New Zealand moves 18cm closer to Australia

[Candlelight]

http://www.stuff.co.nz/science/9096830/Latest-quakes-move-Cape-Campbell-west

Marlborough's Cape Campbell has moved 18 centimetres closer to Australia since the earthquake on August 16.
The 6.6 magnitude earthquake was described by Crown research institute GNS Science as "more concentrated" than the July 19 and 21 quakes. The July quakes moved the district 5cm to the east.
The August quake reversed that, moving parts of the district back to the west.
GNS Science researchers analysed data from 28 GPS stations around Marlborough and found that while the maximum movement was more than twice that of the 6.5 July 21 quake, the total area of fault rupture was much smaller.
The data, which looks at movements underground as well as on the surface, showed the largest land shift was recorded at Cape Campbell, where land moved 18cm to the west, the Crown research institute said.

Fair dinkum.

 

[auntiehill]

Maybe New Zealand was just lonely.

 

[Miss Chicken]

Come much closer and our government will have you rounded up and put you all on Nauru or Manus Island.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Ha!

You come much closer and our strict laws against sheep interfering will be enforced.

 

[JarodRussell]

Oh my God, we have GOT to move it BACK!

 

[Locutus of Bored]

So now it's "slightly to the left of Middle Earth"?

 

[MacLeod]

Of course the really important thing is now that it'll take you a second or so less to travel between the two countries.

 

[YellowSubmarine]

Of course the really important thing is now that it'll take you a second or so less to travel between the two countries.

That highly depends on the form of transport. Boats and aircraft are one thing, but if you're a digging a hole with your bare hands under the bottom of the sea, these 18cm can mean quite a lot.

 

[MacLeod]

Of course the really important thing is now that it'll take you a second or so less to travel between the two countries.

That highly depends on the form of transport. Boats and aircraft are one thing, but if you're a digging a hole with your bare hands under the bottom of the sea, these 18cm can mean quite a lot.

Well that begs two points to raise

1.>Where are you escapig from

2.>We have these machines called Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMS') these days.

 

[RobertVA]

I'm suspecting a simple straight bored tunnel across a fault line probably isn't a sustainable facility. It would be vulnerable to fracture when the adjoining land masses shift. If there's a bridge (or submarine tube anchored to the bottom with cables) across the fault it could be designed with enough flexibility and/or telescoping ability to continue operating after the shift.

If you insist on an actual tunnel perhaps it could have a larger diameter section across the actual fault and a flexible inner liner to carry the vehicles a hundred meters or so.