Engineering Geology 125 (2012) 4555

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Engineering Geology
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/enggeo

Relationship between observed liquefaction at Kaiapoi following the 2010 Dareld

earthquake and former channels of the Waimakariri River
Liam M. Wotherspoon a,, Michael J. Pender b, Rolando P. Orense c
a
b
c

EQC Research Fellow in Earthquake Engineering, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1142, New Zealand
Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1142, New Zealand
Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1142, New Zealand

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 14 December 2010
Received in revised form 6 November 2011
Accepted 9 November 2011
Available online 13 November 2011
Keywords:
Liquefaction
Lateral spreading
Dareld earthquake
River channels
River modication

a b s t r a c t
The Dareld earthquake caused widespread damage in the Canterbury region of New Zealand, with the majority
of damage resulting from liquefaction and lateral spreading. One of the worst hit locations was the small town of
Kaiapoi north of Christchurch, an area that has experienced liquefaction during past events and has been identied as highly susceptible to liquefaction. The low lying town sits on the banks of the Kaiapoi River, once a branch
of the Waimakariri, a large braided river transporting gravelly sediment. The Waimakariri has been extensively
modied both by natural and human processes, consequently many areas in and around the town were once former river channels.
Using historical accounts and maps of the region, areas of land reclamation and old channels that had been cut
off from the river since the beginning of European settlement in the 1850s were identied. These areas correlated well with many of the areas having signicant liquefaction damage following the Dareld event. Substantial lateral spreads and sand boils developed in areas of reclamation along the current river path, causing
signicant damage to stopbanks and structures along the river, with ssures up to 2 m deep and 1 m wide.
Much of the residential housing was damaged by lateral spreading, with cumulative displacement offsets up
to 3 m parallel to old channel beds that had aggraded over time due to river shifts. In former channel areas
that were free of lateral spreading, large volumes of ejecta were present over wide areas, with depths of up
to 400 mm in places. Houses in these regions were damaged as a result of settlement and tilting. In all these
areas underground services and roadways were severely impacted as a result of ground deformation. The severity of this damage indicates the importance of knowing the location of old channels when dening liquefaction
prone regions.
2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Kaiapoi is a small town approximately 17 km north of central
Christchurch in the South Island of New Zealand. It is situated at the
north eastern end of the Canterbury Plains, a region approximately
50 km wide and 160 km long formed by overlapping alluvial fans
from rivers owing east from the Southern Alps. In this area interbedded marine and terrestrial sediments approximately 100 m deep
overlie 300400 m of late Pleistocene sands and gravels (Brown and
Weeber, 1992). Surcial deposits in the coastal regions east of Kaiapoi
consist of Christchurch formation dune and coastal swamp deposits,
with Springston formation silty sand and gravels in the region behind
the coast (Brown and Weeber, 1992). The ground water table is shallow
and varies between 1 and 2 m below the ground surface.
Present day Kaiapoi, shown in Fig. 1 sits on the banks of the Kaiapoi
River, a tributary of the Waimakariri River, a large, steep, braided, gravel
Corresponding author. Tel.: + 64 9 3737599x84784; fax: + 64 9 3737462.
E-mail addresses: l.wotherspoon@auckland.ac.nz (L.M. Wotherspoon),
m.pender@auckland.ac.nz (M.J. Pender), r.orense@auckland.ac.nz (R.P. Orense).
0013-7952/$ see front matter 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.enggeo.2011.11.001

bed river that enters the ocean 3 km east of the town. The Waimakariri
ows from west to the east curving northwards as it passes beneath the
town, but has experienced substantial changes, both natural and manmade, since the times of rst European settlement. Historically, ooding
of the Waimakariri has caused signicant damage to Kaiapoi and the
surrounding area, with oods regularly entering the city of Christchurch
along old river channels (Logan, 2008). Over time river diversions and a
network of stopbanks have been constructed to constrain the river
along its current route and provide ood protection.
At 4.35 am on 4th September 2010 (local time and date), a magnitude 7.1 earthquake occurred with an epicentre 42 km south-west of
Kaiapoi and a focal depth of 10 km. The Kaiapoi North School strong
motion station (KPOC), approximately 900 m north of the Kaiapoi
River, recorded a peak ground acceleration of 0.32 g and a bracketed
duration of approximately 20 s (GNS, 2010). The town suffered from
widespread and severe liquefaction during this event, with large
volumes of sand ejected and extensive lateral spreading. In this region the worst damage was to residential structures, underground
services and stopbanks. Prior to this event, the only other recorded
case of liquefaction in Kaiapoi occurred during the 1901 Cheviot

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L.M. Wotherspoon et al. / Engineering Geology 125 (2012) 4555

Fig. 1. Map of Kaiapoi with town extent in 2010 and town plan extent in 1858 superimposed.
Google Inc., 2010.

