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Recent geodetic measurements have detected recurrent slow slip events (SSEs) in many subduction zones. Numerical simulations suggest that the recurrence intervals and magnitudes of such SSEs decrease in the later stage of the interseismic period. Therefore, activities of SSEs and their temporal variations in recurrence intervals and magnitudes provide important clues for evaluating future large earthquakes. However, our knowledge of recurrent SSEs before the establishment of dense observation networks is limited. Here, we report a possible SSE in 1973 beneath the Kii peninsula along the Nankai subduction zone, southwest Japan, where magnitude 8 class earthquakes such as the 1944 Tonankai and 1946 Nankai earthquakes repeatedly occur. The possible SSE was detected by a horizontal pendulum tiltmeter installed in 1947 at the Kishu observatory. We recovered and converted the original tilt records from 1969 to 1974 drawn on bromide (light sensitive) papers to digital tilt records. In late-November 1973, there was a slow transient signal down to the northeast of about 1.4 μrad, lasting about 1–3 days. Assuming this crustal deformation was due to an SSE, we searched for a possible fault model by adopting the already-known SSE models occurring from 1996 to 2012 as template models. Among the 42 template fault models, five models were able to qualitatively explain the direction of the observed tilt change. The centroids of these fault models were located about 30–60 km to the west of the observatory. In the source region, two magnitude 5 class earthquakes occurred before the initiation of the transient signal, and thus may be related to the occurrence of the possible SSE. In contrast, the magnitude of the calculated tilt change was about 1–2 order smaller than that of the observed tilt change. This discrepancy could be partly explained by a slip amount larger than that in the template models, which suggests that the possible SSE in 1973 was larger than those detected by recent observations. Further investigation of historical data on crustal deformation will reveal more about the temporal change in the recurrence intervals and magnitudes of SSEs during earthquake cycles of large earthquakes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The motivation of this study stems from a retaining wall made of waste tires. The wall did not suffer any earthquake or tsunami-induced damage during the 2011 Off the Pacific Coast of Tohoku Earthquake, Japan. This paper deals with a case study on this tire retaining wall. Results from a series of field and laboratory investigations are first described. A numerical simulation is also described in which whole tires were used as protective layers in an embankment. The results show that confining effect of each tire, friction between the tires, ductility, and damping inherent in tires contribute towards the excellent performance of the retaining wall during the earthquake loading. The case study also reveals that it is the isolation mechanism due to the vibration absorption capability of rubber particles in tires, which could protect tire retaining structure during the earthquake. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Slow earthquakes are episodic slow fault slips. They form a fundamental component of interplate deformation processes, along with fast, regular earthquakes. Recent seismological and geodetic observations have revealed detailed slow earthquake activity along the Japan Trench—the subduction zone where the March 11, 2011, moment magnitude (Mw) 9.0 Tohoku-Oki earthquake occurred. In this paper, we review observational, experimental, and simulation studies on slow earthquakes along the Japan Trench and their research history. By compiling the observations of slow earthquakes (e.g., tectonic tremors, very-low-frequency earthquakes, and slow slip events) and related fault slip phenomena (e.g., small repeating earthquakes, earthquake swarms, and foreshocks of large interplate earthquakes), we present an integrated slow earthquake distribution along the Japan Trench. Slow and megathrust earthquakes are spatially complementary in distribution, and slow earthquakes sometimes trigger fast earthquakes in their vicinities. An approximately 200-km-long along-strike gap of seismic slow earthquakes (i.e., tectonic tremors and very-low-frequency earthquakes) corresponds with the huge interplate locked zone of the central Japan Trench. The Mw 9.0 Tohoku-Oki earthquake ruptured this locked zone, but the rupture terminated without propagating deep into the slow-earthquake-genic regions in the northern and southern Japan Trench. Slow earthquakes are involved in both the rupture initiation and termination processes of megathrust earthquakes in the Japan Trench. We then compared the integrated slow earthquake distribution with the crustal structure of the Japan Trench (e.g., interplate sedimentary units, subducting seamounts, petit-spot volcanoes, horst and graben structures, residual gravity, seismic velocity structure, and plate boundary reflection intensity) and described the geological environment of the slow-earthquake-genic regions (e.g., water sources, pressure–temperature conditions, and metamorphism). The integrated slow earthquake distribution enabled us to comprehensively discuss the role of slow earthquakes in the occurrence process of the Tohoku-Oki earthquake. The correspondences of the slow earthquake distribution with the crustal structure and geological environment provide insights into the slow-earthquake-genesis in the Japan Trench and imply that highly overpressured fluids are key to understanding the complex slow earthquake distribution. Furthermore, we propose that detailed monitoring of slow earthquake activity can improve the forecasts of interplate seismicity along the Japan Trench. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we explore the Western Pacific subduction impact on the geodynamics of the Asian continent. The data on migration of slow strain and earthquakes from the Nankai, Japan and Kuril-Kamchatka segments of the Western Pacific subduction zone deep into mainland Asia are analyzed. The calculations performed on five profiles, crossing the Kuril Islands, the Japanese Archipelago and Sakhalin Island toward the Asian continent, have revealed the transverse migration of earthquakes from the Japan–Kuril-Kamchatka subduction zone. The velocities of hypocenter migration of M ≥ 4.5 earthquakes from the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench via northern and central Sakhalin vary from 6 to 17 km/year, on average, at different depths. The profiles crossing the islands of Hokkaido and Sakhalin show the M ≥ 4.earthquake migration from the Kuril and Japan trenches at velocities of 8–27 km/year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crustal earthquakes are generally recognized as having recurrence periods of more than 1000 years. However, in northern Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan, two moderate-sized earthquakes occurred on almost the same fault plane in 2011 and 2016. Moreover, it has been reported that the slip distributions derived from crustal deformation data from these two events are almost identical. We performed a near-field waveform inversion analysis to estimate the details of the spatiotemporal distribution of the co-seismic rupture. Our results reveal large slip areas during each earthquake at different locations across the bend of the fault plane. These results indicate that the shear stress of the fault area where the main slip occurred during the 2011 event was not rebuilt in such a short period, a phenomenon that had not previously been discussed for this sequence. Our results also suggest that the fault geometry affected such complex fault ruptures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we deal with evacuation decision making of people in the disaster area. By threshold model, we discuss whether all agents decide to evacuate or not. It is reported that not all people in the affected area evacuated during the Great East Japan Earthquake. But, many evacuation simulations treat that all people evacuate. In the previous work, on the assumption that all people decide to evacuate, we dealt with the needed time to make all people evacuate if psychological conditions exist at the time of disaster. In this paper, we deal with the condition that not all people decide to evacuate and focus on contagion of evacuation decision making on real map. We found that for contagion of evacuation decision making, local neighborhood and connection of sub network is necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the effects of the 2012 revisions to the damage predictions of an anticipated Nankai Trough megathrust earthquake on subsequent inter-municipality migration in Japan's coastal areas. We find that an increase in predicted tsunami height—rather than anticipated seismic movements—after the 2012 revision is associated with a subsequent reduction in net