[2] This 42 kilometres (26 mi) long segment runs from Harper pass to the junction of the Hope and Boyle rivers.

A minimum slip-rate has also been estimated from offset of channels in a late Holocene alluvial fan complex of 8.1 to 11.0 millimetres (0.32 to 0.43 in)/yr.

The displacement is thought to have occurred by repeated slips which, if similar to that which caused the 1888 earthquake, indicate a return period of about 140 years.

It extends 70 kilometres (43 mi) from the eastern part of the Hanmer Basin to just west of the junction with the Jordan Thrust near Kowhai River.

The fault dips steeply to the northwest at about 70° and forms the southern termination of the Seaward Kaikōura, Hawk and Amuri ranges.

[6] The oldest fill in the Hanmer Basin is Pleistocene in age, which constrains the development of the Hope Fault to that period.

[1] Alexander McKay, a geologist working for the New Zealand geological survey, observed horizontal offsets in farm fences of between 1.5 and 2.6 metres along the fault.