Syuichi Suzuki

Seismicity near the hypocenter of the 2011 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku earthquake deduced by using ocean bottom seismographic data

We relocated hypocenters of the foreshock, mainshock, and aftershocks of the 2011 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku earthquake (M 9.0) in the middle part of the Japan Trench where the earthquake rupture initiated. Ocean Bottom Seismographs (OBSs), deployed in the area, recorded the earthquakes and these data provide improved images of the hypocenter distribution. The mainshock hypocenter was relocated slightly westward from that reported by Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), placing it near the intersection between the plate boundary and the Moho of the overriding plate. The foreshock seismicity mainly occurred on the trenchward side of the mainshock hypocenter, where the Pacific slab contacts the island arc crust. The foreshocks were initially activated at the up-dip limit of the seismogenic zone ~30 km trenchward of the largest foreshock (M 7.3, two days before the mainshock). After the M-7.3 earthquake, intense interplate seismicity, accompanied by epicenters migrating toward the mainshock hypocenter, was observed. The focal depth distribution changed significantly in response to the M-9 mainshock. Earthquakes along the plate boundary were almost non-existent in the area of huge coseismic slip, whereas earthquakes off the boundary increased in numbers in both the upper and the lower plates.

Episodic tremor and slip near the Japan Trench prior to the 2011 Tohoku‐Oki earthquake

Change in the rates of aseismic deformation prior to large earthquakes is a major area of interest in earthquake physics. Here we present evidence that episodic tremor and slip occurred in the shallow subduction zone within the source region of the 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake prior to the main shock. Ocean bottom seismometers near the Japan Trench recorded some excitations in amplitude of ambient noise level accompanying both the 2008 and 2011 slow slip events. The observed signals show that low frequencies of 5–8 Hz dominated, suggesting that the excitations were due to small low-frequency tremors accompanying the slow slip events. The largest amplitude tremor was observed just before the 2011 event. The estimated sources of tremors were possibly distributed within the coseismic slip area of the 2011 event, suggesting the shallow plate-boundary thrust near the trench is a general location of slow earthquakes.

Progress in the Project for Development of GPS/Acoustic Technique Over the Last 4 Years

GPS/Acoustic (GPS/A) survey is the most promising way to detect crustal deformation in the ocean far from the coast, where a dense onshore GPS network is not available. Monitoring seafloor deformation is crucial to understand the tectonic state in regions of geophysical significance such as subduction zones. We, Tohoku University, together with Nagoya University and Japan Coast Guard have been dedicated to GPS/A survey around the Japanese Islands and developing its instruments for more than a decade. Especially in 2010, a new project for the development of the GPS/A technique commenced, and since 2012 following the Tohoku earthquake, further acceleration of the project has been taken place. Tohoku and Nagoya Universities have been working on this project for 4 years. In the project, Tohoku University worked on several topics, such as realtime/continuous monitoring of crustal deformation using a moored buoy, automatic survey using an Autonomous Surface Vehicle (ASV), which makes the survey as efficient as possible, and constructing a new GPS/acoustic survey network along the Japan Trench and their intensive survey using a chartered ship. In this paper, we summarize the achievements in each of the topics above.

Electrical image of subduction zone beneath northeastern Japan

We conducted long-period magnetotelluric observations in northeastern Japan from 2010 to 2013 to investigate the three-dimensional electrical resistivity distribution of the subduction zone. Incorporating prior information of the subducting slab into the inversion scheme, we obtained a three-dimensional resistivity model in which a vertically continuous conductive zone is imaged from the subducting slab surface to the lower crust beneath the Ou Backbone Range. The conductive body indicates a saline fluid and/or melt pathway from the subducting slab surface to the lower crust. The lower crust conductor is less than 10 Ωm, and we estimate a saline fluid and/or melt fraction of at least 0.7 vol. %. Other resistivity profiles in the across-arc direction reveal that the conductive body segregates from the subducting slab surface at 80–100 km depth and takes an overturned form toward the backarc. The head of the conducting body reaches the lower crust just beneath Mt. Gassan, one of the prominent backarc volcanoes in the system.

Investigation on the Postseismic Deformation Associated with the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake Based on Terrestrial and Seafloor Geodetic Observations: To Evaluate the Further Seismic Hazard Potential on the Plate Interface Beneath the Northeastern Japanese Islands

The 2011 Tohoku Earthquake (M9.0), which occurred on the plate boundary between the subducting Pacific plate and continental plate has been associated with postseismic deformation, including aseismic slip at the plate interface (postseismic slip). In order to evaluate the potential for further seismic activity, we investigated the spatial and temporal evolution of the postseismic slip based not only on terrestrial GPS data but also on seafloor geodetic data. We estimated the displacements due to the postseismic slip by subtracting the displacements due to large aftershocks and viscoelastic relaxation from the original displacement time series data and used a time-dependent inversion method to estimate the postseismic slip distributions. The resultant postseismic slip distributions depend strongly on the assumed value of the viscosity. However, the following two features are independent of the viscosity assumption: (1) large postseismic slip has been occurring at a very shallow ( ≤ 20 km in depth) portion of the plate interface south of the area of huge coseismic slip and (2) significant postseismic slip has occurred at a deep (approximately 50 km in depth) portion of the plate interface. The results suggest that the elastic strain and the stress concentrated at the plate interface at a depth of approximately 30 km in the segment off the Boso Peninsula have not yet been released and continue to generate large aftershocks.