migration. While the reducing effect of tsunami predictions on in-migration persisted throughout the study period, the effect on out-migration was only temporary. Moreover, working-age people are more likely to respond to tsunami risk and avoid moving to municipalities with a high tsunami risk after the revisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Ou Backbone Range in the Tohoku Region of Japan is bounded on its both sides by two major active fault systems: the Western Fault Zone of Kitakami Lowland in the east and the Eastern Fault Zone of Yokote Basin in the west. Although these two systems are primary active fault systems in the region, information on their long-term activity characteristics is still quite limited. Therefore, we analyzed the normalized channel steepness indexes of river valleys trending perpendicular to the range front along both flanks of the Ou Backbone Range. Our results show that the eastern flank has gentler river valleys, whereas rivers along the northwestern flank are steeper. Our field investigation shows that knickpoints in this area are mostly related to local lithologic boundaries or are check dams along the valleys, thus the river systems are likely under steady-state conditions. Hence, the steeper river valleys in northwestern Ou Backbone Range indicate a higher uplift rate of the area. Because both fault systems are primarily dip-slip reverse faults and do not have significant variations in their subsurface geometry, the faster uplift suggests that the northern segment of the Eastern Fault Zone of Yokote Basin has a higher slip rate. This is consistent with results of previous studies, and the fact that the rupture of the 1896 Rikuu earthquake, the only historical surface-rupturing event in this region, was only limited along the northern segment of this fault system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The positive relationship between trust and happiness has been demonstrated by the literature. However, it is not clear how much this relationship depends on environmental conditions. The Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011 is considered one of the most catastrophic events in human history. This disaster caused not only physical damage for Japanese people, but also perceived damage. Using individual-level panel data from Japan covering the period 2009-2012, this paper attempts to probe how the relationship between trust and happiness was influenced by the Great East Japan Earthquake by comparing the same individuals before and after the earthquake. A fixed-effects estimation showed that there is a statistically well-determined positive relationship between trust and happiness and this relationship was strengthened by disaster, especially for residents in the damaged area. We argue that social trust is a substitute for formal institutions and markets, which mitigates the effect of disaster-related shock on psychological conditions such as happiness. Therefore, a trustful society is invulnerable to a gigantic disaster. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We calculated stress drops for 2875 small intraslab earthquakes at intermediate depths beneath Tohoku, Japan. We applied an S-coda-wave spectral ratio method to almost 900,000 event pairs. Detailed velocity values for the oceanic crust (OC) were adopted from previous observational studies. The median stress drops in the OC are about half those in the oceanic mantle (OM). The median stress drop for earthquakes in the OC decreases from depths of 70 to 120 km and increases from 120 to 170 km. Our preferred interpretation is that the rigidity in the OC decreases and then increases with depth due to combined effects of the dehydration associated with the eclogite formation and the increasing temperature with depth. These depth variations are consistent with results of a similar study beneath Hokkaido. The median stress drops in the oceanic plate beneath Tohoku are generally smaller than those beneath Hokkaido. Previous studies imaging the seismic structure at shallow depths and b-value analyses of intraslab earthquakes indicate that the near-trench region of the oceanic plate off Tohoku is more hydrated than that off Hokkaido. Taken together, these results suggest that differences in the degree of hydration of the oceanic plate in the near-trench regions could produce the different behaviors of stress drops of intermediate-depth earthquakes observed in Tohoku and Hokkaido. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored closed-circuit television (CCTV) networks in northeastern Toyama Prefecture, Japan, as a new data source for tsunami detection following the 2024 Noto Peninsula earthquake. We analyzed CCTV footage and extracted time-series water level fluctuations at Yokoyama, Shimoiino, and Ekko. Spectral analysis of these waveforms revealed several long-period peaks (more than 100 s) in power spectral density (PSD), suggesting the presence of tsunami components. Notably, relatively large PSD peaks at approximately 5–10 min were observed at all CCTV locations in this study and at offshore wave observation points (Tanaka and Toyama). At Yokoyama, a maximum run-up of approximately 3 m was confirmed around 16:28. Although water level fluctuations at Shimoiino and Ekko were detected, identifying tsunami components proved challenging due to their small magnitude compared to other wave components. Despite these challenges, this study demonstrates the potential of CCTV networks for tsunami detection, and further research is needed to achieve real-time detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The idea of predicting earthquakes by continuously monitoring temporal variations in the tidal response of the medium was suggested by Beaumont and Berger in 1974. However, it became possible to implement the idea only recently. This possibility has arisen due to the deployment of Global Seismic Network (GSN), which collects the data on tidal tilts and gravity in the epicenters of strong earthquakes before and after the strongest events. In this paper, we present the results of model analytical and numerical calculations of the elastic displacements of the Earth's surface caused by the earthquakes and their preparatory processes. The analytical calculations are limited to the model of a uniform elastic halfspace; the numerical calculations, in addition to this model, also cover the models with radially heterogeneous distributions of elastic moduli in the crust and in the upper mantle, which are determined by the PREM model. We describe the results of modeling temporal variations in the tidal response of the medium in the vicinity of the source of a catastrophic earthquake. The model of seismic source is specified by the length and the orientations of the fault plane and by the value of the discontinuity in the tangential component of the displacement vector on the opposite sides of the fault. The model is based on the GPS data on the horizontal and vertical displacements of the Earth's surface. We suggest the method for determining temporal changes in the tidal response of the medium in the seismically active regions. This method improves the sensitivity and time resolution of the standard techniques of sliding-window analysis by more than an order of magnitude. The comparative analysis of temporal variations in the tidal response of the medium in the zones of the magnitude 9 earthquake in Japan (March 9, 2011) illustrates the described approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper addresses the interpretation of the location, type, and size of the source for the earth-quake of March 11, 2011. The source-a subvertical reverse fault trending in the azimuth of ∼25° along the island arc-is located in the middle part of the Pacific slope of Honshu Island, between 38°-38.5°N and 35.5°N. The length of the source, about 350 km, approximately corresponds to a magnitude ∼8.7 earthquake. In the north, the source is bounded by a sublatitudinal reverse fault, which generated an earthquake with magnitude 7.2-7.5 in 1978. On this segment of the Pacific slope of Honshu Island, there are probably another one or a few other large seismic sources, which are still latent. They are longitudinal reverse faults, which are comparable in scale with the source of the March, 2011 earthquake. The recurrence period of the maximal earthquakes in such sources is more than 1000 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Precisely evaluating the source, path, and site terms in a broadband frequency range is indispensable for quantitatively predicting strong motions. We conducted a generalized spectral inversion of strong motion in Japan to delineate both the spectral amplitude and phase characteristics for statistical Green's functions. To predict ground motion from future megathrust earthquakes, we also need to model a kinematic source with a stochastic representation of the slip and rupture velocities on the fault surface. In this fundamental study, we first reported the basic features of statistical