earthquake (Berrill et al., 1994). Following the 2010 event, the M6.3
aftershock on 22 February 2011 centred 22 km south of Kaiapoi
resulted in additional less severe liquefaction damage over a smaller
part of the previously impacted region. In this event the KPOC strong
motion station recorded a PGA of 0.21 g and a bracketed duration of
less than 10 s (GNS, 2011).
Using observations from the 2010 and 2011 events, and records of
the 1901 event, the relationship between liquefaction at Kaiapoi and
the old channels of the Waimakariri River is presented. An overview
of liquefaction damage from the two events is rst summarised, followed by details of the changing nature of the Waimakariri River
since the rst European settlement. A detailed comparison of areas
of liquefaction damage and the old river channels is presented and
parallels made with observations in previous events worldwide.
2. Historic liquefaction in Kaiapoi
Well documented evidence of liquefaction in Kaiapoi during the
1901 Cheviot earthquake can be found in newspaper reports following
the event. These detail ejection of sand, lateral spreading and ground
settlement features in an area at the eastern edge of Kaiapoi on both

sides of the Kaiapoi River (then the North branch of the Waimakariri
River). Reports described ssures opening up in a property between 1
and 3 in. (2.57.5 cm) wide, and several chains (~40 m) in length in
an SW to NE orientation. Water and grey sand deposits were ejected
from these ssures, which were probed to a depth of 6 ft (~180 cm).
In some areas the water ejected during the liquefaction caused ooding
to depths of up to 6 in. (15 cm). Through discussion with local residents,
Berrill et al. (1994) showed that these areas were two properties in the
block bounded by Cass, Sewell, Beswick and Jollie Streets, and the block
between Sewell, Jollie and Charles Streets (shaded area at position 1 in
Figure 1). Fissures also opened on the other side of the river up to 2 ft
(60 cm) wide, while smaller cracks were lled with ejecta. These cracks
emerged from out of the river and continued up the river bed into the
farms along the riverbanks. Signs of liquefaction were present in other
areas, but their present day locations could not be dened.
Site investigations were carried out in some of these areas between
1986 and 1989 to evaluate their liquefaction potential. Piezocone
probing and rotary boring were carried out at four sites, with properties
encountered indicating a signicant liquefaction risk in Kaiapoi, especially of those areas closer to the river (Berrill et al., 1994). Cone resistances of approximately 23 MPa were encountered at these tests

L.M. Wotherspoon et al. / Engineering Geology 125 (2012) 4555

sites in layers from 2 to 6 m deep, which were underlain by coarse sands

and ne gravels. The location of these test sites is represented in Fig. 2
by the four cross symbols close to the Kaiapoi River. A range of epicentres and magnitudes had been reported for the Cheviot event, and by
using site investigation data and liquefaction potential models, Berrill
et al. showed that the most likely characteristics were a M6 7.5
with an epicentre 77 km NE of Kaiapoi.
In 2001 a study of the liquefaction potential of the eastern
Waimakariri District was carried out that included the area in and
around Kaiapoi (Christensen, 2001). Existing soil information was
supplemented with data from 26 boreholes to dene the distribution
of soil prole characteristics in the region. The location of these test
sites near Kaiapoi is represented in Fig. 2 by star symbols. Each was
drilled to a depth of 15 m and SPTs performed at one metre intervals,
with 29 particle size distribution tests undertaken on representative
samples of potentially liqueable soil. Liquefaction assessment used
two earthquake scenarios, a M7.2 Southern Alps foothills earthquake
with an epicentral distance of 50 km, and a M8 Alpine Fault earthquake with an epicentral distance of 150 km. Using this data, a map
of liquefaction susceptibility was developed for the region, with the

47

section of this map from the Kaiapoi area shown in Fig. 2. Three regions of high (H), medium (M) and low (L) liquefaction susceptibility
are separated by dashed lines, with areas to the west of town and
south of the Waimakariri River outside the study area.
3. Liquefaction in Canterbury region following the 2010 Dareld
earthquake
The Dareld event was the most damaging earthquake to occur in
New Zealand since the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake. This was a signicant event in terms of liquefaction and lateral spreading, resulting
in damage to the built environment in Christchurch and surrounding
towns. The high water table, following the very wet winter season
(NIWA, 2010), may have contributed to the widespread extent of
the liquefaction and lateral spreading.
In Christchurch the worst affected areas were in the suburbs of
Dallington, Avonside, Bexley and Halswell located on loose alluvial
sand deposits. Dallington and Avonside are located adjacent to the
meandering loops of the Avon River, Bexley is situated in old wetlands at the mouth of the Avon where it enters the Avon-Heathcote

Fig. 2. Map of Kaiapoi indicating high (H), medium (M) and low (L) liquefaction susceptibility zones dened by Christensen (2001) and areas that liqueed during 2010 Dareld
event.
Google Inc., 2010.

