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The 2018, Hokkaido Eastern Iburi, Japan, earthquake is an event characterized by complexity of the rupture process and slip pattern, which may involve both reverse and strike-slip motion depending on the locations on the fault surface. We perform dynamic rupture simulations based on simple physical laws, conditions for stressing and fault friction, and the non-planar fault geometry constrained by the aftershock observation. The complex fault geometry is numerically treated by the boundary integral equation method accelerated by the fast domain portioning method. The fault geometry is characterized primarily by the combination of six fault planes. As a result, we are able to explain several observed features of the event, including the spatial variation of the final fault slip and rupture velocity, which are inferred from the kinematic slip inversion. We also succeed in refining the constraint of the regional stress field in the focal area based on the simulation. Our results show that the overall patterns of the complex rupture event can be reproduced by a relatively simple model of the regional stress and the fault friction, if the geometrical complexity of the fault is properly taken into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the results of relocating 17,544 hypocenters determined from data recorded during the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake sequence, during the interval between April 14, 2016, and August 31, 2016. For this, we used a double-difference relocation method to constrain high-resolution hypocenter locations by cross-correlation differential times as well as the NIED Hi-net catalog differential times. The sequence included two large events (on 14 April: M 6.5 and on 16 April: M 7.3) that occurred in a complicated region where the Hinagu and Futagawa faults meet. By comparing these high-resolution earthquake locations in three different periods [(P1) between 2001 and 2012; (P2) between M 6.5 and M 7.3; and (P3) between M 7.3 and August 31, 2016], we present the significant seismicity after the mainshock relative to the background seismicity. Events during the Kumamoto Earthquake sequence occurred generally within the same sites of known faults and background seismicity. For an example, the seismicity during period P2 formed a sharp linear shape along the northern part of the Hinagu fault for about 20 km. A series of linear seismicity events occurred during period P3 along the Futagawa fault to the east (for about 28 km), in the northern part of the Aso caldera, and in the Oita region around the Beppu-Haneyama fault zone. These events also extended to the mid- and southern parts of the Hinagu fault zone and were shaped only after the M7.3 event. Moreover, high-resolution hypocenter locations also allowed us to identify some clusters of events that occurred in regions where background seismicity has not been confirmed. For instance, activity on the northwestern edge of the Aso caldera and in small areas within the Beppu-Haneyama fault zone became apparent with new seismic activity. We also demonstrate herein the absence of seismicity between the northeast extension of the Futagawa fault zone and the Aso caldera region, which became clearly shown after the M7.3 event. This low-seismicity region is located at the boundary of the low- and high-velocity structures and different focal mechanisms, but is also close to the maximum slip area of the M7.3 event. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]