Reports of Liquefaction Bubbling up from the Ground in Christchurch.

Originally posted by burntheships

I work less than 50 metres to the right in this photo.
The first shake (5.5) was a bit of a chuckle to be fair - we're quite used to that by now.
A while later, there was notice that at 2:16pm there would be a news bulletin on tv1 so we all piled up stairs to watch it on the telly. Wouldn't you know it - at 2:20 we got this 6.0.
I fell over, everyone else fell over. It's not a nice thing when you're trapped upstairs in a building that was lucky to make it through the february quake in the first place - in fact our second office which is attached to this one was condemned.
Then the volcanos of water started...One thing we learned from february was to get out fast. I had water coming in the doors of my car in february - the footwells were full!
It was almost coming in the doors again in less than 5 minutes since the quake.
You just switch into survival mode and go.
In february it took 4 hours to get home, this time 2.5. I live out of town so did not want to be stuck in town overnight.
Making my way out of town was - yet again - one of the most sobering experiences you can imagine. Buildings fallen, streets flooded and broken cars tipped up in holes and people who just don't know what to say anymore...
I live here, I love here and I hope - but gee if this isn't a testing time. Some will not cope.

reply to post by trouble_every_day


I can't imagine it and I am concerned I will be imaging first hand as I live in Tennessee (New Madrid). Sounds like you are ok...and your loved ones are ok?

What else can you tell us from your experience? The liquid coming out of the ground? What is your opinion?

Also....my first thought was volcanic activity...anyone else think that is possible?

Originally posted by trouble_every_day
Making my way out of town was - yet again - one of the most sobering experiences you can imagine. Buildings fallen, streets flooded and broken cars tipped up in holes and people who just don't know what to say anymore...
I live here, I love here and I hope - but gee if this isn't a testing time. Some will not cope.

Mate, well glad you are ok! That scene looks fearsome in a picture, let alone being there.
Take care, and be safe!

reply to post by trouble_every_day


Glad you're alive. Out of curosity did the liquefaction have any smell to it at all?

The liquifaction does have an odour. It's hard to describe but I think maybe I could say "stale or rotting" water.
Where we are in Ferrymead is less than 2 metres above the tide mark so the water table is very close and there is a river which flows just behind us as well.

I hope this explains why it happened so badly - it was a little worse in february but I was also quicker at getting out of there this time.

It's pretty surreal when it actually starts happening. There is no noise. The roads, car parks and anything that isn't concrete basically will begin to expand and then they just crack and boom - this concoction of water and sand starts flowing through. It just keeps coming too, it isn't a violent thing, actually kind of beautiful but it just seems to accumulate so damn quickly!

I was not more than 5 minutes from the actual quake to getting in my car and the water was already touching the running boards on my car.
In february I was maybe 20 minutes late getting away and the water was up to my bonnet! Luckily I have a raised, modified air intake otherwise my car was a goner.
There are some new aerial photos posted here: www.stuff.co.nz...
I'm not the first to post this link but there are some good liquifaction photos in there.

I wouldn't consider this to be volcanic in nature, just a result of high water table and violent shaking on a sand base.

Thank you all for your concern. I'm sure I can speak for everyone here when I say we sincerely appreciate it. This is tough but so are we.

Originally posted by dreamingawake
Sounds like their sewage pipes ruptured! I mean really why have they not moved from that location already, it is dangerous!!!

edit on 12-6-2011 by dreamingawake because: (no reason given)

So,uh,where would we go? We have jobs, homes, networks here. It's part of living on a geologically active planet.

Originally posted by IamJustanAmerican
The dark color that looks like sewage is from the fact that New Zealand is a volcanic country.

It is what makes the country capable of growing lush greenery.

Sort of, but the sediment in the liquefaction is derived from the Torlesse Terrane and is quartzo-feldspathic litharenite. Originally it was deposited from eroding volcanoes in a shallow sea off the coast of Gondwana and then undertook a long journey involving Orogenies and erosion cycles before being deposited in this area.. I have a booklet of Christchurch Bore Holes and it is sobering to see the amount (metres) of dark silty sand that is under he city. There is also a lot of swampy material and sand due to fluctuations in sea-level over the millenia.

Originally posted by ahnggk
I read one time, water oozing out of the ground is one of those precursors to a big quake.

It's more like a consequence of a big shake.

Quite a few shakes overnight and still going strong.

Originally posted by MamaJ

What else can you tell us from your experience? The liquid coming out of the ground? What is your opinion?

Also....my first thought was volcanic activity...anyone else think that is possible?

The liquefaction is due to the local geology and the shaking. I don't think volcanic activity here is possible.

They've upgraded the original magnitude report from a 5.5 and 6.0 to 5.7 and 6.3 magnitudes. Here's the news story... Stuff.co.nz

I'm glad I live 400km north of Christchurch.