Green's functions used for summation. We then demonstrated the construction of a kinematic source with distinctive strong-motion-generation areas with spatially random slip and rupture velocity variations. After the summation of statistical Green's functions following the constructed kinematic source, we found that the peak ground accelerations and peak ground velocities of synthetics for the Mw8.2 1944 Tonankai earthquake are in good agreement with those of the well-established empirical formula in Japan because the medians of the synthetic values are well within the average plus/minus one standard deviation of the formula. Based on the simulation results of conducted parametric studies, we observed relatively small but meaningful effects of random slip distribution, as well as relatively small effects of random rupture velocity perturbation. In conclusion, our implementation of the complex source model and the empirically obtained statistical Green's function used as an element source can be a viable combination for broadband (0.1 to 20 Hz) strong-motion simulations, realistic in terms of the amplitude and duration, without any hybrid scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we investigated the relationship between the strain accumulation before a slow slip event (SSE) and the strain release during the SSE for three recent SSEs along the Suruga Trough, Sagami Trough, and Nankai Trough, which are subduction zones in central to southwest Japan. The three analysed SSEs were the 2013–2016 Tokai long-term SSE (L-SSE), the 2018 Boso-Oki short-term SSE (S-SSE), and the 2019–2021 Central Shikoku L-SSE. We applied exponential and logarithmic functions to remove the postseismic deformations caused by the Mw 9.0 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake. We discovered a strong negative correlation between strain accumulation and strain release in the dilatation of all three SSEs and in the maximum shear strain of the 2018 Boso-Oki S-SSE. A comparison of the amount of strain accumulation with that of strain release revealed that approximately 30% of the strain was released in the 2013–2016 Tokai L-SSE, that 40% of the strain was released in the 2019–2021 Central Shikoku L-SSE, and that approximately 60% of the strain was released in the 2018 Boso-Oki S-SSE. This finding suggests that all of the accumulated strains are not necessarily released by the SSEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims at increasing earthquake preparedness knowledge perception and practice among Nepalese immigrants residing in Japan through an educational intervention. A single arm quasi experimental study was conducted among Nepalese immigrants residing in Japan. An educational intervention was prepared along with a 52 itemed questionnaire. In total, 165 participants responded to our questionnaire. Majority of them were male (67.88%), and the mean age was 32.78 years. Generalized equation model showed that the knowledge score of earthquake preparedness was 4.01 points higher immediately after the intervention [95% CI (2.78–5.24), p-value < 0.001] compared to baseline with a further increase by 7.02 points [95% CI (5.96–8.09), p-value < 0.001] at two weeks follow up. However, the practice score increased only by 2.83 points [95% CI (2.51–3.14), p-value < 0.001] immediately after the intervention with a similar increase at two weeks and 12 weeks follow up period [OR: 2.62, 95% CI (2.29–2.96), p-value < 0.001]. The educational intervention, when conducted in native language, can increase both the knowledge and practice score of earthquake preparedness hence, information related to earthquake preparedness in Nepali languages in the government websites of Japan could potentially increase information seeking behavior of people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deep-sea turbidite has been used to determine the history of occurrence of large earthquakes. Surface-sediment remobilization is a mechanism of the generation of earthquake-induced turbidity currents. However, the detailed mechanism of surface-sediment remobilization caused by earthquake ground shaking is unclear. To understand how high peak ground acceleration (PGA) caused by a large earthquake can remobilize surface sediments, we determined the age of a surface-sediment core recovered from the mid-slope terrace (MST) of the inner slope of the Japan Trench in northern Sanriku to determine turbidites generated by large historical earthquakes and calculate the PGAs of these earthquakes using an empirical attenuation relation commonly used in Japan. Small offsets in radiocarbon ages and excess 210Pb activities between turbidite and hemipelagic muds suggest that the turbidites in the core resulted from surface-sediment remobilization. 137Cs and excess 210Pb chronologies indicate that the three uppermost turbidites in the core are correlated with three large historical earthquakes, namely the 1968 common era (CE) Tokachi-oki, the 1933 CE Showa–Sanriku, and the 1896 CE Meiji–Sanriku earthquakes. Calculation of PGAs for large historical earthquakes along the northern Japan Trench indicates that a PGA of > 0.6 g is necessary for turbidite deposition in the MST basin. This threshold is larger than that reported for central Sanriku and may vary spatially. Moreover, turbidites in the MST deposits are more frequent in the northern Japan Trench than in the central Japan Trench, suggesting that the occurrence of three types of large M8-class earthquakes in the northern Japan Trench might have contributed to the frequent occurrence of large PGAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the instability of prosociality in the real world by looking at the age-specific non-linear relationship between disaster exposure and prosocial behavior. We employed unique microdata from two communities in Japan that were hit by the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami disaster in 2011. Exploiting exogenous variations in disaster exposure, we find age-specific heterogeneous effects of disaster exposure on prosocial behavior captured by the behavior of sending New Year's cards as well as attitudinal survey questions. Among the older groups, disaster damages undermine prosociality, whereas the younger groups show reinforced prosocial behaviors. These findings can be explained consistently by combining two possible determinants of prosocial behavior: pure or impure altruism and self-enforcements in repeated interactions at workplaces. Age information can help disentangle these two elements at least partially. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geodetic and seismological observations have shown discrepancies between azimuths of maximum contraction (strain rate) and maximum compression (stress). These discrepancies can be the results of the superposition of localized or transient mechanical processes such as fault coupling during seismic cycles. Rich sets of recent geophysical data allow us to conduct spatiotemporal imaging of the discrepancies. Here, we estimate the spatiotemporal evolution in the strain-rate fields of the Japanese Islands with optimized smoothing distances from 1997 to 2021 using Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) data, and investigate how the maximum contraction axes of horizontal strain rates differ from those of horizontal stress based on earthquake focal mechanisms. Several characteristic results are observed for each region within the Japanese Islands. Both azimuths of the strain rates and stress differ by more than 60° over hundreds of kilometers from the Kanto region to along the Nankai Trough, related to seismotectonics due to the dual subduction of the Philippine Sea plate and the Pacific plate beneath the Japanese Islands. The differences in the azimuths imply the effect of the very long-term stable subduction of the Pacific plate. We find that the azimuthal differences tend to be small along tectonic zones with active inland earthquakes and high strain rates on the back-arc sides. We also find that the 2011 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku earthquake caused notable azimuthal differences in the strain rates and the stress in the Tohoku region. The strength of fault may cause lower response sensitivity of seismological stress to major earthquakes than geodetic strain rate. Our dataset has wide spatiotemporal coverage and can serve as a basis for further research, for example, to estimate the current fault conditions during seismic cycles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electromagnetic emissions (EMEs) associated with earthquake (EQ) epicenters are found to be one of the most reliable phenomena for the short-term pre-seismic mechanism of earthquakes. The detection mechanism of such emissions can have both direct and indirect techniques. In this manuscript, we attempted to present the signature of such emissions before two strong EQs, one in Fukushima on November 21, 2016, and another in Kumamoto on April 15, 2016, in Japan. We use the lithospheric emission in the