Wednesday, March 9, 2011

NZ quake sends 30 million tons of ice loose from glacier

The 6.3 magnitude earthquake that struck New Zealand on Tuesday, killing at least 75 people in Christchurch, also shook loose 30 million tons of ice from the nation's longest glacier, sending boulders of ice into a nearby lakeTourists on a boat watch an iceberg, broken off from the glacier after Tuesday's earthquake, in the Tasman Lake, 200km (124 miles) southeast of Christchurch in this handout photograph released February 23, 2011. The 6.3 magnitude earthquake that struck New Zealand on Tuesday, killing at least 75 people in Christchurch, also shook loose 30 million tonnes of ice from the nation's longest glacier, sending boulders of ice into a nearby lake. REUTERS/Denis Callesen/Handout
Tour boat operators in the area said parts of the Tasman Glacier calved into the Tasman Lake immediately after the quake, breaking into smaller icebergs and causing 3.5 meter-high (11-foot) waves.
"It was approximately 30 million tons of ice, it's just a massive, massive, massive scale," said Denis Callesen, the General Manager of Tourism at Aoraki Mount Cook Alpine Village.



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