Arito Sakaguchi

Unexpected biotic resilience on the Japanese seafloor caused by the 2011 Tohoku-Oki tsunami

On March 11th, 2011 the Mw 9.0 2011 Tōhoku-Oki earthquake resulted in a tsunami which caused major devastation in coastal areas. Along the Japanese NE coast, tsunami waves reached maximum run-ups of 40u2005m, and travelled kilometers inland. Whereas devastation was clearly visible on land, underwater impact is much more difficult to assess. Here, we report unexpected results obtained during a research cruise targeting the seafloor off Shimokita (NE Japan), shortly (five months) after the disaster. The geography of the studied area is characterized by smooth coastline and a gradually descending shelf slope. Although high-energy tsunami waves caused major sediment reworking in shallow-water environments, investigated shelf ecosystems were characterized by surprisingly high benthic diversity and showed no evidence of mass mortality. Conversely, just beyond the shelf break, the benthic ecosystem was dominated by a low-diversity, opportunistic fauna indicating ongoing colonization of massive sand-bed deposits.

Estimation of slip rate and fault displacement during shallow earthquake rupture in the Nankai subduction zone

Enormous earthquakes repeatedly occur in subduction zones, and the slips along megathrusts, in particular those propagating to the toe of the forearc wedge, generate ruinous tsunamis. Quantitative evaluation of slip parameters (i.e., slip velocity, rise time and slip distance) of past slip events at shallow, tsunamigenic part of the fault is critical to characterize such earthquakes. Here, we attempt to quantify these parameters of slips that may have occurred along the shallow megasplay fault and the plate boundary décollement in the Nankai Trough, off southwest Japan. We apply a kinetic modeling to vitrinite reflectance profiles on the two fault rock samples obtained from Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP). This approach constitutes two calculation procedures: heat generation and numerical profile fitting of vitrinite reflectance data. For the purpose of obtaining optimal slip parameters, residue calculation is implemented to estimate fitting accuracy. As the result, the measured distribution of vitrinite reflectance is reasonably fitted with heat generation rate Q˙

Stress condition during rupture propagation as new index for fault characterization

left(dot{Q}right)

Strain rate strength behavior from detail monitoring and core analysis at the Shobara landslide, Hiroshima

and slip duration (tr) of 16,600xa0J/s/m2 and 6,250xa0s, respectively, for the megasplay and 23,200xa0J/s/m2 and 2,350xa0s, respectively, for the frontal décollement, implying slow and long-term slips. The estimated slip parameters are then compared with previous reports. The maximum temperature, Tmax, for the Nankai megasplay fault is consistent with the temperature constraint suggested by a previous work. Slow slip velocity, long-term rise time, and large displacement are recognized in these fault zones (both of the megasplay, the frontal décollement). These parameters are longer and slower than typical coseismic slip, but are rather consistent with rapid afterslip.