SEABED MAY HAVE RISEN OFF EAST COAST

Chronicle (Levin), 6 December 1947, Page 4

SEABED MAY HAVE RISEN OFF EAST COAST

pfesi Association)

(Per

WHLL1NGTON-, Dec. 5. The Marine Department ? xs investigating the cause of subinarine disturbances oft' the eaSt cd&St- of the Nortlx Island. A •departmental notjce to marhiers draws attention to a mkiine danger area marked by breakers and probablv deiioting uhchaHefed ' Uialltiv? water in a posiaoh beariiig 110 dh|fees three miles from Portland island lighthouse. The island is Sdutli df yftrthirt Peninsula, Hawke's Bai". ^iirinipi'B have been warned to avoid the loeality until a survey has been inade. The Government steanxet; Matai, I under instructions from the depart-

ment, took soundings in the area on ner last trip from Auckland to Wellington. Investigations are still in ihe iheoretical stage, but it is -expected ihe Matai will return to the Portland Island area for practicai researeh. . _ _ Many earthquakes' . '.lxaye oecqrrea along the eant coast jar^a bf; ihe North Island iii tlie past i2" i{XOhth3¥,, .xftdst of them centred at sea xiot xhore than three miles ftoin the coast, but a fiominion Observatory offieer said yesterdav it '.'rtS quite poSSible- that a marine disturbance had cau§ed a shallowing of water near 1 ortland Island. „ There was no previotis recorded experience of shallowing at such a distanee oft the New Zealand coast,though it had liappened inahy txmeS xn the Netherlands Kast Indies and _ oft .Tapan, said an offieer df tlie Geoldgical Kurvev Department. There had been considerable Seismic activity accompai'ied bv tiual waves along that section of' the east coast in recent months. This had been caused by sudden faults along the -contxnental shelf and might involve either the shallowing or the'deepehing of the Water.