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L.M. Wotherspoon et al. / Engineering Geology 125 (2012) 4555

estuary, and Halswell is on the banks of the Halswell River. North of

Christchurch, the towns of Spencerville, Brooklands and Kaiapoi suffered extensive damage as a result of liquefaction. Spencerville and
Brooklands are located between the coast and the Styx River on young
dunes and loamy sands (Hills, 2002). The characteristics at Kaiapoi,
the focus of this paper, have been explained in the Introduction.
Very signicant was the extent of lateral spreading and postliquefaction differential settlement damage to residential structures.
Many structures were left uninhabitable as a result of these large movements. Damage to the sewer and water supply network was also significant, with lateral movement and oating of the pipes due to
liquefaction. While not as extensive, there was also damage to roads,
bridges, railroad embankments, and stopbanks. Cracking in roadways
from ground movement and slumping of sections of roads adjacent to
waterways was evident, while movement of railroad embankments
caused buckling of tracks. Road bridge approaches were affected due to
lateral spreading, while lower strength footbridges suffered structural
damage due to the compressive forces generated by the lateral spreading
movements towards the river channel. Further information about the
damage induced by the earthquake can be found in Allen et al. (2010).
Focusing on Kaiapoi, using data from aerial photographs (NZAM,
2010) and ground reconnaissance, the areas that experienced liquefaction are shown shaded in Fig. 2. Comparison between this and liquefaction susceptibility indicates that much of the area that experienced
liquefaction had been mapped as highly susceptible zones. The only
area that seems to be slightly mismatched is the area of extensive liquefaction south east of town that cuts through medium and low susceptibility zones. As will be explained in the following sections, this damage
can be correlated with the position of former river channels. The borehole in Fig. 2, shown by the star symbol south east of town close to
the banks of the Waimakariri, was drilled outside the former channel,
missing the highly liqueable materials that lled this channel.

4. Waimakariri River since European settlement

4.1. Early history
In the 1860s there were two branches of the Waimakariri River,
the north and south branches. These two branches split and rejoined
forming Kaiapoi Island, and Fig. 3 shows the characteristics of the
river and surrounding area (Ward and Reeves, 1865). Kaiapoi Island
was described as having swampy areas on the northern and southern
sides, with a north eastern region that was mainly sand. European
settlement at Kaiapoi began in 1853, and it was declared a town in
1857 (Wood, 1993).
On the northern side of the river much of the early town was built
on sandy deposits, with high sand hills extending as far back as Beach
Rd (Hawkins, 1957). The southern part of the town was built in the

swampy northern section of Kaiapoi Island, and this side did not develop as fast as the northern side (Hawkins, 1957).
The layout of the town as it existed in 1858 is shown in Fig. 4, with
the extent of the town shown by the dashed line in Fig. 1. The north of
the town was bordered by Smith, Cass and Hall Streets, with a street
layout very similar to the present, with the only changes occurring at
the eastern edge of town. The majority of streets on this side of the
river were nothing more than peg lines through the sand at the end
of the 1850s (Hawkins, 1957). On the southern side of the river, the
town was bordered on the east by North Road, with the main part
of town bordered to the south by Ohaka Rd. At the western edge of
town, the circled area indicated the position of Adams St, which was
constructed after 1858 and then eroded away by the North branch
in 186465 (Wood, 1993). The high water mark of the Waimakariri
River running through the town was along the edge of Charles St
and Raven St on the north and south bank, respectively.
The conuence of the north and south branches of the river was in
the sandy region immediately adjacent to the eastern edge of the
town. Throughout the 1860s, the main ow of the river was along
the north branch and through the middle of Kaiapoi. As a result, the
town suffered 16 disastrous oods in the rst 3 years of its existence
and both Charles and Raven St were subject to scouring (Logan,
2008). At this time there were only piecemeal prevention works in
place to protect the town and the island, and many had already
proved unsuccessful. Each section had been constructed following
an instance of ooding and the network was neither sufciently
high nor long. On February 4th 1868 the most devastating ood on record hit the town, with many parts 56 ft (1.52 m) under water. An
almost complete rebuild of the town was required after this event
(Wood, 1993).
At the mouth of the river, sand bars extended from both the north
and the south and the Waimakariri emptied through a central mouth
shown in Fig. 3.
4.2. The rst river diversion
In 1867, a canal shown in Fig. 5 at positions 1 and 2 was cut across
the island along Maber's Rd from the North to the South branch to
serve a ourmill, and this carried a large amount of water from the
North channel. In an effort to combat the ooding of the town and island, local famers carved out a new channel in 1868 from the north
branch to Maber's Rd canal at position 3. This channel started to
choke off the north branch due to the accumulation of shingle, and
shifted the ow of the river to this new channel and the south branch
(Logan, 2008). Kaiapoi Island was split in half below the point where
the new channel (3 and 2) and the south branch connected, forming
Coutts Island. Downstream from this conuence, the entire ow of the
Waimakariri was carried by a single channel.
Just to the east of Kaiapoi, the shift of the majority of the ow to
the South branch resulted in an alteration to the path of the river.
Prior to the change, the southern channel turned to the east and
joined up with the northern channel further from town, which is
shown in Fig. 3. After the cut, the ow of the river shifted and the
southern branch joined up with northern branch much closer to
Kaiapoi.
4.3. Southern branch shift

Fig. 3. Kaiapoi and vicinity in 1865.