range of ultra-low frequency (ULF) waves as observed from the Kakioka observatory in Japan for direct measurement. For the indirect investigation, we use the concept of energetic particle precipitation in the inner radiation belt due to wave–particle interaction through the pitch angle scattering processes. We use the particle enhancement (electron and proton) observed from the space-based National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellites. The ULF results found an abnormal increase in lithospheric radiation for Kumamoto and Fukushima EQs on three days and ten days before the EQs, respectively, and an ionospheric depression on six days before both the cases. The satellite observations related to the EMEs from these EQs exhibit electron particle bursts (PB) on the day of the Fukushima EQ. We observe particle bursts 4–5 and 10 days before the mainshock for the Kumamoto EQ. We are not found any proton precipitation for the Fukushima EQ where signatures of proton count number are observed for the Kumamoto EQ. This type of simultaneous observation from the ground and satellite-based instruments establishes that EMEs are observed before the EQs and can be a potential candidate for short-term precursory studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck off the east coast of Japan. This earthquake, also known as the 'Great East Japan Earthquake', triggered extremely destructive tsunami waves of up to 40.5 m high, in some locations reaching up to 10 km inland. The nuclear power station at Fukushima survived the earthquake but was knocked out of operation by the tsunami. In particular, the emergency power supply for cooling the reactors was lost. At the end of May, 2011, German chancellor Angela Merkel decided to shut down all 17 nuclear power reactors in Germany, which, collectively, supply 23% of that country's electrical power. Yet, to supply the growing energy demands in both developed and developing economies, projected to grow at the rate of 2.5 TW (terawatts) per decade, while reducing the production of greenhouse gases, nuclear power must be part of the solution. This paper makes the case for increased electrical energy production by nuclear power to meet these growing demands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated changes in the b value of the Gutenberg–Richter's law in and around the focal areas of earthquakes on March 20 and on May 1, 2021, with magnitude (M) 6.9 and 6.8, respectively, which occurred off the Pacific coast of Miyagi prefecture, northeastern Japan. We showed that the b value in these focal areas had been noticeably small, especially within a few years before the occurrence of the M6.9 earthquake in its vicinity, indicating that differential stress had been high in the focal areas. The coseismic slip of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake seems to have stopped just short of the east side of the focus of the M6.9 earthquake. Furthermore, the afterslip of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake was relatively small in the focal areas of the M6.9 and M6.8 earthquakes, compared to the surrounding regions. In addition, the focus of the M6.9 earthquake was situated close to the border point where the interplate slip in the period from 2012 through 2021 has been considerably larger on the northern side than on the southern side. The high-stress state inferred by the b-value analysis is concordant with those characteristics of interplate slip events. We found that the M6.8 earthquake on May 1 occurred near an area where the b value remained small, even after the M6.9 quake. The ruptured areas by the two earthquakes now seem to almost coincide with the small-b-value region that had existed before their occurrence. The b value on the east side of the focal areas of the M6.9 and M6.8 earthquakes which corresponds to the eastern part of the source region of the 1978 off-Miyagi prefecture earthquake was consistently large, while the seismicity enhanced by the two earthquakes also shows a large b value, implying that stress in the region has not been very high. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Homogeneous and accurate hypocenter distribution along the Japan Trench is important to better understand the process of plate subduction and the occurrence mode of large earthquakes. The seafloor seismic network (S-net) deployed recently along the Japan Trench has revealed new seismic activity including shallow slow earthquakes. However, conventional microseismic observations, such as those reported in the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) unified earthquake catalog, have been limited to land-based stations. Thus, steady seismic activity occurring at the shallow plate boundary, which is far from land is not always recorded. In the present study, we construct an automatic earthquake catalog using the nationwide observation network, including S-net. Because false detections caused by noise account for about 5% of automatically determined hypocenters, we attempted to reduce false detections using ensemble learning methods such as random forest and AdaBoost. First, we created a training dataset of earthquakes and noise by visual inspection based on the data recorded in the automatically determined catalog over a 2-month period, and we trained the dataset using the hypocenter and phase data as input. As a result of the training, AdaBoost was able to reduce the noise to about one-fifth of the total false detections, which is equivalent to 1%, while keeping the number of hypocenters above 99%. This method will contribute to significantly improving the efficiency of seismic activity monitoring and cataloging. In addition, the automatic denoised catalog data revealed that from January to August 2020, the completeness magnitude was M 1.6 along the Japan Trench. These microearthquakes were concentrated at depths of 20–50 km around the upper surface of the subducting Pacific Plate and are complementary to the slow earthquakes occurring at 10–20-km depths. Exceptionally, microearthquakes were observed off Iwate and Ibaraki prefectures, which correspond in location to areas of clustered foreshock activity. This spatial heterogeneity in microseismic activity is similar to the spatial complementary between the coseismic slip and afterslip of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, which may be related to differences in interplate frictional properties and stress changes in the surrounding crust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By interpreting the 2D/3D seismic survey data acquired in the surrounding ocean areas of the Northeast (NE) Japan Arc, we clarified the detailed geological structure and demonstrated that the basic structure in the hanging-wall plate of the subduction system consists of many structural blocks (segments) separated by NW–SE trending large transcurrent faults (strike-slip faults). This structural configuration showed a close relationship with the distribution of foreshocks, mainshock, and aftershocks, coseismic slip models of the 2011 M9.0 Tohoku-Oki megathrust earthquake, coseismic slip area of M-7 class earthquakes, quasi-static slip rates, back slip rate, and seismic tomography images. In addition, the coseismic slip models revealed that the trenchward forearc of the structural blocks between the Offshore Hidaka tectonic line and the Honjo-Sendai tectonic line fitted well with the coseismic slip area of the 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake. These findings suggest that the structural blocks bounded by these two tectonic lines slipped rapidly trenchward when the mainshock occurred. The M7 earthquakes were also concentrated along these two tectonic lines, thereby suggesting a close relationship between seismic activity and the inherited geological structure of the overriding plate in the NE Japan forearc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Boso Peninsula, Japan, was formed by the interaction of the Philippine Sea, Eurasian and Pacific plates around the trench–trench–trench Boso triple junction. Normal-type earthquakes are persistently observed in the subducting Philippine Sea slab under the peninsula at a depth of ~ 30 km, including a recent (2019) Mw 4.9 earthquake which caused shaking throughout the Kanto region (greater Tokyo). Such shallow intraplate earthquakes are potentially hazardous to this heavily populated region, yet their mechanism is poorly understood, especially in the context of a three-plate system. Here, we calculate stress rates in the Philippine Sea slab and the surrounding area, using a subduction model constructed in a previous study, to explain the generation of the regional stress field and its effect on earthquake occurrence. In general, the calculated stress rates under Boso Peninsula are horizontally extensional both above and below the Eurasian–Philippine Sea plate interface. We apply our calculated stress rates to the nodal planes of the observed earthquakes to calculate the Coulomb failure function (ΔCFF). These calculated