Masayuki Tanaka

Delamination structure imaged in the source area of the 1982 Urakawa-oki earthquake

[1] The Kuril arc collides with the northeast Japan arc in the southern part of Hokkaido, Japan. 3-D tomographic inversion of data from a dense network of sensitive ocean-bottom seismographs and land stations has allowed imaging of previously unseen details of the arc-arc collision structure. A low velocity body dips gently southwestward, at depths of 35 to 45 km, from east of the Hidaka Mountains to the source area of the 1982 Urakawa-oki destructive earthquake (Ms 6.8). The low velocity body is the lower half of the lower crust of the Kuril arc, which must have been delaminated by the collision. We believe that the continuing collision of the delaminated lower crust with the northeast Japan arc resulted as an episode of aseismic slow slip prior to the 1982 Urakawa-oki earthquake as well being the reason for the high seismic activity in this region.

Spatial heterogeneity of the mantle wedge structure and interplate coupling in the NE Japan forearc region

[1]xa0We performed 3-D seismic tomography in the forearc region of the northeastern Japan subduction zone using both onshore and offshore seismic station data. We obtained the Vp, Vs, and Vp/Vs structures around the plate boundary with high spatial resolution. The position of the plate boundary as defined by relocated hypocenters coincides with the sharp velocity boundary between the oceanic crust and the mantle wedge. The mantle wedge above the coseismic slip area of the 1978 and 2005 off-Miyagi interplate earthquakes (M > 7) is characterized by high Vp and Vs, but low Vp/Vs. Off Fukushima, however, where large earthquakes rarely occur, we found a high Vp/Vs anomaly at the tip of the mantle wedge. The spatial distribution of serpentinized mantle wedge limits the spatial extent of the strongly coupled area on the plate boundary, and thus can explain the difference in seismic activity between the off-Miyagi and off-Fukushima regions.

Hypocenter distribution of the main- and aftershocks of the 2005 Off Miyagi Prefecture earthquake located by ocean bottom seismographic data

The preliminary hypocenter distribution of the 2005 Off Miyagi Prefecture earthquake and its aftershocks is estimated using data from five ocean bottom and six onshore seismic stations located around the rupture area of the earthquake. The epicenter of the mainshock is relocated at 38.17°N, 142.18°E, and the focal depth is estimated to be 37.5 km. The aftershocks surrounding the mainshock hypocenter form several clusters that are concentrated along a distinct landward dipping plane corresponding to the plate boundary imaged by the previous seismic experiment. The strike and dip angles of the plane agree well with those of the focal mechanism solution of the mainshock. The size of the plane is about 20×25 km2 in the strike and dip directions, which is similar to that of the large coseismic slip area. The up-dip end of the planar distribution of the aftershocks corresponds to the bending point of the subducting oceanic plate, suggesting that the geometry of the plate boundary affects the spatial extent of the asperity of the 2005 earthquake