Adapted from Ward and Reeves, 1865.

In 18791880, oods eroded the banks and changed the course of

the south branch along Stewart's Gully at position 4 in Fig. 5, shifting
the main ow of the river away from the town. The old channel parallel
to Stewart's Gully was cut off from the ow of the river, reducing down
to a small stream. The network of channels north of the old channel
gradually reduced to a single channel through Kaiapoi that connected
up to the Waimakariri at the northern end of Stewart's Gully.

L.M. Wotherspoon et al. / Engineering Geology 125 (2012) 4555

49

made at Wrights farm, position 5 in Fig. 5, completing the straightening of the river to its present course (through 3, 5 and 4). Cross banks
have since blocked the ow from the old south branch, which has
been reclaimed for other uses. In 1929 the trust diverted the Eyre
River into the Waimakariri, signicantly reducing the ood risk in
Kaiapoi (Logan, 2008). As a result of some excavation and the 1940
ood, the river broke through into the ocean just south of Kairaki
(Figure 6a), shifting the mouth of the river to its present position.
4.5. Further stopbank construction

Fig. 4. Plan of the town of Kaiapoi in 1858.

Adapted from Wood, 1993.

In 1923 there was another substantial ood in Kaiapoi when waters

from the Cam and Eyre Rivers (shown in Figure 3) owed into the North
branch. To better coordinate the ood control efforts, the Waimakariri
River Trust was established in 1923 (Wood, 1993; Logan, 2008). By
this time the old north branch was blocked off by stopbanks, and it
only served to drain surrounding swampland. There was also very little
ow in the South branch due to silting. With most of the ow now going
through the new channel, the bed level was still being built up with
shingle and material eroded from the river banks. This meant that the
system at that time would be unable to deal with future large ooding
events.

Improvements made during the Hay's No.2 scheme were unable to

contain the major oods in 1940, 1950, and 1957. This resulted in a further river improvement scheme in 1960, with the stopbanks designed
to provide protection against the 100-year ood (Logan, 2008). In
1959 the old north branch of the Waimakariri River running through
the centre of Kaiapoi was renamed the Kaiapoi River (Wood, 1993).
The old positions of the branches of the Waimakariri River are
superimposed onto the present day map of the region in Fig. 6a, with
present day Kaiapoi outlined by a dotted line. The old South branch
lies beneath a large area on the eastern side of South Kaiapoi, coming
from the south along the present-day railway line. South of the
present-day Waimakariri River, the old channel covers a large part of
the Coutts Island area on both sides of State Highway 1, extending
west across farms and golf courses on the landside of the present day
stopbanks. The old North branch also lies beneath a large area of farmland, and as it reaches Kaiapoi there is a large region to the northwest
that is within the old river meander. The relation between the location
of the old river channel and the observed liquefaction and lateral
spreading that occurred during the Dareld earthquake is discussed in
subsequent sections.

4.4. After 1925 Hay's No.2 scheme

In response to the 1920s oods, the Waimakariri River Trust
implemented a major river improvement scheme known as the
Hays No. 2 Scheme, which began construction in 1930. The scheme
entailed excavation of a new channel and an overall improvement
of the stopbank system along the Waimakariri River. A cut was

5. Comparison of liquefaction damage and location of old river

channels
In this section we focus on specic areas and the correlation between damage as a result of the Dareld event and the position of old
river channels near Kaiapoi. The region in and around Kaiapoi is

Fig. 5. Overview of the characteristics of the Waimakariri prior to 1935.

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L.M. Wotherspoon et al. / Engineering Geology 125 (2012) 4555

reasonably at, with the largest slopes in the area resulting from stopbank construction and land reclamation along the Kaiapoi and Waimakariri Rivers. Looking at the areas near the town, the most extensive
liquefaction damage occurred on the north side and at the eastern
edge. The areas along the river will be explained in more detail, as
well as the eastern edge of town and the path of the old south branch.
These areas are listed below and mapped in Fig. 6a and b.

