Application of drainage analysis to infer “hidden” regional or local tectonic deformation

© 2014, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. Some features in the landscape are the direct result of earthquake and tectonic deformation. The recognition and analysis of these geomorphological features allows the identification of regions subjected to past earthquake activity or tectonic deformation, which can be directly applied in many areas of engineering geology. However, some regions lack evident geomorphological features despite being subjected to recurrent earthquakes and/or ongoing tectonism. Drainage networks are very sensitive to changes along their flow path, so the characteristics of the drainage can be used to infer areas with “hidden” evidence of past earthquake activity or tectonic deformation. Two examples from contrasting tectonic environments (i.e., Australia and New Zealand) are used to illustrate the application and effectiveness of drainage analysis.