Powerful quake has 'ripped a new fault line in surface'.

(From Western Morning News)

Byline: JEFF WELLS

New Zealand's powerful earthquake that smashed buildings, cracked roads and twisted railway lines around Christchurch ripped a new 11ft wide fault line in the earth's surface, a geologist has said.

Canterbury University geology professor Mark Quigley said what "looks to us that it could be a new fault" had ripped across the earth and pushed some surface areas up.

The quake was caused by the continuing collision between the Pacific and Australian tectonic plates, said Prof Quigley, who is leading a team trying to pin down the temblor's source.

"One side of the earth has lurched to the right …