Pukaki earthquake of 17 December 1978
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5459/bnzsee.12.1.7-10Abstract
Lake Pukaki is a natural lake but has been raised twice to provide water storage for power stations constructed or planned for the Upper and Middle Waitaki Hydro Schemes. The lake was first raised 9 metres in 1955 to give a depth of 71.5 metres and a volume of about 5 x 109 m3. A second dam, the Pukaki High Dam, was completed in 1978 to raise the lake a further 37 metres and add 5.5 x 109 m3 to the volume. This will create a lake with a maximum depth of 108 metres and a volume of more than 10 x 109 m3 .
In accordance with the recommendation of the 'UNESCO Working Group on Seismic Phenomena Associated with Large Reservoirs' (Adams, et al, 1973), the New Zealand Electricity Division of the Ministry of Energy installed a seismic network around Lake Pukaki comprising 8 vertical and 1 three-component seismometers. This has been operating continuously since June 1975.
References
Adams, R. D., Gough, D. I., and Muirhead, K. J., 1973. "Seismic Surveillance of Artificial Reservoirs". UNESCO Working Group on Seismic Phenomena Associated with Large Reservoirs, Annexure 1, Rep. 3rd Meet., March 1973, London.
Gupta, H. K., and Rastogi, B.K., 1976. "Dams and Earthquakes". Developments in Geotechnical Engineering, 11. Elsevier Scientific Publishing Co., Amsterdam.
Mogi, K., 1963. "Some Discussions on Aftershocks, Foreshocks and Earthquake Swarms - the Fracture of a Seimi-Infinite Body Caused by an Inner Stress Origin and its Relation to the Earthquake Phenomena" (third paper). Bull. Earthquake Res. Inst., 41: 615-658.
Bath, M., 1965. "Lateral Inhomogeneities in the Upper Mantle". Tectonophysics, 2: 483-515. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/0040-1951(65)90003-X
Papazachos, B.C., 1974. "On the Relation Between Certain Artificial Lakes and the Associated Seismic Sequences". Paper presented at Int. Colloq. on Seismic Effects of Reservoir Impounding, the Royal Society, London, March 1973.
