Creation of New Zealand's Landscape

New Zealand is on the border between both the Australian-Indian Plate and the Pacific plate.  The boundary between them is called the Alpine fault. Since New Zealand is between these two plates, lots of mountains, glaciers, volcanoes, earthquakes, and oceanic trenches are formed depending on when and how the plates shift.

Mountains, such as Aoraki/Mount Cook or Mount Tasman, were created when these two plates converged with each other.

Tectonic Plate Map of New Zealand 

Volcanoes, like Mount Tongariro in New Zealand, result from the divergence (the action of spreading apart) of these two plates. These volcanoes are just a couple of the many volcanoes you can find in New Zealand due to the pacific plate, where most of the worlds most active volcanoes are found due to the ring of fire.

White Island Volcano (above) is one of the most active volcanoes in New Zealand. Which is also the backdrop used in Lord of the Rings

When these plates converge they do not only make New Zealand’s infamous mountains and volcanoes, but also can create spectacular geothermal areas with hot springs and mud pools; these areas are also used for providing electricity.

Because these two plates are right under New Zealand, the island gets frequent, big earthquakes that are caused by the plates shifting side by side; which is known as transformation. However some of the largest earthquakes in the world are subduction earthquakes.

Unlike other parts of the world, New Zealand is special because it sits on this border between the Australian-Indian Plate and the Pacific plate. Thus giving it the geological experience of all three plate boundaries: transformation, diverging, and converging.

The island of New Zealand and all the many little islands you see around it can either be formed from the tectonic plates moving away from each other splitting the land mass, diverging. Or they can be created from oceanic crusts colliding with each other resulting in one plate descending (subducting) beneath another.

http://sciencelearn.org.nz/Contexts/Earthquakes/Science-Ideas-and-Concepts/Plate-tectonics

http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/map/4398/plate-boundary-through-new-zealand

http://www.newzealand.com/us/feature/new-zealand-geography-and-geology/

http://www.earthonlinemedia.com/ebooks/tpe_3e/tectonics_landforms/tectonics_introduction.html

http://www.gns.cri.nz/Home/Learning/Science-Topics/Volcanoes/New-Zealand-Volcanoes/White-Island