Southern Willunga Fault Paleoseismic Investigation Results

Paleoseismic trenching data from the southern Willunga Fault near Adelaide, South Australia. Evidence suggests 3-5 ground-rupturing earthquakes occurred since the Middle to Late Pleistocene, with single-event displacements of 0.5–1.7 meters. The dataset was presented at the Australian & NZ Geomorphology Group Conference in September 2022.

Use Cases

• Model seismic hazard probabilities based on evidence of 3-5 historical earthquakes
• Estimate fault displacement rates based on single-event displacements of 0.5–1.7 meters
• Correlate recent uplift history with longer-term landscape evolution described in the abstract

Strengths

• Provides evidence for 3-5 ground-rupturing earthquakes
• Quantifies single-event displacements between 0.5 and 1.7 meters
• Focuses on a specific fault segment ~40 km south of Adelaide

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to the specific fault study

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Trench excavation across the fault to examine relationships between fault planes and sedimentary strata

Time Range

Middle to Late Pleistocene to present

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-05 04:31:48.320491; freshness should be verified

Geography

Southern Willunga Fault, Mt Lofty Ranges, South Australia