The 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit New Zealand's South Island lifted up the seabed by two metres, pushing it above the ocean's surface.
Aerial photos taken by environmental engineers show large purple patches of uplifted earth on the coastline north of Kaikoura.
Side-by-side shots, taken before Sunday's devastating earthquake which killed two people, show an alarming contrast.
Before and after shots showing the coastline north of Kaikoura.
In Facebook photos posted by local Anna Redmond, the seabed can be seen jutting out of the sandy shore by several metres.
Close-up snaps show the rocks covered in seaweed and abalone and are a vivid illustration of the amount of ocean life threatened by the quake's impact.
The lifted seabed covered in oceanlife. Photo: Anna Redmond.
Experts say the quake opened up previously unknown fault lines and this is the first time the seabed has been lifted in New Zealand.
Marine Geologist Dr Joshu Mountjoy told Stuff.co.nz he had "never seen it before during an earthquake" adding that the earthquake had a "very complex fault rupture".
The latest quake appears to have fractured along some vertical, as well as than horizontal faultlines, resulting in the Earth being pushed upwards in places.
"It will take a while before this becomes normal again," Dr Mountjoy said.
Geologists, GNS Science geologists Nicola Litchfield and Pilar Villamor, flew over the South Island's eastern coast, to observe the damage caused by the Kekerengu Fault.
"Here, the earthquake dislocated hills, fences, roads, buildings and the river bed, some by as much as 10m horizontally. A house was also spectacularly moved off its foundations - the occupants were shaken up, but otherwise okay," they posted on the GNS website.
A fault rupture zone near Waiau, North Canterbury. (Photo: Tonkin and Taylor, Twitter)
New Zealand was hit with two major aftershocks - one 6.3 magnitude quake centred in Cheviot and the other a 5.8 magnitude, after the initial quake at midnight on Sunday.
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