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The plates are constantly shifting and grinding into each other/ It's on a huge fault line with a lot of volcano's and earthquakes.
add. Some of the movement between the two plates (Australian and Pacific) is taken up by dextral movement, and some by subduction. The highest parts of the Southern Alps have been uplifted by about 20 000 m, and erosion has reduced that to about 4 000 m.
Some of the current inter-plate thrust is taken up in the Otago region (my region) by slow mountain building, largely without earthquakes. In the last 150 years, the distance between Queenstown and Dunedin - 150 km has shrunk by about 1500 mm. My home town of Wanaka is moving SW at about 40 mm per year, and 30km away, the land on the other side of the Alpine Fault is moving N at about 10 mm per year. Mostly without earthquakes - just some plastic mountain building and fault sliding.
But a BIG earthquake is certain in the long run.
Wiki User
∙ 12y ago
Wiki User
∙ 14y agoBecause it sits directly on top of 2 tectonic plates, the mountains are being pushed up from the collision of the 2
Wiki User
∙ 12y agois located on a major fault line in the earths surface where there is considerable earthquake and volcanic activity
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