Case Study: GNS Science improves Wellington seismic risk modelling with Seequent

Modelling the Wellington subsurface to understand seismic risk

GNS Science worked with Seequent to better understand the seismic risk beneath Wellington, New Zealand, a city with critical infrastructure, active faults, and complex subsurface geology. The team needed a more complete, up-to-date 3D view of the region to support engineering, planning, and building decisions after major earthquakes highlighted the importance of site-specific ground behavior.

Using Seequent’s Leapfrog Works dynamic 3D subsurface modelling solution, GNS Science and its partners combined borehole, geophysical, LiDAR, and database inputs to iteratively build and update a robust geological model. Seequent’s software helped the team incorporate new data without rebuilding from scratch, share views across disciplines, and create outputs such as velocity, basin depth, and site period maps that will inform council guidance and engineering standards for future earthquake resilience.

GNS Science

Matthew Hill

Geologist