Heitaro Kaneda

Long recurrence interval of faulting beyond the 2005 Kashmir earthquake around the northwestern margin of the Indo-Asian collision zone

The 2005 Kashmir earthquake in Pakistan occurred on a previously mapped active fault around the northwest margin of the Indo-Asian collision zone. To address the quantitative contribution of the earthquake to plate convergence, we performed paleoseismological trench excavations at Nisar Camp site near Muzaffarabad across the middle section of the 2005 surface rupture. The fault strands exposed in the trench cut late Holocene fluvial deposits and record evidence of both the 2005 and a penultimate event, supported by the presence of colluvial deposits and a downdip increase in displacement along the fault strands. The 2005 event produced a net slip of 5.4 m, and the penultimate earthquake exhibits a similar amount of slip. Radiocarbon ages and historical accounts loosely constrain the timing of the penultimate event between 500 and 2200 yr B.P.; however, the exposed section encompasses ~4 k.y. of stratigraphy, suggesting an average interevent interval of ~2 k.y. for the 2005 type events. We thus conclude that the 2005 event did not occur on the plate boundary megathrusts, but on intraplate active faults within the Sub-Himalaya. Consequently, the accumulated elastic strain around the complex northwestern margin of the Indo-Asian collision zone has not been significantly released by the 2005 earthquake.

Coastal deformation associated with the 2007 Noto Hanto earthquake, central Japan, estimated from uplifted and subsided intertidal organisms

The March 25, 2007 Noto Hanto earthquake (Mj = 6.9, Mw = 6.7) generated vertical crustal movement along the northwestern coast of the Noto Peninsula, central Japan. Soon after the event, we estimated the pattern and amount of coseismic coastal movement based on uplifted and subsided intertidal sessile organisms. Our observations reveal a broad 20-km-wide asymmetric zone of surficial deformation above and across the south-dipping source fault, with a steep north-facing frontal limb and a gentle south-facing back limb. The maximum coseismic uplift was approximately 40 cm at the crest of the zone of deformation. The result of forward modeling suggests that the top of the south-dipping source fault is buried at a depth of approximately 2 km, and that 1.2 m of slip on the fault provides the best fit to our surface observations. Our results demonstrate that traditional field investigations should be combined with modern instrumental observations such as GPS and InSAR to obtain the most effective and reliable spatio-temporal estimates of crustal movement associated with large earthquakes.

Development History of Landslide-Related Sagging Geomorphology in Orogenic Belts: Examples in Central Japan

Small-scale geomorphic features of sagging have been known to occur in mountainous areas in Japan by the analyses of high resolution map images made from the LiDAR data. Development histories of the sagging landforms were analyzed by the GIS analyses, field mapping, machine and hand auger boring, AMS 14C dating, and tephra geochronology in the Mt. Kanmuriyama, Tsuenomine and Nogo-Hakusan areas. Sediments accumulated in the ridge-top depression in the Mt. Kanmuriyama area yield wood fragments with the ages of 1,234–1060, 6,191–5,996 and 7,931–7,731 cal BP, and also include the K-Ah tephra of ca 7.3 ka. These ages indicate that the depression started to form at the beginning of warm and humid climate after the last glacial period. On the other hand, the double ridges in the Mt. Tsuenomine area formed much earlier before the deposition of the Kikai-Tozurahara tephra about 95 ka. The GIS analyses of sagging in the Mt. Nogo-Hakusan area indicate that most of them are distributed on the flat or gentle surface just above the knick line (erosion front); it means that the knick lines retreat through the repetitive formation and destruction of the sagging landforms.

Holocene ages and inland source of wood blocks that emerged onto the seafloor during the 2007 Chuetsu-oki, central Japan, earthquake

At least 300 tons of subrounded to well-rounded wood blocks emerged onto the seafloor at a water depth of 70–100 m during the 2007 Mw 6.6 Chuetsu-oki, central Japan, earthquake. Radiocarbon dating and taxonomic identification of eight of those wood blocks suggest that they were transported from inland during the middle to late Holocene, buried by subsequent sedimentation, and brought up onto the seafloor in 2007, most likely by submarine liquefaction induced by strong shaking. In particular, all eight blocks gave ages older than 2500 cal yr BP, implying the possibility that the 2007 earthquake was the first earthquake during the last two millennia to have caused shaking strong enough to induce submarine liquefaction in the 2007 meizoseismal area. However, we cannot rule out the possibility of multiple large earthquakes after approximately 2 ka, if the buried wood sources cannot be emptied by a single earthquake. Further studies are required to examine paleoseismic implications of the emergence of these wood blocks in 2007.

Discovery, controls, and hazards of widespread deep-seated gravitational slope deformation in the Etsumi Mountains, central Japan

Deep-seated gravitational slope deformation (DSGSD) is a largely unnoticed but important long-term mass wasting process that may result in catastrophic failure of mountain slopes. Manifested by small topographic irregularities such as ridge-parallel scarps and linear depressions, it has been predominantly reported in alpine landscapes above timber lines. On the basis of area-wide high-resolution topographic data acquired by light detection and ranging (LiDAR) surveys, we here show that ~96 % of existing gravitational scarps have been hidden under forest canopies in the Etsumi Mountains, central Japan. The scarps are surprisingly widespread over the mountains with a mean line density of as large as 0.87 km/km2. Our analyses of the scarp distribution suggest that uphill-facing scarps are primary geomorphic signals of DSGSD with a destabilized rock mass larger than ~105 m2, whereas downhill-facing scarps principally occur in response to more localized slope deformation. In terms of controls, topography is by far the most influential factor in triggering and promoting DSGSD. Despite the M 7.5 earthquake in 1891, impact of large local earthquakes proves to be not very strong. Comparison with preexisting landslide maps further suggests that DSGSD and large-scale landslide are not different slope processes but represent different stages of the same process. Our results highlight limitation of aerial-photograph interpretation in forest-covered mountains and the need for LiDAR-assisted mapping for deeper understanding of this long-term process and interactions between surface and tectonic processes.