Spatial change in differential stress magnitudes around the source fault before intraplate earthquakes

SUMMARYHow are the sizes of the earthquakes determined? To solve this important problem, we analysed the data from a dense temporary seismic observation network installed in the aftershock area of the 2016 Mw 6.2 Central Tottori earthquake, which occurred in an intraplate region in Japan. We compared the stress field estimated from approximately 10 000 accurate focal mechanisms of aftershocks with the calculated post-earthquake stress field and found that the differential stress before the earthquake was very small near both horizontal edges. These results did not depend significantly on the modeled slip distribution and the orientation of the principal stress before the earthquake. Similar results were obtained for the 2000 Mw 6.7 Western Tottori earthquake, which also occurred in the same intraplate region in Japan. These results suggest that the fault size of large intraplate earthquakes can be determined by the region of small differential stress surrounding future earthquake faults.