Central Kaiapoi (Figure 7)

Western Kaiapoi (Figure 11)
Eastern edge of North Kaiapoi (Figure 13)
Eastern Kaiapoi (Figure 16)
Coutts Island (Figure 18)

Outside these areas of focus, most of the northern section of the

town east of Williams St and south of Beach Rd experienced some
level of liquefaction following the Dareld event. This seems to be because this area consisted of loose sand hills prior to the construction
of the town. These sand hills were levelled off as the town was constructed, and the soil in this area is still sandy. The severity of liquefaction reduced moving away from the river, and this is probably because
the elevation of the land increased and the water table was further from
the ground surface. On the south side of town, the area was more mud
and swamp, conditions not as conducive to liquefaction. The south east
part of the town is described in more detail in the Eastern Kaiapoi section, as it had soil conditions similar to the north.
5.1. Central Kaiapoi
An aerial view of a section of the Kaiapoi River running through the
centre of the town following the earthquake is presented in Fig. 7, with
the river channel as it existed in 1858 represented by the dashed lines.
As explained previously, the river banks at high water ran along the
edge of Raven Quay and Charles St, with the riverbed narrowed to half
of what it was in the 1860s. In 1907, the town began to dredge and reclaim ten acres of the foreshore along Charles St and Raven St (Quay) to
lessen the effect of ooding and improve the river sights (Wood, 1993).
All the parks and stopbanks south of Charles St were built on reclaimed
land, while on the south bank a stopbank was constructed along the
length of Raven Quay. Stopbanks along the river were approximately
2.5 m above the water line, with slopes in this area approximately
2H:1V and 3H:1V on the riverside and landside, respectively (Allen et
al., 2010).

Following the Dareld event, extensive liquefaction and lateral

spreading were evident throughout the region shown in Fig. 7 along
both sides of the river, with large ground ssures parallel to the river
in the area bounded by the 1858 riverbanks. In this area of reclaimed
land most of the lateral spreading displacements developed within
50 m of the river banks, with total permanent lateral displacements of
up to 3 m recorded (Robinson et al., 2011). Lateral spreading in the vicinity of the Kaiapoi Visitors Information Centre and the Coast guard
building at position 1 caused both structures to settle and tilt, requiring
repairs to the foundations.
At position 2, large ground cracks up to 100 cm wide and 200 cm
deep were observed on the land side of the embankments, as shown
in Fig. 8. These large ssures closer to the river banks were free of ejecta,
while those closer to Charles St were smaller and lled with large
amounts of ejecta. In this grassed reserve area the ground level sloped
back gradually to Charles St from the top of the stopbanks. Fig. 4
shows that Charles St was close to the level of the river in the past, so
the water table was closer to the ground surface in the regions where
ejecta was evident. As indicated by Fig. 9, a much larger volume of ejecta
was evident at position 3, with ground settlement affecting tanks in the
area and similar large lateral spread ssures. At this position the slope of
the land side of the stopbanks was greater, and the reserve area behind
the embankments was much atter than that at position 2. This meant
the water table was closer to the surface over this area, and could explain why the larger volume of ejecta was present over a wider area
at the surface within the grassed reserve area.
The residential and commercial properties along Charles St and back
to Cass St were damaged due to liquefaction induced settlement and
ground cracking, with settlements of up to 400 mm. Large volumes of
ejecta were present in this area, with damage to water/wastewater networks and roads. There was also lateral spreading damage to the stopbanks along the south side of the river from positions 4 to 3, and
settlement of houses directly behind the stopbanks along Raven Quay.
The Mandeville footbridge at position 4 was constructed in 1874, and
at that time it reached as far as Charles Street with a total length after
construction of 110 m (Logan, 2008). Until 1922, the area occupied by
Trousselot Park (position 5 in Figure 7) was a swamp and used as a rubbish dump, and when the area was reclaimed and the park constructed
the footbridge was shortened to its current length. Sand boils were evident in Trousselot Park following the earthquake, with lateral spread
cracks developing parallel to the river surrounding the park. The
Mandeville footbridge in Fig. 10 suffered a buckling failure of the deck

Fig. 6. Present day Kaiapoi a) with overlay of former channels of the Waimakariri post 1850s; b) focus regions of liquefaction damage.
Google Inc., 2010.

L.M. Wotherspoon et al. / Engineering Geology 125 (2012) 4555

51

Fig. 7. Aerial photograph of central Kaiapoi River indicating former river channel.
NZ Aerial Mapping, 2010.

due to compressive forces created by lateral spreading towards the channel of the stopbanks at each end of the bridge, shifting the abutments
inwards.

Waimakariri. In this region there were pockets of liquefaction in residential areas and along the rail tracks, with the most severe area in
the bottom right corner of Fig. 11 and the bottom left corner of Fig. 7.

