Photo: NIWA
New data revealing the sheer unseen power of an earthquake, indicates a "mega flood" of rocks swamped Kaikoura's seabed during 2016's 7.8 quake.
On-going research undertaken by NIWA using Swedish robots, shows boulders the size of a doubledecker bus, in a hundreds-of-metres high avalanche, have fundamentally altered Kaikoura canyon's geography and exceptional ecology. Before the earthquake the Kaikoura canyon was an acclaimed biodiversity hotspot.
Just hundreds of meters off the coast, it contained more life than ever seen before at its depth. An online international Canyon Conference has been taking place this week.
Keynote speaker NIWA marine geoscientist Dr Joshu Mountjoy tells Kathryn about his team's latest research findings.
