Tsunami Hazard for the Auckland Region and Hauraki Gulf, New Zealand

The Hauraki Gulf is a semi-enclosed sea next to the largest population centre in New Zealand, the Auckland metropolitan region. The potential tsunami hazard is of concern to regional and local planners around the Hauraki Gulf. The Hauraki Gulf has recorded 11 tsunamis and one meteorological tsunami (rissaga) since 1840. The historical tsunami data are relatively sparse, particularly for the largest events in 1868 and 1883. Moreover, local sources may produce damaging tsunamis but none has occurred during recorded history. Therefore numerical modelling of potential tsunami events provides a powerful tool to obtain data for planning purposes. Three main scenarios have been identified for numerical modelling: 1. A teletsunami event from an earthquake off the West Coast of South America. Historically this region has produced the largest teletsunamis in the Hauraki Gulf. 2. A tsunami generated by a local earthquake along the Kerepehi Fault. This fault bisects the Gulf, has been active during the last century at the southern inland end, and is overlain by a considerable thickness of soft sediment that may amplify the seismic waves. 3. A tsunami generated by a volcanic eruption within the Auckland Volcanic Field. This field has involved a series of mainly monogenetic basaltic eruptions over the last 140,000 years. Many of these eruptions have involved phreatomagmatic eruptions around the coastal margins, or within the shallow waters close to Auckland. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 2001