Series of earthquakes rock upper South Island, lower North Island

Photo / 123RF

The top of the South Island and bottom of the North have been rocked by a series of earthquakes this morning.

The biggest quake struck at 4.13am, measuring a magnitude 4.6, 30km north-east of St Arnaud, an alpine village south of Nelson.

It struck at a depth of 7km.

It was followed shortly by a 4.0 magnitude quake in the same area at 4.51 but with a depth of 21km.

They were measured by Geonet as strong and moderate respectively.

The same area was struck with four other lighter quakes, before a 3.2km magnitude quake struck 35km south-west of Wellington at 6.38am.