Drone Video Shows Massive NZ Ruptures

When a massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake jolted New Zealand in November, it lifted the seabed along the country’s northeastern coast and exposed new land, researchers say.

The quake uplifted a 2- to 7-foot-long rift along a 12-mile stretch of the Kaikoura coast, according to NASA's Earth Observatory. In one area, the land had been raised 18 feet.

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The European Space Agency’s Sentinel 2 satellite captured images of the new land, which is located on the South Island's Kaikoura Peninsula.

The change in the area is even noticeable on the ground. Researchers surveying the new land by foot and helicopter saw seaweed littering the newly exposed slabs of rock and coral reef, as well as crayfish, sea snails and other marine life that became stranded well above the high tide level, NASA also said.

"Locals here described not the earthquake noise but the noise of water running off the top of this uplifted platform," said geologist Kelvin Berryman. "They said that the noise was just horrendous."

Researchers believe the Kaikoura coast’s new land is most likely here to stay. Though beaches raised by earthquakes can gradually sink back down or be pushed down by other quakes, New Zealand’s coast is full of land that was lifted by earthquakes and has stayed put for hundreds to thousands of years, according to the country’s hazards monitoring organization GeoNet.

The destructive earthquake killed two people, triggered a small tsunami and caused up to 100,000 landslides.

MORE ON WEATHER.COM: New Zealand Earthquake

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