Search

Slow earthquakes occur at deep and shallow plate boundaries along the Nankai Trough. Deep slow earthquakes are continuously distributed along the 30–40 km depth contours of the upper surface of the subducted Philippine Sea Plate. In contrast, shallow slow earthquakes occur in limited regions: Hyuga-nada, off Cape Muroto, and southeast off the Kii Peninsula. This review provides an overview of the up-to-date seismological, geodetic, geological, and experimental results in the shallow Nankai area for a unified understanding of the spot-like occurrence of shallow slow earthquakes. Shallow slow earthquakes tend to be distributed in transitional regions between the frictionally locked and stably sliding zones on the plate boundary. Based on geological and experimental studies, the lithology of incoming sediments and their friction coefficients can be variable along the Nankai Trough. Laboratory friction experiments revealed that sediments under shallow plate boundary conditions often exhibit positive (a − b) values, while negative (a − b) is possible via several processes. Subducted seamounts create complex fracture networks and stress shadows in their surrounding areas; however, not all subducted seamounts are related to shallow slow earthquake activities. This incomplete correlation suggests that alternative factors are required to explain the spot-like distribution of shallow slow earthquakes in the Nankai subduction zone. High pore fluid pressure conditions around shallow slow earthquake zones were interpreted based on seismological structural studies. In addition, ambient noise monitoring revealed temporal changes in seismic velocity structures associated with shallow slow earthquake migrations. This result suggests a close link between pore fluid migration and shallow slow earthquake episodes. Because transient changes in pore fluid pressure can lead to various slip behaviors, the episodic migration of pore fluid around the plate boundary could promote shallow slow earthquake activity along the Nankai Trough. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We conducted centroid moment tensor (CMT) inversion for small-to-moderate aftershocks in the off Ibaraki region of the 2011 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku earthquake. In this study, we used high-frequency (0.4–1.0 Hz) seismograms from a dense array of short-period ocean bottom seismometers (OBSs) and a reliable three-dimensional (3-D) seismic velocity model. Higher frequency analysis and dense OBS arrays offer CMT solutions with high spatial resolutions. Since our OBS array observed aftershocks occurring immediately following the 2011 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku earthquake, we determined 536 CMT solutions for small-to-moderate aftershocks in the off Ibaraki region (JMA-scale magnitudes of 2.5–4.0). According to our CMT solutions, characteristics of the aftershock activities in the off Ibaraki region are classified into 5 groups: (1) thrust earthquakes, which are considered as interplate earthquakes, separated by the large slip area of the 2011 Ibaraki-oki earthquake (the largest M w 7.6 aftershock of the 2011 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku earthquake) and the tectonic tremors; (2) intraslab strike-slip earthquakes located at the north of the fault area of the 2011 Ibaraki-oki earthquake; (3) intraslab normal-fault earthquakes, which suggest a tensional stress field within the subducting Pacific Plate due to the plate bending by the overriding Philippine Sea Plate; (4) various earthquake focal mechanisms above a subducting seamount, which suggest the 3-D complex fractures; and (5) normal-fault earthquakes shallower than the interplate earthquakes, which were possibly caused by the heterogeneity of the subducting seamount. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seismic waves from earthquakes recorded on the seafloor are composed of complex multiple arrivals. Here, distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) observations along a cable located offshore the Sanriku Coast, Japan, show that the local earthquake wavefield is particularly rich in Scholte waves. We introduce a processing pipeline to extract these surface waves from DAS records. We then invert hundreds of dispersion curves along a section of the cable to form a shallow high‐resolution shear‐wave velocity model. Moreover, we focus on the possible generation mechanisms of Scholte waves through a series of 2D and 3D full‐wavefield numerical simulations. We show that water phase reverberations greatly contribute to the generation of Scholte waves on the ocean floor. This study demonstrates the potential of DAS to observe and better understand a poorly known marine wave phenomenon and image the offshore shallow seismic structure with an unprecedented spatial resolution. Plain Language Summary: Distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) is a measurement technique that has recently demonstrated its utility for marine geophysics. DAS offers the possibility to observe the seismic wave at a scale and an extent previously unattainable with traditional passive seismic surveys. Here, we use a linear DAS array located offshore the Sanriku Coast, Japan. We propose a processing pipeline to extract surface waves from local earthquake DAS records and obtain hundreds of measurements along the cable. These measurements are used to infer a high‐resolution model of the near‐shore subsurface. Supported by a series of numerical simulations, we suggest that acoustic reverberations in the water column greatly contribute to the generation of surface waves on the ocean floor. This study further demonstrates that DAS can be used to understand marine wave phenomena better and image offshore seismic structures. Key Points: Passive high‐resolution Vs imaging of shallow sedimentary layers with ocean‐bottom distributed acoustic sensing and low‐magnitude earthquakesGridded slant‐stack method to extract Scholte waves from local earthquake wavefieldsFull‐wavefield simulations suggest that water phase reverberations generate Scholte waves at the ocean floor [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.7 occurred in the Japan Sea off Yamagata on June 18, 2019. The mainshock had a source mechanism of reverse-fault type with a compression axis of WNW–ESE direction. Since the source area is positioned in a marine area, seafloor seismic observation is indispensable for obtaining the precise distribution of the aftershocks. The source area has a water depth of less than 100 m, and fishing activity is high. It is difficult to perform aftershock observation using ordinary free-fall pop-up type ocean bottom seismometers (OBSs). We developed a simple anchored-buoy type OBS for shallow water depths and performed the seafloor observation using this. The seafloor seismic unit had three-component seismometers and a hydrophone. Two orthogonal tiltmeters and an azimuth meter monitored the attitude of the package. For seismic observation at shallow water depth, we concluded that an anchored-buoy system would have the advantage of avoiding accidents. Our anchored-buoy OBS was based on a system used in fisheries. We deployed three anchored-buoy OBSs in the source region where the water depth was approximately 80 m on July 5, 2019, and two of the OBSs were recovered on July 13, 2019. Temporary land seismic stations with a three-component seismometer were also installed. The arrival times of P- and S-waves were read from the records of the OBSs and land stations, and we located hypocenters with correction for travel time. A preliminary location was performed using absolute travel time and final hypocenters were obtained using the double-difference method. The aftershocks were distributed at a depth range of 2.5 km to 10 km and along a plane dipping to the southeast. The plane formed by the aftershocks is consistent with the focal mechanism of the mainshock. The activity region of the aftershocks was positioned in the upper part of the upper crust. Focal mechanisms were estimated using the polarity of the first arrivals. Although many aftershocks had a reverse-fault focal mechanism similar to the focal solution of the mainshock, normal-fault type and strike–slip fault type focal mechanisms were also estimated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]