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We documented regional and local variations in basement relief, sediment thickness, and sediment type in the Shikoku Basin, northern Philippine Sea Plate, which is subducting at the Nankai Trough. Seismic reflection data, tied with ocean drilling program drill cores, reveal that variations in the incoming sediment sequences are correlated with basement topography. We mapped the three-dimensional seismic facies distribution and measured representative seismic sequences and units. Trench-parallel seismic profiles show three regional provinces in the Shikoku Basin that are distinguished by the magnitude of basement relief and sediment thickness: Western (<200–400 m basement relief, >600 m sediment thickness), Central (>1500 m relief, ∼2000 m sediments), and Eastern (<600 m relief, ∼1200 m sediments) provinces. The total thickness of sediment in basement lows is as much as six times greater than that over basement highs. Turbidite sedimentation in the Shikoku Basin reflects basement control on deposition, leading to the local presence or absence of turbidite units deposited during the middle Oligocene to the middle Miocene. During the first phase of sedimentation, most basement lows were filled with turbidites, resulting in smooth seafloor morphology that does not reflect basement relief. A second phase of turbidite deposition in the Eastern Province was accompanied by significant amounts of hemipelagic sediments interbedded with turbidite layers compared to the other provinces because of its close proximity to the Izu–Bonin Island Arc. Both regional and local variations in basement topography and sediment thickness/type have caused lateral heterogeneities on the underthrusting plate that will, in turn, influence lateral fluid flow along the Nankai accretionary prism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When seamounts and other topographic highs on an oceanic plate are subducted, they cause significant deformation of the overriding plate and may act as asperities deeper in the seismogenic zone. Kashinosaki Knoll (KK) is an isolated basement high of volcanic origin on the subducting Philippine Sea Plate that will soon be subducted at the eastern Nankai Trough. Seismic reflection imaging reveals a thick accumulation of sediments (∼1200 m) over and around the knoll. The lower portion of the sedimentary section has a package of high-amplitude, continuous reflections, interpreted as turbidites, that lap onto steep basement slopes but are parallel to the gentler basement slopes. Total sediment thickness on the western and northern slopes is approximately 40–50% more than on the summit and southeastern slopes of KK. These characteristics imply that the basal sedimentary section northwest of KK was deposited by infrequent high-energy turbidity currents, whereas the area southeast of KK was dominated by hemipelagic sedimentation over asymmetric basement relief. From the sediment structure and magnetic anomalies, we estimate that the knoll likely formed near the spreading center of the Shikoku Basin in the early Miocene. Its origin differs from that of nearby Zenisu Ridge, which is a piece of the Shikoku Basin crust uplifted along a thrust fault related to the collision of the Izu–Bonin arc and Honshu. KK has been carried into the margin of the Nankai Trough, and its high topography is deflecting Quaternary trench turbidites to the south. When KK collides with the accretionary prism in about 1 My, the associated variations in sediment type and thickness around the knoll will likely result in complex local variations in prism deformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the summer of 2000, an ocean bottom seismometer (OBS) array was deployed along the western end of the Nankai Trough, off Cape Muroto. The array crosses an area where a buried subducting seamount was identified under the Nankai accretionary prism sediments during a multichannel seismic (MCS) reflection survey. In this paper we report the first results of shear-wave splitting (SWS) analysis of the three-component OBS data. One interesting result is a peculiar anomaly in the behaviour of shear-wave polarizations observed near the subducting seamount. We attempt to explain the observed spatial pattern in shear-wave polarizations by complex structure of stress field in accretionary prism sediments around seamount. We conclude, that the spatial pattern of SWS consistent with expected stress perturbations around seamounts, but there are several other reasons that can result in a similar type of seismic anisotropy. Finally, we have a somewhat broader look at the spatial pattern of shear-wave polarizations observed with another OBS array near the active front of Nankai Trough. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Along the Nankai trough, southwestern Japan, the Philippine Sea plate (PSP) is subducting beneath the Eurasian plate, and large interplate earthquakes have occurred repeatedly with a recurrence interval of about 100–200 years. The most recent large thrust event in the eastern Nankai trough off Kii Peninsula was the 1944 Tonankai earthquake. In this region, current seismicity is very low and hypocenters are not determined accurately by the land seismic network. We conducted microseismicity observations around the rupture area of the 1944 Tonankai earthquake using ocean bottom seismographs (OBSs). Hypocenters were determined using a 2-D seismic velocity structure model based on an airgun-OBS seismic survey. Results obtained show that the seismicity was relatively active near the trough axis. These earthquakes may relate to deformation of the subducting Philippine Sea plate. On the other hand, microseismicity in the rupture area of the 1944 Tonankai earthquake was very low. This low-level seismic activity in the co-seismic rupture area of the 1944 Tonankai earthquake likely relates to a single large asperity off Kii Peninsula. