The dextral strike-slip across this zone has also involved clockwise rotation of the intervening fault blocks of about 20° since the early Pliocene.

[2] Further analysis shows that the mutual plate movement has been all effectively accommodated in the region itself, over the last 14,000 odd years by ruptures in size, space and time of the four main fault strands.

[4] Modelling the measured Hope, Clarence, Awatere and Wairau fault displacements show that they keep up, over periods of less than a 1000 years and a few tens of metres with the plate movement.

[4] This was the first proof of a common assumption that had been made by some seismologists of the processes in tectonic related earthquake systems, as opposed to individual faults.

[4] An ancestral fault system formed between 25 and 8 million years ago with the full development of the Hikurangi subduction margin which was associated with marked vertical axis rotations.

[2] The new plate vector is significantly oblique to the Alpine Fault, causing an increased amount of convergence.

It ruptured during the 7.8 (Mw) 2016 Kaikōura earthquake with a component of dextral-normal displacement in contrast to its long-term reverse motion.

[6][2] This also resulted in major uplift to its coastal south east side as it approached the Papatea Fault.

[6] The dextral[13] Fidget Fault commences to the south of the Waiau Toa / Clarence River and runs along its valley initially before striking east to the south of the hill of Mackintosh Knob and intercepting the Jordan Thrust near the coast where the Jordan Thrust transitions to the Kekerengu Fault.

[2] The Papatea Fault runs from the Jordan Thrust south east to Waipapa Bay where it historically was known to have a deep southeast plunge suggesting past dextral motion.

It trends northeast–southwest ( at about 210°) with displacement in this earthquake being mainly right lateral and it may lie within the hanging wall of a deeper fault structure.

The complexity of the 7.8 Mw 2016 Kaikōura earthquake completely redefined the understanding of the dynamics of the seismicity in the southern section of the fault system.

[2] As the recent movements of all the main faults is now understood, future forecasting of major earthquakes in the area may improve.