New Zealand new earthquake fault ‘similar to Alpine’ fault/also Hundreds of submarine volcanoes found off the coast of Norway

August 2, 2013 – NEW ZEALAND –

 An Otago geologist’s draft manuscript suggests there’s a tectonic fault system off the South Island’s east coast potentially comparable in size to the Alpine Fault. University of Otago geologist Phil Ford has privately written a draft proposal, as yet unpublished, and detailing the possibility of the major South Island intra-plate fault, with possible seismic and tsunami hazard implications. His draft uses previous research that identified beach deposits on the coast east of Milton as potential evidence of tsunami relating to the Akatore fault, or another, hitherto unidentified, offshore system. Proposing to name it as the Indiania Fault System (IFS), he says it appears to run for most of the offshore length of the South Island, similar in size to the Alpine Fault. Using New Zealand Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research bathymetric charts, some portions of a fault parallel with the coast were apparent, the paper says. “It is immediately apparent that portions of the suggested system must be covered by South Island river run-off sediment, at least in places, just as the active and earthquake-related fault in the Christchurch area is covered in gravels and other… sediments onshore.” East of Canterbury and Otago the seafloor feature runs south off southeast Southland and down towards northwest of the Auckland Islands. “A strike length of greater than 1000km is clear, more than comparable with the Alpine Fault at about 800km south-southwest of the South Island. Both the southern IFS elements and southern Alpine Fault offshore continuations are clear and readily visible on seafloor bathymetry displays.”
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this story and the following one were found on http://theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com/
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August 2, 2013 – NORWAY –

 Researchers at the University of Bergen (UiB) has discovered hundreds of volcanoes in the deep sea around Norway. The area may be Norway’s new National Park or billion-profit generating region.The unique findings were discovered in Norwegian waters along a 1500 km long volcanic mountain range, which stretches from Jan Mayen to the Fram Strait between Svalbard and Greenland. Prior to this white spots on the map, we knew nothing about what was there. But using technological tools we have been able to map the ocean floor. The last volcano was found a few weeks ago and is just 20 meters below sea level, – says Rolf Birger Pedersen, professor at the Centre for Geobiology (UiB). By discovering Loki’s Castle, as the area is called, now researchers from UiB can observe unknown volcanic underwater world toogether with hundreds of undersea volcanoes and various heat sources. There is not only a totally unique wildlife, but also rich metal deposits. Each field has an estimated value of 1-3 billion NOK. How much economic value they may have in the future is too early to say. The environmental and legal aspects are important issues. Iron, zinc and copper are just some of the metal deposits that exist, but the unique microorganisms will also be an important step in bioprospecting. That searching for valuable biological and active components from marine organism, which can be used for research and development of new medicines. – The Nordic Page