The Canterbury Plains () are an area in New Zealand centred in the Mid Canterbury, to the south of the city of

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

in the

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

region. Their northern extremes are at the foot of the Hundalee Hills in the Hurunui District, and in the south they merge into the plains of North Otago beyond the Waitaki River. The smaller Amuri Plain forms a northern extension of the plains.

Geology

The Canterbury Plains were formed from

Quaternary The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), as well as the current and most recent of the twelve periods of the ...

moraine A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris (regolith and Rock (geology), rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a gla ...

gravels transported from the Southern Alps and deposited here during glacial periods in the late Pleistocene approximately 3 million to 10,000 years ago. The

alluvial Alluvium (, ) is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluvium is also sometimes called alluvial deposit. Alluvium is ...

gravels were then reworked as shingle fans of several of the larger rivers, notably the Waimakariri, the Rakaia, the Selwyn, and the Rangitata. Part of the Canterbury-Otago tussock grasslands, the land is suitable for moderately intensive livestock farming but is prone to droughts, especially when the prevailing wind is from the northwest. At these times, the weather phenomenon known as the '' Nor'west arch'' can be seen across much of the plain. A major earthquake on 4 September 2010 revealed a previously unknown geological fault beneath the Canterbury Plains and created a surface rift that offset features by as much as four metres in places.

Rivers

The rivers of the Canterbury Plains have a distinctive braided appearance, which differentiates this area from the plains of North Otago to the south – beyond the Waitaki, the rivers typically have narrower, well-formed channels, rather than spreading across wide shingle depressions, as in Canterbury. Most of the population of Canterbury lives in a series of large and small towns arranged northeast to southwest along the plains, connected by State Highway 1 and the Main South railway line. These include

, Ashburton and

Timaru Timaru (; ) is a port city in the southern Canterbury Region of New Zealand, located southwest of Christchurch and about northeast of Dunedin on the eastern Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast of the South Island. The Timaru urban area is home to peo ...

, and the smaller Kaiapoi, Dunsandel, Rakaia, Temuka, and Glenavy. Other towns on the plains include

Rangiora Rangiora is the largest town and seat of the Waimakariri District, in Canterbury Region, Canterbury, New Zealand. It is north of Christchurch, and is part of the Christchurch metropolitan area. With an estimated population of Rangiora is the ...

, Leeston, Lincoln, Darfield, Geraldine, Methven and Waimate.

Fauna

The extremely rare weevil '' Hadramphus tuberculatus'' is endemic to the plains.

References

{{Coord, -43.64, 172.09, region:NZ-CAN_type:landmark_scale:300000, display=title Plains of New Zealand Wine regions of New Zealand Landforms of the Canterbury Region