ΔCFFs are generally positive on normal-type earthquakes under Boso. The ΔCFFs are also consistent with earthquakes in adjacent areas that are seismically active, for example, in the Philippine Sea plate to the south, in the collision zone around Izu Peninsula, and in the cluster in the Eurasian plate northeast of Boso Peninsula, which further supports our stress loading model. Calculation of the individual contributions of Philippine Sea plate and Pacific plate subduction shows that the development of the stress field around Boso is dependent upon contributions from both subducting plates. In contrast, the arc–arc collision at Izu Peninsula has little influence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Groups of repeating earthquakes, which occur in approximately the same location and possess a similar focal mechanism, have been extracted in various tectonic environments worldwide. Their recurrence interval has been used to estimate the spatiotemporal evolution of aseismic slip along major tectonic boundaries. Furthermore, slight changes between the waveforms of repeating earthquakes have been analyzed to delineate temporal changes in the local seismic velocity structure. Here, we construct a long-term catalog of small repeating earthquakes in the central Japan since 1981 and throughout the Japanese Islands since 2001 (2001–2019) based on waveform similarity and relative source locations. Most of the long-duration sequences are located near the strongly coupled areas of the Philippine Sea and Pacific plates as they subduct from the Ryukyu–Nankai–Sagami and Kuril–Japan trenches, respectively. Many of the repeating sequences that occur in shallow crustal environments are short-lived. This repeating earthquake catalog allows us to estimate the slip history along each tectonic boundary. We believe that this and similar catalogs will be useful for future investigations of source processes, temporal slip and stress changes along faults, and local velocity structures, thereby providing new insights into earthquake generation mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To explore a local relationship between geological structures and the occurrence of very-low-frequency earthquakes (VLFEs), a particular class of slow earthquakes with characteristic periods of 10–100 s, we investigated three-dimensional (3D) structural features using reprocessed 3D seismic data from the Nankai Trough off Kumano, southwestern Japan. In this region, VLFEs have been observed along the subducting Philippine Sea Plate. Although the detailed source distribution of VLFEs was estimated by means of recent land-based and offshore seismic networks, the relation with geological features is not well understood. First, we reprocessed the 3D seismic data with advanced techniques and reinterpreted the fault distribution in the sediment layer of the accretionary prism and tracked two key horizons: a décollement and the oceanic crust surface. In the accretionary prism sediments, multiple continuous reflectors of basal detachments in the underthrust sequence and conjugate faults cutting the shallow imbricated thrust sequence were identified. In contrast to the gentle variation in the décollement surface, the topographic relief of the oceanic crust was prominent, with ridges and surface displacement due to faults in the oceanic crust. Then, we compared the structural features with the VLFE source locations. Most VLFEs were located deep in the underthrust sediments where the sediments may consist of underconsolidated muds. Furthermore, a high spatial correlation was observed between the VLFE distribution and the oceanic crust topographic relief. The maximum stress direction, which was inferred from the conjugate faults in the imbricated thrust zone, was consistent with the spatial relation between the VLFE localization and the oceanic crust central ridge. Oceanic crust ridges may cause strain accumulation in the underthrust sediments on the landward sides of the ridges, and low-angle slow thrust movements might be caused using weak slip planes in the underthrust muddy sediments. That is, the topographic relief of the oceanic crust may control the occurrence of shallow VLFEs in the Nankai Trough. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2016 Kumamoto earthquake occurred on April 16, 2016, and induced the complex distribution of surface ruptures and fault displacements, which revealed the difficulty of evaluating off-fault displacement hazards. The evaluation of off-fault displacements is necessary for the site investigation of an important facility, such as nuclear installations, but is difficult because off-fault displacements are thought to occur on unmapped or small-scale structures. A probabilistic fault displacement hazard analysis (PFDHA) assesses an off-fault displacement hazard as well as an on-fault one. Several PFDHA models have been developed from fault displacement datasets parsed by global-specific and Japanese-various faulting types. We developed a procedure to assess off-fault displacement hazards based on probabilistic and numerical simulation approaches. In the probabilistic approach, we constructed strike-slip and reverse-slip PFDHA models from a dataset of Japanese fault displacements. The off-fault components in PFDHA had a probability of non-zero off-fault displacement and an attenuation relationship. In the case of evaluating the site of an important facility, detailed field surveys were performed to collect numerous site-specific information. There is little site-specific data of off-fault displacements in Japan. The trench surveys were performed at off-fault displacement sites from the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake. The two trench sites were selected based on a linear low-coherence zone derived from the InSAR analysis, which emphasizes small-scale displacements. The excavation survey result at one site suggests a shorter recurrence interval than that of the active fault long-term evaluation. We also performed a probabilistic fault hazard analysis (PFDHA) of the trench sites by using the global strike-slip model and Japanese PFDHA models with and without the site-specific data. For the PFDHA results without site-specific data, the difference in the annual rates of exceedance between the global strike-slip and Japanese models increased with increasing fault displacements. This is because of the reduced decrease in the attenuation relationship of Japanese models. The differences in the annual rates of exceedance constrained with the site-specific data are independent of fault displacements due to variation in the probability of non-zero off-fault displacement between the global strike-slip and Japanese PFDHA models. These results suggest that the off-fault PFDHA models have high variability. In the case of PFDHA evaluation with several models, the individual PFDHA components are carefully selected by considering the individual effects. The site-specific short recurrence interval revealed by the trench survey leads to higher annual rates of exceedance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined the scaling relationships of inland crustal earthquakes occurring in tectonically active regions such as the Japanese Islands. Two important points related to reliable scaling relationships are discussed empirically: the objective estimation of source parameters such as the seismic moment and rupture area, and the regionality of the scaling. Rupture areas are objectively estimated by trimming heterogeneous slip distributions obtained from waveform inversion. Two trimming procedures have been proposed to determine effective rupture areas, by Somerville et al. (Seismol Res Lett 70:59–80, 1999) and Thingbaijam and Mai (Bull Seismol Soc Am 106:1802–1816, 2016). We confirmed that both trimmed rupture areas agree well with each other when applied to the same dataset. The source scaling characteristics are known to depend on the seismotectonic regime. We investigate the source scaling relationships of inland crustal earthquakes in Japan using source parameters obtained from 36 slip models for 22 recent events (Mw 5.4–7.1) by waveform inversion analysis. We confirmed that the source scaling relationships consisting of two stages were almost the same as those obtained for crustal earthquakes on the US West Coast by Hanks and Bakun (Bull Seismol Soc Am 92:1841–1846, 2002). For larger earthquakes (Mw > 7.4) in seismically active regions, Tajima et al. (ZISIN2; J Seismol Soc Jpn 66:31–45, 2013) found saturation of fault displacements showing the third stage. Combining the earthquake data of Mw 5.4–7.1 in this study with those of Mw 7.0–8.0 compiled by Murotani et al. (Pure Appl Geophys 172:1371–1381, 2015), we conclude that the scaling relationship for rupture area versus seismic moment coincides with the three-stage source scaling relationship using source parameters extracted from waveform inversions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we investigate the source rupture process of the 2018 Hokkaido