It’s the first direct video of a fault line in motion, offering a rare, horrifyingly calm glimpse at the forces that shape continents and rearrange cities. What they found was a pulse-like rupture, where seismic energy bursts along a fault line in one concentrated hit instead of a drawn-out slide. It confirmed that the curved slip patterns predicted by seismic models really happen, and that they move in the direction scientists had theorized for decades. Play videoResearchers say this footage could help verify the behavior of historic earthquakes, including the massive 1717 rupture along New Zealand’s Alpine Fault. There’s already talk of placing more cameras near high-risk zones, which could change how we understand earthquake physics entirely.