorded. As a long, rumbling sound is reported to have been heard, corroboration is lent to the supposition that a fall of rock took place. The direction from which the sound came would naturally vary according to the topography of the country where it was heard, arid this would account for varying localities being named as the source of the i sounds. As windows rattled in places as much as twelve miles apart, the fall of rock must have been considerable, and no doubt further investigation will reveal somewhere in the Awatere Valley what happened.