5.2. Western Kaiapoi

5.3. Eastern edge of north Kaiapoi

Fig. 11 shows an aerial view of Kaiapoi River and the Cam River
west of the town following the Dareld earthquake. The extent of
the North branch of the Waimakariri during the 1860s is indicated
in the gure by the dashed black lines, while the centre of the Kaiapoi
and Cam River channels in 1941 is shown by the dotted white lines
(NZAM, 1941). In the 1960s the Cam River (following the 1 positions)
was realigned to its present position during the construction of the
Cam road motorway access, with the land to the west of this
reclaimed and used to create Wylie Park at position 2 (Wood,
1993). From the 1960s onwards, the Cam and Kaiapoi Rivers were
both realigned to their present positions during the progressive construction of the motorway off/on ramp on State Highway 1 (SH1) inside the 1858 river banks and the twin two lane bridges south of this.
Wylie Park at position 2 experienced widespread liquefaction,
with large areas of sand boils developing across the area. At the western end of the park, lateral spreading cracks parallel to the river developed in the park and adjacent roadway. Murphy Park, on the
other side of the river at position 3, was also within the meander of
the river. Here again there was a large volume of ejecta, most of it
concentrated at the eastern end, and extending into the residential
area behind the park. Sand boils were also evident at position 4 to
the right of the motorway offramp. This area was within the 1865
river meander, and adjacent or within the path of the river in 1941.
Moving from the onramp towards position 2, there was some evidence of liquefaction along the roadway within this meander. Although not shown in Fig. 11, Fig. 6a shows a large area of meander
south of the river channel when it was the North branch of the

Fig. 12 shows the 1858 street plan for Kaiapoi, with Charles St and
Sewell St both continuing east to Hall St, while in-between Jollie St
and Hall St was Boys St. At this time these streets had only been surveyed and little if any permanent works had been undertaken. Fig. 13
shows aerial photographs of the area in Fig. 12 following the Dareld
event, with Charles and Sewell St ending east of Jollie St, and Boys St
not evident.
When the main ow of the Waimakariri shifted back to the southern
branch following the diversions in 1868, the course of the river in this
area changed and was directed perpendicular to the northern banks
near the eastern end of town following the arrow in Fig. 12. This
resulted in progressive erosion of the area east of Jollie St, and in October 1878 a commission was set up to try and solve this problem. Accounts from the time indicated that the river had encroached by 10
chains (200 m) in the soft sandy soil in the area (Wood, 1993). One solution was the construction of an embankment along Jollie St, Cass St
and Commercial Rd (Now Askeaton Dr), following points 1 to 4 in
Figs. 12 and 13 (Wood, 1993). However, this solution was never put
into place as the shift of the main channel of the river through Stewart's
Gully in 1880 reduced the ow at the eastern edge of the town.
To provide a conservative estimate of the erosion, the river banks at
average water level from 1858 (instead of the high water line along the
edge of Charles St) are used as the origin of the 200 m offset to show the
extent of erosion at 1878. This erosion would have removed much of
the planned positions of Charles, Sewell and Boys St shown in Fig. 12.
It is also clear from Fig. 13 that the present day river banks are much

Fig. 8. Large lateral spread ssures in reclaimed land alongside Kaiapoi River.
NZ Aerial Mapping, 2010.

Fig. 9. Lateral spread ssures and large volumes of sand ejecta in reclaimed land beside
Kaiapoi River.
NZ Aerial Mapping, 2010.

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L.M. Wotherspoon et al. / Engineering Geology 125 (2012) 4555

Fig. 10. Lateral spreading induced damage of the Mandeville footbridge.

closer to the 1858 position, indicating that much of the eroded area was
either aggraded by river sediments or reclaimed since 1878.
All of the area shown in Fig. 13 was affected by liquefaction, with
the region north of the river bend one of the hardest hit due to liquefaction following the Dareld event. Cassia Pl, the cul-de-sac north of
the river bend and shown in Fig. 14 experienced severe liquefaction
resulting in extensive sand boils with ejecta up to 400 mm thick in
places. Many of the houses in the areas settled as a result of this liquefaction, which was damaging in cases with large differential settlement. There was also extensive damage to buried services and
roadways from cracking and ground movement. Lateral spread ssures and ejecta were visible along the river banks up the present
day stopbanks in the bend in the river. The ssures that extended
through the BMX park adjacent to position 4 in Fig. 13 are shown in
more detail in Fig. 15. Large lateral spread cracks approximately parallel to the river cut through this area, in conjunction with large volumes of ejecta and surface water. This cracking continued east along
the river following the river banks.

immediately obvious is that the regions of liquefaction demonstrate

a close correlation to the position of the old river channel. Large volumes of ejected sand and ground cracking are evident in the elds
east of Kaiapoi, while heading south, the liquefaction damage follows
a more conned path along the former river channel.
On the eastern side of Kaiapoi, the old channel passes underneath
the present day Courtenay Dr area shown by position 1, the site of widespread damage to residential properties as a result of liquefaction and
extensive lateral spreading. This was evident along the eastern side of
Courtenay Dr for a distance of approximately 700 m. Up to 500 mm of
ejected sand covered much of the roads and properties in this area following the event. Large lateral spread ssures between 0.5 and 1.5 m
wide ran through residential areas parallel to the banks of the old
river channel, with many of these ssures lled with ejecta. This spreading resulted in permanent displacements of the ground of between 1.3
and 2.8 m towards Courtenay Stream, the present day small water
course that follows the approximate path of the old river channel. The
characteristics of the lateral spreading in this area were different to
those observed elsewhere in Kaiapoi, with the majority of large ssures
developing 120200 m from the banks of Courtenay Stream in a blocklike movement, instead of the larger cracks close to the free face
(Robinson et al., 2011). At the free face there were only a few small
cracks evident. The residential one and two storey structures in this
area, especially on the eastern side of Courtenay Dr, were severely damaged due to these large movements. Structural damage was a result of
tilting, differential settlement, loss of foundation support, and cracking
of foundation slabs (Allen et al., 2010).
Between positions 2 and 3, liquefaction resulted in damage to the
train tracks. Fig. 17 provides a more detailed aerial view of liquefaction and lateral spreading crossing the tracks at position 3 just
south of Kaiapoi. Using the vehicle in the photo for scale gives a
good indication of the considerable size of these cracks and the volume of ejecta. One of the exploratory boreholes from the
Christensen study (2001) was at position 4 in Fig. 16, clearly outside
the path of the old river channel and in an area where no liquefaction
was evident.

