Rangipo Fault

It is located near the eastern side of the Tongariro National Park, mainly in the Rangipo Desert, and traces have been now characterised on both sides of State Highway 1 where it is known as "the Desert Road" extending for at least 32 km (20 mi).^[2] The northern surface traces of the fault commences just south of the Waipakihi Road^[4] to the east of the Desert Road and it extends south of the Waiouru Military Camp to almost the south west corner of the army training area.^[4]

The Upper Waikato Stream Fault is the eastern wall fault to its immediate north and it has been postulated that whole fault rupture of that fault, the Rangipo Fault and the potentially intersecting from the west Wahianoa Fault whose trace may be hidden under Ruapehu eruptives could result in a 7.1 M_W event.^[2] The north–south fault line transitions into the east–west alignment of the Taupō Rift termination faults beyond the Ruapehu Graben with the Moawhango Fault to the east, the Shawcroft Road Fault to the west and the Snowgrass Fault to its south. Where the fault has been trenched to date it is normal with a NNE strike, and between 80°W dip.^[1] During a higher slip-rate period between 25 and 11 cal ka BP there were frequent major plinian eruptions of Mount Ruapehu so there is possibly some interaction with nearby volcanism.^[2] The long term dip slip rate from about 144 ka BP for a total displacement of 225 m (738 ft)^[1] is 1.5 mm (0.059 in)/year. However displacement since 13.8 cal ka BP has been less than 0.2 mm (0.0079 in)/year.^[2]

The size of the characterised displacements indicates major earthquakes typical for the Taupō Rift are possible. The 32 m (105 ft) displacement assigned to the oldest fault rupture in the above data could be a very disruptive event. For example, the current assumed worse case is from a M_w 7.1 event rupturing this and two adjacent faults over 43 km (27 mi) by an average of 2.4 m (7 ft 10 in).^[2]