Dr Nicola LitchfieldEarthquake Geologist/Tectonic Geomorphologist
Nicola studies past earthquakes and their impacts on the landscape so that we can better understand how and why they occur and how we can prepare for future earthquakes and landscape changes
Nicola has worked for GNS Science since 2000 and has extensive expertise in active faults throughout Aotearoa - New Zealand and marine and fluvial terraces as markers of tectonic vertical land movements, particularly in the Hikurangi Subduction Margin. She combines mapping with fieldwork, such as trenching, to constrain the timing, magnitude and frequency of past earthquakes, compiling the data into national databases, including the NZ Paleoseismic Site Database, which is used for seismic and tsunami hazard modelling, and the NZ National Seismic Hazard Model.
Her work has made major contributions to understanding the kinematics of the NZ plate boundary, particularly the relative role of active faults and the Hikurangi Subduction interface, and drivers of permanent, geological, uplift and how it’s recorded in the landscape. She has led major projects on landscape change, NZ and global active fault and paleoseismic databases, active fault mapping for District Plans, and coordinated the active fault mapping response to the 2016 Kaikōura Earthquake.
Nicola is currently the science leader of the It’s Our Fault: Nō Mātou Te Hapa programme(external link) , which partners with other researchers, stakeholders and Iwi/Māori to increase the Wellington Region’s resilience to earthquakes and their associated hazards.
Nicola Litchfield
Earthquake Geologist/Tectonic Geomorphologist