I am interested in how the use of historical, written records of historical earthquake can better inform our understanding of tectonics and seismic hazard in Aotearoa New Zealand.
My current research focuses on historical earthquakes in North Canterbury and Southern Marlborough, a region which has exhibited significant, damaging earthquakes over the past 15 years, but had previously produced few noteworthy earthquakes since the 1940s. I am collating newspaper reports & other written records between 1840 to 1942 to compile information about forgotten earthquakes which may give insights into the seismic hazard and ground motions for the region. This will then be used for modelling of past, present and future seismicity in the region.
Working Thesis Title:
Historical Earthquakes in a Plate Boundary transition zone: insights from North Canterbury and Southern Marlborough 1840-1942
Supervisors:
Primary Supervisor: Camilla Penney (UC)
Co-Supervisors: Andy Nicol (UC), Chris Rollins (GNS Science)
Research Interests:
I am interested in how we can use historical, written records of past earthquakes to inform our understanding of tectonics and seismic hazard in Aotearoa New Zealand. I have previously worked (at GNS Science) on improving our knowledge of damaging seismicity in the Taranaki region between 1882-1942, and documenting how felt reporting of earthquakes was conducted in Aotearoa New Zealand. I have also investigated a previously poorly documented earthquake in 1925 in Northern Canterbury for my Masters project.
Academic History:
BSc (Hons) in Geology at University of Plymouth
MSc in Geological & Environmental Hazard at University of Portsmouth
- MSc Project: Investigating and Revising a New Zealand Historical Earthquake – 1925 Clarence, New Zealand, Earthquake
Publications:
Gurney JH et al. (in prep.). Evolution of Earthquake Felt Reporting in New Zealand – 1868-2010
Gurney, JH. 2023. Isoseismal maps of damaging earthquake in Taranaki, New Zealand, from historical sources – 1882 to 1942. Lower Hutt (NZ): GNS Science. 35 p. (GNS Science Report; 2023/25). doi: 10.21420/4ZWB-HB54.
Lacassin, R. et al. 2020. Rapid collaboration knowledge building via Twitter after significant geohazard events. Geoscience Communications, 3, 129-146, doi: 10.5194/gc-3-129-2020.