5.4. Eastern Kaiapoi

5.5. Coutts Island
An aerial view of the eastern edge of Kaiapoi south of the Kaiapoi
River following the Dareld earthquake is presented in Fig. 16, with
the boundary of the old southern channel of the Waimakariri River
between the years 18651880 shown by the dashed black line
(Cass, 1864; Ward and Reeves, 1865; Logan, 2008). What is

An aerial photograph of the earthquake damage in the Coutts Island Rd is presented in Fig. 18, with ejecta indicated by the grey mottled regions in the image. The river channel as it existed in 1865 is
highlighted by the dashed white line in this gure. Following the

Fig. 11. Aerial photograph of western Kaiapoi River indicating former river channel.
NZ Aerial Mapping, 2010.

L.M. Wotherspoon et al. / Engineering Geology 125 (2012) 4555

Fig. 12. Eastern edge of north Kaiapoi in 1858.

Adapted from Wood, 1993.

diversion of 1868, the new channel joined with the south branch in
this area following a line from the present river channel through
points 1 and 3. This is also shown by the intersection of channel 1
with the south branch of the Waimakariri in Fig. 5. The elds in this
area had large volumes of ejecta and lateral spread cracks. Along
Coutts Island Rd, the old river channel passes through an area with
widespread liquefaction near the present day stopbanks. Along the
stopbanks, evidence of liquefaction is shown by the long dashed
lines, and the area with no evidence of liquefaction is shown by the
dotted line. These lines seem to agree well with the length of stopbank inside and outside the old river channel. Sand boils were evident
along the base of the stopbanks for the entire length of the dashed
line on the land side, with some isolated boils at the base on the
river side.
Liquefaction and cracking on a secondary stopbank following State
Highway One, indicated by the long dashed line at position 2, were
observed following the earthquake. Liquefaction also resulted in
damage to the roadway of the northern onramp at position 4 and
the approaches to the motorway onramp overbridge just north of
this position. Both these areas were again within the abandoned
river channel.

53

natural lateral shifting in its course and resulted in channel abandonment in some areas (Orense et al., 1991). Moreover, it was reported
that prior to the 1900's, most of Dagupan City's land areas were shponds and marshlands. As the area developed and became a commercial centre, most of these swampy areas were reclaimed by lling on
the ooded areas where shrimp and milksh farms were located.
Thus, the natural land reclamation and the construction of articial
cut-offs account for the loose saturated sediments which make up
most of the city's soil formation (Orense, 2003).
During the 2007 Niigataken Chuetsu-oki Japan earthquake (M6.8),
Kashiwazaki City's Garbage Incinerator Plant was damaged due to extensive liquefaction. The road spread laterally towards the river,
resulting in massive embankment failure. Based on the locations of
sand boils and ground cracks observed, it was inferred that this site
may have been a former river channel of the Sabaishi River that was
buried when the road was constructed (Orense et al., 2008). Extensive
liquefaction was also observed at the Suidobashi Park in Nishimoto,
Kashiwazaki City. A very long ground crack was observed traversing
through the entire length of the park, with relative settlements ranging
from a few centimetres to as much as 20 cm. Further investigation
showed that the region which settled was a former river channel that
was backlled and constructed on a sandbar formed by two branches
of the Sabaishi River. As part of the river improvement schemes implemented in the 1990s, the river was straightened by backlling the
northern branch (Orense et al., 2008). Apparently, the old river channel
and portions of the sand bar liqueed during this earthquake, causing
lateral spreading towards the existing river channel.