Eastern Iburi earthquake in Japan (MJMA 6.7) and how the ground motion can be reproduced using available source and velocity models. First, we conduct a multiple-time-window kinematic waveform inversion using strong motion waveforms, which indicates that a large slip area located at a depth of 25–30 km in the up-dip direction from the hypocenter was caused by a rupture propagating upward 6–12 s after its initiation. Moreover, the high-seismicity area of aftershocks did not overlap with the large-slip area. Subsequently, using the obtained source model and a three-dimensional velocity structure model, we conduct a forward long-period (< 0.5 Hz) ground-motion simulation. The simulation was able to reproduce the overall ground-motion characteristics in the sedimentary layers of the Ishikari Lowland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is it possible to predict location, time and magnitude of earthquakes through identifying their precursors based on remotely sensed data? Earthquakes are usually preceded by unusual natural incidents that are considered as earthquake precursors. With the recent advances in remote sensing techniques which have made it possible monitoring the earth's surface with different sensors, scientists are now able to better study earthquake precursors. Thus, the present study aims at developing the algorithm of classic PS-InSAR processing for obtaining crustal deformation values at the epicenter of earthquakes with magnitude larger than 5.0 on the Richter scale and with oblique thrust faulting and then after calculating temperature values using remotely sensed thermal imagery at the epicenter of same earthquakes; thermal and crustal deformation anomalies were calculated using data mining techniques before earthquake occurrence. In the next stage, taking the correlation between thermal anomalies and crustal deformation anomalies at the epicenter of the study earthquakes into account, an integrated technique was proposed to predict probable magnitude and time of oblique thrust earthquakes occurrence over the earthquake-prone areas. Eventually, the validity of the proposed algorithm was evaluated for an earthquake with a different focal mechanism. The analysis results of the thermal anomalies and crustal deformation anomalies at the epicenter of April 16, 2016, Japan-Kumamoto earthquake of magnitude 7.0 with strike-slip faulting, showed completely different trends than the suggested patterns by the proposed algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extreme slip at shallow depths on subduction zone faults is a primary contributor to tsunami generation by earthquakes. Improving earthquake and tsunami risk assessment requires understanding the material and structural conditions that favor earthquake propagation to the trench. We use new biomarker thermal maturity indicators to identify seismic faults in drill core recovered from the Japan Trench subduction zone, which hosted 50 m of shallow slip during the Mw9.1 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake. Our results show that multiple faults have hosted earthquakes with displacement ≥ 10 m, and each could have hosted many great earthquakes, illustrating an extensive history of great earthquake seismicity that caused large shallow slip. We find that lithologic contrasts in frictional properties do not necessarily determine the likelihood of large shallow slip or seismic hazard. In this study, the authors investigate thermal alteration of organic biomarkers to detect paleo earthquakes in the Japan Trench. The study shows that large earthquakes like the 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake can slip through different types of sediment rather than being restricted to the weakest layers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On December 7, 2012, an earthquake occurred within the Pacific Plate near the Japan Trench, which was composed of deep reverse- and shallow normal-faulting subevents (Mw 7.2 and 7.1, respectively) with a time interval of ~10 s. It had been known that the stress state within the plate was characterized by shallow tensile and deep horizontal compressional stresses due to the bending of the plate (bending stress). This study estimates the fault model of the doublet earthquake utilizing tsunami, teleseismic, and aftershock data and discusses the stress state within the incoming plate and spatiotemporal changes seen in it after the 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake. We obtained the vertical extents of the fault planes of deep and shallow subevents as ~45–70 km and ~5 (the seafloor)–35 km, respectively. The down-dip edge of the shallow normal-faulting seismic zone (~30–35 km) deepened significantly compared to what it was in 2007 (~25 km). However, a quantitative comparison of the brittle strength and bending stress suggested that the change in stress after the Tohoku-Oki earthquake was too small to deepen the down-dip end of the seismicity by ~10 km. To explain the seismicity that occurred at a depth of ~30–35 km, the frictional coefficient in the normal-faulting depth range required would have had to be ~0.07 ≤ μ ≤ ~0.2, which is significantly smaller than the typical friction coefficient. This suggests the infiltration of pore fluid along the bending faults, down to ~30–35 km. It is considered that the plate had already yielded to a depth of ~35 km before 2011 and that the seismicity of the area was reactivated by the increase in stress from the Tohoku-Oki earthquake. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stress drops of small earthquakes have been estimated under the assumption that the rupture propagates symmetrically within a circular fault. However, recent studies have observed directivity effects on seismic waves even for small earthquakes. In this study, rupture directivity was investigated systematically for small-to-moderate-sized earthquakes (M 3.5–5.5) that occurred beneath inland Japan from 2004 to April 2019. Apparent moment rate functions were determined for 1463 earthquakes, and their corner frequencies were inverted for their rupture parameters. The results indicate that most of the analyzed earthquakes (1217 of 1463) are characterized by significantly asymmetrical rupture propagation. The stress drops of the earthquakes estimated by considering asymmetrical rupture propagation were 16.8 MPa, which are almost twice the estimates based on the commonly used symmetrical rupture model. This shows the importance of recognizing the diversity of ruptures, even for small earthquakes, for extracting information about earthquake sources and the Earth's structure. The prevailing rupture directivity can provide useful information on source parameters including the fault size, fault geometry, and rupture velocity of small earthquakes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Records of the electric component of the electromagnetic field in the Magadan region indicate abnormal variations in the power spectral density of pulsed signals of thunderstorm discharges (atmospherics) in the 12–40 kHz frequency band during the preparation of several earthquakes on Kyushu Island (Japan) in April 2016. The anomalies were manifested by the unusual behavior of the ratio of spectral densities of atmospherics for higher and lower frequencies. The time dependence of the ratio of spectral densities was slightly distorted, and its values were decreased in the daytime for 3 weeks with a subsequent increase in the daytime minima and emerging outliers of daytime values 3 days before the start of earthquakes. The combination of these anomalies was a precursor of the earthquake series. The detected anomalies were partially observed before the strong earthquakes in Taiwan from October 2013 to February 2016. The anomalies are not associated with geomagnetic activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is concerned with the behavior of seismic noise in the period range of a few minutes based on records made by broadband IRIS stations before the catastrophic earthquake of March 11, 2011 in Japan. A formalized technique was used to identify discrete asymmetrical pulses whose amplitudes were an order of magnitude higher than the noise level and that were spaced at intervals longer than 30 minutes. The frequency of pulses at the MAJO station on Honshu 400 km of the earthquake epicenter increased on January 30, 2011 and remained high until March 2, 2011. No such phenomena have been observed at MAJO in the same periods during the preceding 15 years, when the station was in regular operation. The records of other similar stations farther than 1700 km from the epicenter were not found to contain increases in the rate of pulses. We believe that these asymmetrical pulses were due to dilatancy in shallow crustal layers beneath the MAJO station. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 1896 Sanriku earthquake was a typical 'tsunami earthquake' which caused large tsunami despite its weak ground shaking. It occurred along the Japan Trench in the northern tsunami source area of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake where a delayed tsunami generation has been proposed. Hence the relation between the 1896 and 2011 tsunami sources is an important scientific as well as societal issue. The tsunami heights along the northern and central Sanriku coasts from both earthquakes were similar, but the tsunami waveforms at regional distances in Japan were much larger in 2011. Computed tsunamis from the northeastern part of the 2011 tsunami source model roughly reproduced the 1896 tsunami heights on the Sanriku coast, but were much larger than the recorded tsunami waveforms. Both the Sanriku tsunami heights and the waveforms were reproduced by a 200-km × 50-km fault with an average slip of 8 m, with the large (20 m) slip on a 100-km × 25-km asperity. The moment magnitude M of this model is 8.1. During the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, slip on the 1896 asperity (at a depth of 3.5-7 km) was 3-14 m, while the shallower part (depth 0-3.5 km) slipped 20-36 m. Thus the large slips on the plate interface during the 1896 and 2011 earthquakes were complementary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mechanisms are suggested that could explain anomalously high PGAs (peak ground accelerations) exceeding 1 g recorded during the 2011 Tohoku earthquake ( M = 9.0). In my previous research, I studied soil behavior during the Tohoku earthquake based on KiK-net vertical array records and revealed its 'atypical' pattern: instead of being reduced in the near-source zones as usually observed during strong earthquakes, shear moduli in soil layers increased, indicating soil hardening, and reached their maxima at the moments of the highest intensity of strong motion, then reduced. We could explain this assuming that the soils experienced some additional compression. The observed changes in the shapes of acceleration time histories with distance from the source, such as a decrease of the duration and an increase of the intensity of strong motion, indicate phenomena similar to overlapping of seismic waves and a shock wave generation, which led to the compression of soils. The phenomena reach their maximum in the vicinity of stations FKSH10, TCGH16, and IBRH11, where the highest PGAs were recorded; at larger epicentral distances, PGAs sharply fall. Thus, the occurrence of anomalously high PGAs on the surface can result from the combination of the overlapping of seismic waves at the bottoms of soil layers and their increased amplification by the pre-compressed soils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We discuss elastostatic effects on Mt. Fuji, the tallest volcano in Japan, due to historic earthquakes in Japan. The 1707 Hoei eruption, which was the most explosive historic eruption of Mt. Fuji, occurred 49 days after the Hoei earthquake (Mw 8.7) along the Nankai Trough. It was previously suggested that the Hoei earthquake induced compression of a basaltic magma reservoir and unclamping of a dike-intruded region at depth, possibly triggering magma mixing and the subsequent Plinian eruption. Here, we show that the 1707 Hoei earthquake was a special case of induced volumetric strain and normal stress changes around the magma reservoir and pathway of Mt. Fuji. The 2011 Tohoku earthquake (Mw 9), along the Japan Trench, dilated the magma reservoir. It has been proposed that dilation of a magma reservoir drives the ascent of gas bubbles with magma and further depressurization, leading to a volcanic eruption. In fact, seismicity notably increased around Mt. Fuji during the first month after the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, even when we statistically exclude aftershocks, but the small amount of strain change (< 1 μ strain) may have limited the ascent of magma. For many historic earthquakes, the magma reservoir was compressed and the magma pathway was wholly clamped. This type of interaction has little potential to mechanically trigger the deformation of a volcano. Thus, Mt. Fuji may be less susceptible to elastostatic effects because of its location relative to the sources of large tectonic earthquakes. As an exception, a possible local earthquake in the Fujikawa-kako fault zone could induce a large amount of magma reservoir dilation beneath the southern flank of Mt. Fuji. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the effects of elastic heterogeneity on coseismic deformation associated with the 2011 Tohoku-oki earthquake, Japan, using a 3-D finite element model, incorporating the geometry of regional plate boundaries. Using a forward approach, we computed displacement fields for different elastic models with a given slip distribution. Three main structural models are considered to separate the effects of different kinds of heterogeneity: a homogeneous model, a two-layered model with crust-mantle stratification, and a crust-mantle layered model with a strong subducting slab. We observed two counteracting effects: (1) On large spatial scales, elastic layering with increasing rigidity with depth leads to a decrease in surface displacement. (2) An increase in rigidity from above the slab interface to below causes an increase in surface displacement, because the weaker hanging wall deforms to accommodate coseismic slip. Results for slip inversions associated with the Tohoku-oki earthquake show that slip patterns are modified when comparing homogeneous and heterogeneous models. However, the maximum slip only changes slightly: It increases from 38.5 m in the homogeneous to 39.6 m in the layered case and decreases to 37.3 m when slabs are introduced. Potency, i.e., the product of slip and fault area, changes accordingly. Layering leads to inferred slip distributions that are broader and deeper compared to the homogeneous case, particularly to the south of the overall slip maximum. The introduction of a strong slab leads to a reduction in slip around the slip maximum near the trench. We also find that details of the vertical deformation patterns for heterogeneous models are sensitive to the Poisson's ratio. While elastic heterogeneity does therefore not have a dramatic effect on bulk quantities such as inferred potency, the mechanical response of a layered medium with a slab does lead to a systematically modified slip response, and such effects may bias studies of mega-thrust earthquakes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Properties of seismoelectric waves in relation to natural earthquakes have been investigated. The electromagnetic disturbances were analyzed to test the hypothesis that pulse-like electric variations are directly related to microcracks as source. Because variation is very difficult to detect, there have been few quantitative field investigations. We used selected events with clear S and P phases from the data catalog obtained before the Tohoku earthquake in 2011. The electric strength of the fast P wave ( P), S wave ( S), and electromagnetic wave (EM) associated with formation of cracks of tensile mode were estimated. The co-seismic electric signal accompanied by the S wave has the largest strength, well above the noise level, and the EM wave has the lowest strength. Analytical estimation of the ratio of the strengths of the P and EM phases to that of the S phase by use of Pride's equations gave results partially in agreement with observation (the order was Ap > A > A). The strength of the observed electromagnetic mode is approximately two orders of magnitude larger than that estimated from the theory. We suggest this greater strength can be attributed to the converted modes at layer contracts or to the effect of the boundary between free atmosphere and crust. Overall agreement between observations and theoretical estimates suggests that electromagnetic anomalies, crustal deformation, and groundwater changes can be investigated on the basis of the unified equations for the coupled electromagnetics, acoustics, and hydrodynamics of porous media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a previous publication, the seismicity of Japan from 1 January 1984 to 11 March 2011 (the time of the $$M9$$ Tohoku earthquake occurrence) has been analyzed in a time domain called natural time $$\chi.