Hisahiko Kubo

Source rupture process of the 2011 Fukushima-ken Hamadori earthquake: how did the two subparallel faults rupture?

The 2011 Fukushima-ken Hamadori earthquake (MW 6.6) occurred about a month after the 2011 Great Tohoku earthquake (MW 9.0), and it is thought to have been induced by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake. After the 2011 Hamadori earthquake, two subparallel faults (the Itozawa and Yunodake faults) were identified by field surveys. The hypocenter was located nearby the Itozawa fault, and it is probable that the Itozawa fault ruptured before the Yunodake fault rupture. Here, we estimated the source rupture process of the 2011 Hamadori earthquake using a model with two subparallel faults based on strong motion data. The rupture starting point and rupture delay time of the Yunodake fault were determined based on Akaike’s Bayesian Information Criterion (ABIC). The results show that the Yunodake fault started to rupture from the northern deep point 4.5 s after the Itozawa fault started to rupture. The estimated slip distribution in the shallow part is consistent with the surface slip distribution identified by field surveys. Time-dependent Coulomb failure function changes (ΔCFF) were calculated using the stress change from the Itozawa fault rupture in order to evaluate the effect of the rupture on the Yunodake fault. The ΔCFF is positive at the rupture starting point of the Yunodake fault 4.5 s after the Itozawa fault started to rupture; therefore, it is concluded that during the 2011 Hamadori earthquake, the Yunodake fault rupture was triggered by the Itozawa fault rupture.

Moment tensor inversion of the 2016 southeast offshore Mie earthquake in the Tonankai region using a three-dimensional velocity structure model: effects of the accretionary prism and subducting oceanic plate

The southeast offshore Mie earthquake occurred on April 1, 2016 near the rupture area of the 1944 Tonankai earthquake, where seismicity around the interface of the Philippine Sea plate had been very low until this earthquake. Since this earthquake occurred outside of seismic arrays, the focal mechanism and depth were not precisely constrained using a one-dimensional velocity model, as in a conventional approach. We conducted a moment tensor inversion of this earthquake by using a three-dimensional velocity structure model. Before the analysis of observed data, we investigated the effects of offshore heterogeneous structures such as the seawater, accretionary prism, and subducting oceanic plate by using synthetic seismograms in a full three-dimensional model and simpler models. The accretionary prism and subducting oceanic plate play important roles in the moment tensor inversion for offshore earthquakes in the subduction zone. Particularly, the accretionary prism, which controls the excitation and propagation of long-period surface waves around the offshore region, provides better estimations of the centroid depths and focal mechanisms of earthquakes around the Nankai subduction zone. The result of moment tensor inversion for the 2016 southeast offshore Mie earthquake revealed low-angle thrust faulting with a moment magnitude of 5.6. According to geophysical surveys in the Nankai Trough, our results suggest that the rupture of this earthquake occurred on the interface of the Philippine Sea plate, rather than on a mega-splay fault. Detailed comparisons of first-motion polarizations provided additional constraints of the rupture that occurred on the interface of the Philippine Sea plate.