7. Discussion

6. Comparison with observations from other earthquakes

The situation at Kaiapoi and the other case histories highlight the
fact that areas in former river channels and abandoned meanders consist of loose deposits of silts and sands, and are therefore susceptible
to liquefaction during earthquakes. The damage resulting from liquefaction in these events emphasises the importance of a good understanding of the uvial history of a region. Locations and ages of old river
channels, lakes and wetlands are an important input in the development of well informed liquefaction susceptibility estimates.
In the case of Kaiapoi, river channels were very recently abandoned
and reclaimed:

The relation between former river channels and abandoned meanders and liquefaction occurrence has been observed in other earthquakes. Liquefaction-induced damage observed in Dagupan City
during the 1990 Luzon, Philippines earthquake (M7.8) correlated
very well with the locations of former river channels. Dagupan City
is traversed by the Pantal River, whose meandering nature led to

1850's Natural shift of the ow from the south to the north channel
of the Waimakariri River, eroding north banks to east of town
1867 Shifting of ow back to south channel due to channel cutting,
reducing ow through Kaiapoi and reduction of river channel
1880 Channel cutting, shifting river east and cutting off channel
on eastern edge of Kaiapoi

Fig. 13. Aerial photograph of eastern edge of North Kaiapoi indicating former river
channel characteristics.
NZ Aerial Mapping, 2010.

Fig. 14. Extensive sand boil areas at end of Cassia Pl indicated by darker grey colour.
NZ Aerial Mapping, 2010.

54

L.M. Wotherspoon et al. / Engineering Geology 125 (2012) 4555

Fig. 15. Large lateral spread cracks and sand boils in BMX park adjacent to Kaiapoi
River.
NZ Aerial Mapping, 2010.

1907 onwards Reclamation of land along Kaiapoi River, both

Charles St and Raven Quay sides
1930 Wrights cut, straightening and cutting off channel at Coutts
Island
1960's Realignment of Kaiapoi and Cam River and reclamation of
land
Apart from the section of abandoned river channels to the south east
of Kaiapoi, the work of Christensen (2001) was able to provide a good
prediction of the areas affected by liquefaction in and around Kaiapoi.
Observed regions of liquefaction were consistent with the estimates of
liquefaction susceptibility during strong seismic shaking using the criteria of Youd and Perkins (1978), with river channels expected to
have very high to high susceptibility to liquefaction. Radio carbon dating in the Kaiapoi area outside these channels indicated that deposits
were approximately 7000 years old at 915 metre depths (Brown,
1973). Using the criteria of Youd and Perkins, the interbedded marine
and terrestrial sediments of this age outside the old channels were
expected to have moderate to high susceptibility.
Samples of the ejected material in the Courtenay Drive area in
eastern Kaiapoi and adjacent to the Visitors Centre in central Kaiapoi
were collected and laser diffraction analysis used to determine the
grain-size distribution curves (Allen et al., 2010; Pender, 2010). The
material was uniformly graded sands, with non plastic nes content
of between 10 and 30% and coefcients of uniformity less than 3.5.
Using the grain size criteria of Tsuchida (1971) for sands with low

Fig. 17. Lateral spreading cracks and damage to train tracks southeast of Kaiapoi.
NZ Aerial Mapping, 2010.

coefcient of uniformity, the grain size distribution of these samples

was within the region indicating a high possibility of liquefaction.
8. Conclusions
The 2010 Dareld earthquake resulted in widespread liquefaction
damage throughout the Canterbury region, with some of the worst
damage occurring in the town of Kaiapoi. Previous studies have identied the high susceptibility to liquefaction in most areas in and around
Kaiapoi, based mainly on borehole data. This paper has shown that
much of the most signicant liquefaction damage in and around Kaiapoi
during the Dareld event occurred in areas where river channels had
been reclaimed or in old channels that have had ow diverted away,
characteristics observed in past earthquakes in Japan and the Philippines. Some areas have been impacted by liquefaction in the 1901 Cheviot, 2010 Dareld, and 2011 Christchurch events. The highly modied
nature of the Waimakariri and its proximity to Kaiapoi meant that
some of these former channels overlapped areas that have since been
developed as the town has grown.
All former channel areas were subjected to some form of liquefaction induced damage following the Dareld event. Substantial lateral
spreads developed in areas of reclamation along the current river
path, with sand boils present in cracks in the lower lying areas. The
damaged stopbanks and caused settlement and tilting of structures in
the area. Residential structures were severely damaged due to large lateral spreads in areas adjacent and within old river channels. In areas
without lateral spreading, signicant volumes of ejecta were still

Fig. 16. Aerial photograph of eastern edge of Kaiapoi indicating location of old river channel.
NZ Aerial Mapping, 2010.

L.M. Wotherspoon et al. / Engineering Geology 125 (2012) 4555

55

Fig. 18. Overlay of 1865 stream channel on present day Coutts Island.
Google Inc., 2010.

present over large areas, resulting in house damage due to settlement.

In all former channel areas underground services, roads and railways
were severely impacted as a result of cracking and ground movement.
The damage patterns observed in these regions shows the importance
of knowledge of uvial history and the high liquefaction susceptibility
of abandoned and reclaimed river channels.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge the Earthquake Commission for funding Dr. Wotherspoon's position at the University of Auckland, and the NZ-GEER reconnaissance team for their work gathering
information on liquefaction damage across the Canterbury area following the Dareld earthquake.
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