$$ The order parameter of seismicity in this time domain is the variance of $$\chi$$ weighted for normalized energy of each earthquake. It was found that the fluctuations of the order parameter of seismicity exhibit 15 distinct minima-deeper than a certain threshold-1 to around 3 months before the occurrence of large earthquakes that occurred in Japan during 1984-2011. Six (out of 15) of these minima were followed by all the shallow earthquakes of magnitude 7.6 or larger during the whole period studied. Here, we show that the probability to achieve the latter result by chance is of the order of $$10^{-5}$$ . This conclusion is strengthened by employing also the receiver operating characteristics technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article was to examine field research after disasters by focusing on fieldwork challenges in post-disaster research settings. We describe and evaluate post-disaster fieldwork based on three separate research projects: A study of land use change adaptation strategies following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami; a study of long-term housing recovery following the 2001 Gujarat Earthquake in India; and a study of the role of social capital in shelter recovery following the 2010 Haiti Earthquake. The main findings of this study deal with some of the unique set of challenges that accompanies fieldwork in post-disaster settings. Our findings indicate six aspects that researchers might consider prior to undertaking fieldwork in a disaster setting: the critical role of language, logistics of transport and living accommodation, methodological matters, the researcher's position in the field (i.e., gender, ethnicity), fieldwork blues and ethical concerns. Potential solutions to these challenges include understanding the target community prior to embarking on fieldwork, having flexibility in the field to deal with unexpected issues and problems, planning ahead for institutional review board approvals, forming research collaborations and having strategies in place to manage stress in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electric and magnetic variations observed during the earthquake of March 11, 2011 that occurred in the Pacific close to the northeastern coast of Honshu Island in Japan are analyzed. The variations in the electric voltage were measured at the decommissioned submarine telecommunication cable laid on the bed of the Sea of Japan. The neighboring observatories recorded the anomalous geomagnetic variations during the studied time interval; the sources and spatial location of these anomalies are studied. The seismic signals were identified from the seismograms recorded by the broadband seismometer STS-2 at the nearest seismic station. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dense recordings of the K-NET and KiK-net nationwide strong motion network of 1,189 accelerometers show clearly the radiation and propagation properties of the strong ground motions associated with the 2011 off-the-Pacific Coast-of-Tohoku, Japan (Mw = 9.0) earthquake. The snapshots of seismic wave propagation reveal strong ground motions from this earthquake that originate from three large slips; the first two slips occurred over the plate interface of off-Miyagi at the southwest and the east of the hypocenter, and the third one just beneath the northern end of Ibaraki over the plate interface or in the crust. Such multiple shocks of this event caused large accelerations (maximum 1-2 G) and prolonged ground shaking lasting several minutes with dominant high-frequency ( T < 1 s) signals over the entire area of northern Japan. On the other hand, ground motions of relatively longer-period band ( T = 1-2 s), which caused significant damage to wooden-frame houses, were about 1/2-1/3 of those observed near the source area of the destructive 1995 Kobe, Japan (M = 7.3) earthquake. Also, the long-period ( T = 6-8 s) ground motion in the Kanto (Tokyo) sedimentary basin was at an almost comparable level of those observed during the recent Mw = 7 inland earthquakes, but not as large as that from the former M = 8 earthquakes. Therefore, the impact of the strong ground motion from the present M = 9 earthquake was not as large as expected from the previously M = 7-8 earthquakes and caused strong motion damage only to short-scale construction and according to instruments inside the buildings, both have a shorter ( T < 1 s) natural period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study of co-seismic energy release and the relevant region of the magnitude 9 earthquake in Tohoku, Japan on March 11, 2011. The rebound of a continental plate against a subducting oceanic plate at the Japan Trench is the cause of the earthquake. The co-seismic displacements were fitted using the Bi-Harmonic Interpolation Spline method. The adjacent elastic unloading body reportedly provides the energy dissipation associated with earthquake.

National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience (NIED) integrated the land observation networks established since the 1995 Kobe earthquake with the seafloor observation networks established since the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami as MOWLAS (Monitoring of Waves on Land and Seafloor) in November 2017. The purpose of MOWLAS is to provide comprehensive, accurate, and rapid observation and monitoring of earthquake, tsunami, and volcano events throughout Japan and its offshore areas. MOWLAS data are widely utilized for long-term earthquake forecasting, the monitoring of current seismic activity, seismic and tsunami hazard assessments, earthquake early warning, tsunami warning, and earthquake engineering, as well as earthquake science. Ocean bottom observations provide an extension of observations to areas where no people are living and have the advantage of increasing lead time of earthquake early warning and tsunami warning. The application of recent technology advancements to real-time observations as well as the processing of MOWLAS data has contributed to the direct disaster mitigation of ongoing earthquakes. These observations are fundamental for both science and disaster resilience, and thus it is necessary to continue ceaseless operation and maintenance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated temporal changes in the waveforms of S-coda from triggered earthquakes around the Moriyoshi-zan volcano in northeastern Japan. Seismicity in the area has drastically increased after the 2011 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku earthquake, forming the largest cluster to the north of the volcano. We analyzed distinct scattered wave packets (DSW) that are S-to-S scattered waves from the mid-crust and appeared predominantly at the high frequency range. We first investigated the variation of DSW for event groups with short inter-event distances and high cross-correlation coefficients (CC) in the time window of direct waves. Despite the above restriction, DSW showed temporal changes in their amplitudes and shapes. The change occurred gradually in some cases, but temporal trends were much more complicated in many cases. We also found that the shape of DSW changed in a very short period of time, for example, within ~ 12 h. Next, we estimated the location of the origin of the DSW (DSW origin) by applying the semblance analysis to the data of the temporary small-aperture array deployed to the north of the largest cluster of triggered events. The DSW origin is located between the largest cluster within which hypocentral migration had occurred and the low-velocity zone depicted by a tomographic study. This spatial distribution implies that the DSW origin was composed of geofluid-accumulated midway in the upward fluid movement from the low-velocity zone to the earthquake cluster. Though we could not entirely exclude the possibility of the effect of the event location and focal mechanisms, the temporal changes in DSW waveforms possibly reflect the temporal changes in scattering properties in and/or near the origin. The quick change in DSW waveforms implies that fast movement of geofluid can occur at the depth of the mid-crust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2011 Tohoku-Oki offshore subduction earthquake (Mw 9.0) triggered many normal-type earthquakes inland in northeastern Japan. Among these were two very similar normal-faulting earthquakes in 2011 (Mw 5.8) and 2016 (Mw 5.9), which created surface ruptures along the newly named Mochiyama fault within the southern Abukuma Mountains, northeastern Japan, where no active faults had been previously mapped by interpretation of aerial photographs. We conducted field surveys in this area immediately after both earthquakes, and we performed trench excavations and observations of fault fracture zones after the 2016 event. These activities were complemented by an interferometric synthetic aperture radar analysis that mapped the areas of deformation and locations of surface discontinuities for both events. The combined results document the coseismic behavior of the Mochiyama fault during both events. Subtle tectonic geomorphic features associated with the fault were evident in a lidar digital elevation model of the area, and layered structures of gouge were documented in the field. These lines of evidence indicate repeated activity at shallow crustal levels and the possibility of Quaternary activity. In addition, our trench excavations revealed at least one faulting event before 2011. Our comparison of paleoseismic records on this and two other normal faults in the Abukuma Mountains suggests that great earthquakes in the Japan Trench supercycle of 500–700 years do not consistently trigger ruptures on these faults, and the case of 2011, in which the Tohoku-Oki megathrust earthquake triggered all three faults, is a rare occurrence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]