Recent Deep Earthquakes

See what's been happening in your region recently.

Click on the region you're interested in.

The surface of the earth is made up of a crust which varies in depth from 5 to 70 km. Below this layer lies the mantle layer, descending to several thousand kilometres, which consists of soft, elastic material; earthquakes do not occur there. The word deep is used to describe earthquakes that occur lower than the usual depth of the earth's crust. Earthquakes occur in material that is brittle or breakable, so the deep earthquakes we see in New Zealand are evidence of the crust being drawn down deep into the mantle. There, at depths of up to 600 km, the last of the crustal material is melted. We call this process subduction.

New Zealand has two subduction zones where deep earthquakes occur: under the east coast of the North Island, and in the Fiordland region of the South Island. The very deepest earthquakes have their epicentres nearer the west coast of the North Island.

View the most recent deep earthquakes in your region¹, or use the map:

• North Cape
• Whangarei
• Auckland
• Waikato
• East Cape
• Taranaki
• Hawke's Bay
• Wellington
• Nelson
• Kaikoura
• Grey
• Christchurch
• Mount Cook
• Waitaki
• Te Anau
• Dunedin
• Invercargill
• Stewart Island

 ¹ The regions are named and defined by the NZMS 262 map series.