five kilometres off New Brighton: Aftershock may be one of biggest

United States seismologists have calculated that Saturday afternoon's sharp aftershock was significantly stronger than GeoNet believes.

The rumbling 1.44pm earthquake, centred about five kilometres off New Brighton and 10km deep, has been given an initial magnitude of 4.8 by GNS Science seismologists.

However, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) calculated it was magnitude 5.3, making it one of the largest in the current swarm of activity that began on December 23.

Quake-analysis figures from the USGS usually have lower magnitudes than GeoNet calculations because the survey uses "moment magnitude" – a measure of the size and amplitude of a fault rupture – rather than the "local magnitude" scale favoured in New Zealand. Read the rest on: 

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