EARTH FAULTS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27058, 18 April 1949, Page 5

EARTH FAULTS

NEW ZEALAND TO TONGA DISCOVERY BY AMERICAN GEOLOGISTS N ZP A —Copyright SAN FRANCISCO, Rec. 8 p.m. Apl. 16. The discovery of two mammoth earth faults, each deeper than the length of the famous San Andreas fault which runs through California, was announced at a meeting of the Geological Society of North America. One of them is in the ’South Pacific and is about 1500 miles long and 400 miles deep. It extends roughly from New Zealand to Tonga. The other extends along the west coast of South America. It is just as deep and about twice as long. Dr Hugo Benioff, of the California Institute of Technology, said that two massive blocks of the earth’s crus< make up the faults. One block constantly strains to slip down while the other tends to push up. The Andes mountains were formed by the upward motion of the great fault, according to Dr Benioff, while the deep submarine valleys which lie off the coast were formed by the slipping of the earth block. Dr Benioff explained that when those blocks suddenly slipped tidal waves as well as earthquakes resulted.