Large ruptures can also trigger earthquakes on the faults continuing north from the Alpine Fault . There is paleotsunami evidence of near-simultaneous ruptures of the Alpine Fault and Wellington ( and/or other major ) faults to the North having occurred at least twice in the past 1,000 years . A 2018 study says that a significant rupture in the Alpine Fault could lead to roads ( particularly in or to the West Coast ) being blocked for months , as with the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake , with problems in supplying towns and evacuating tourists . District councils along the West Coast and in Canterbury have commissioned studies and begun preparations for an anticipated large earthquake on the Alpine Fault . In 1940 Harold Wellman first identified that the Southern Alps was related to a fault line which ran for approximately 650 km ( 400 miles ) . The fault was officially named the Alpine Fault in 1942 as an extension of a previously mapped structure . At the same time , Harold Wellman proposed the 480 km ( 300 miles ) lateral displacement on the Alpine Fault.This displacement was inferred by Wellman due in part to the similarity of rocks in Southland and Nelson on either side of the Alpine Fault . Lateral displacements of this magnitude could not be explained by pre-plate tectonics geology and his ideas were not initially widely accepted until 1956 . Wellman also proposed in 1964 that the Alpine Fault was a Cenozoic structure , which was in conflict with the older Mesozoic age accepted at the time . This idea coupled with the displacement on the fault proposed that the earth 's surface was in relatively rapid constant movement and helped to overthrow the old geosynclinal hypothesis in favour of plate tectonics
2016 Kaikoura earthquake
2016 Kaikoura earthquake
Alpine Fault