New Zealand's Plate boundary

New Zealand is located on the boundary of two of the world’s major tectonic plates – the Pacific Plate and the Australian Plate, this animation shows how the plates interact.
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Full script:
In New Zealand, the Australian and Pacific Plates push against each other along a curving boundary.
How they meet each other changes along this boundary.

At the southern end of the South Island, the Australian Plate dives down below the Pacific Plate.
In the North Island the opposite situation occurs with the Pacific Plate being pushed under by the Australian Plate.

In between, through most of the South Island, the two plates grind past each other along the Alpine Fault.

[dba]

Such a great channel, I wish they could be longer

[pukulu]

strange tectonics. I can't think of anywhere else in the world that a plate boundary behaves this way.

[Anewclassact]

So much easier to understand. Thank you for your hard work

[bestbinauralbeats]

I'd be super interested to see a forecast of what it'd look like in... 10 million years? 50? Anyway, I'm guessing it'd resemble a dog's breakfast 😉

[Opti-Mystic]

Yes, us kiwis like living in this danger zone, i think it keeps us keen

[laman]

I was looking at a map of the plate boundary once and wondered if the direction of the dive was related to where the bulk of the continental crust lay on the plates. It seemed as if the overlying continental crust is influencing which plate is diving and which is siting. What is known about why this arrangement exists?

[hrsmrt]

Hello Alpine Fault, fellow Pacific plate gangs from East side (‘Merica)


Hello San Andreas, fellow Pacific plate gangs from West side (KiwiLand)

[Liliquan]

Just like it’s not the pleasant to be in the next room as your parents are having fun, so it is also not the nice when two plates are grinding with each other.

[allgood]

Well I guess that puts an end to the idea than NZ came from South America or the North Island was fished up by a Maori called Maui.. thanks mate👍🇳🇿

[DJPurpleOne]

I'm hope I'm long gone before the big one hits however, I'm ready to fight, come on you piece of crap, break, you want some, come and get some 🤨

I love learning about the Earth and Earthquakes and all etc, love facts about natural disasters

But if it wants to break while I still walk on this planet, I'll be ready😎, I'm ready, got my helmet, knee pads, elbow pads and everything, I'm ready fool, talking to you Mr/Mrs Techtonic Plates/Faults lol

[Froggability]

Wow a govt channel not smeared with the woke brush? What’s going on?