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The Nankai and Hyuga-nada seismogenic segments, in the western part of the Nankai subduction zone off southwestern Japan, have sometimes ruptured separately and sometimes simultaneously. To investigate the relationships among heterogeneities of seismic structure, spatial variation of the incoming plate, and the seismogenic segments, we carried out seismic observations in the western Nankai subduction zone and modeled the area with 3D seismic tomography using both onshore and offshore seismic data. Our seismic observations suggested that the pattern of seismicity is related to heterogeneities within the subducted plate rather than the seismogenic segments. The up-dip depth limit of seismicity along the plate boundary and in the oceanic crust is typically around 15 km, corresponding to the depth of dehydration of the oceanic crust. In addition, the seaward-extended seismicity observed where the subducted plate was considered to have rough internal structures. In the resulting velocity model, the up-dip limit of the area where the P-wave velocity just above the plate boundary exceeds 6 km/s corresponds to the up-dip limit of coseismic slip in the 1968 Hyuga-nada and 1946 Nankai earthquakes. Between the two coseismic rupture zones is an area of lower P-wave velocity about 40 km wide that is evidence of lateral heterogeneities in the upper plate along the trough-parallel direction. Structural heterogeneities in the upper plate may explain the variety of coseismic slip patterns in this region. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The occurrence pattern of historical great earthquakes along the Nankai Trough indicates the existence of rupture segments that seem to correlate with 100-km-scale lateral variation in the dip angle of the subducting Philippine Sea plate. For instance, the latest earthquakes, the 1944 Tonankai, and the 1946 Nankai earthquakes initiated their ruptures off Kii Peninsula, where the dip angle of the slab is steeper than in adjacent areas. To investigate how such heterogeneity in slab geometry affects the occurrence of earthquakes, we conducted a three-dimensional (3D) numerical simulation of earthquake cycles for a large source area, about 700 km long along the trough and 300 km wide in the dip direction, based on a rate- and state-dependent friction law. We used a simple flat dipping plane to model the plate boundary. Frictional parameters and effective normal stress were assumed to depend on the estimated depth of the real plate boundary based on seismic surveys and seismicity data. The depth-dependent frictional parameters were mapped on the flat model plane. This made lateral variation in frictional property due to the variation in the dip angle of the slab. The plate convergence rate in the model decreased eastward along the trough, consistent with a recent Global Positioning System (GPS) analysis. In the simulation results, preslip occurred, and rupture started off Kii Peninsula. Both effects of a narrower locked area due to the higher dip angle and a higher plate convergence rate caused the highest stress accumulation rate to be in this area, promoting slip nucleation. Our simple simulation suggests that lateral variation in the dip angle of the slab is one of the factors controlling the nucleation position of great interplate earthquakes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Megathrust earthquake rupture is highly influenced by seafloor bathymetric features such as oceanic fracture zones, seamounts, and ridges in convergent plate margins where these features subduct. Recent seismic reflection and refraction data reveal a trough-parallel subducted oceanic ridge that is attached to the descending Philippine Sea Plate beneath the accretionary wedge of the overriding Eurasian Plate in the eastern Nankai Trough subduction zone consisting of the Tonankai and Tokai segments. The seismic survey data confirm the existence of subducted paleo-Zenisu ridge that was suggested by just magnetic data, and as a result, expands its distribution to the west. The newly constrained subducted ridge that spans the two segments is estimated to be a maximum of ∼2.5 km high, ∼20–30 km wide, and ∼200 km long. Spatial mapping of the ridge shows that it is located roughly at the seaward edge of the coseismic rupture zone of the 1944 Tonankai earthquake (M=8.1). This ridge appears to be in close contact with the seaward end of the rigid backstop in the Tonankai segment. Both the spatial correlation and the ridge–backstop collision geometry suggest that the subducted ridge might be strongly mechanically coupled and may thus play a significant role as a seaward barrier inhibiting the 1944 earthquake rupture from propagating farther seaward. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We perform a simple subevent analysis of seismic P-waveforms from historical records of the 1946 Nankai earthquake. The results of this analysis establish that the earthquake rupture consisted of two main subevents, one lying within the 1-day aftershock area off the Kii Peninsula, while the other lies much farther to the west in the area of pronounced crustal deformation of western Shikoku. These conform to two segments of the Nankai Trough which have long been referred to in studies of historical earthquakes and geology of the Nankai Trough, but to our knowledge have not previously been established as having distinct megathrust rupture behavior. We show that these two subevents are bounded by pronounced features in the geometry of the subducting Philippine Sea Plate (PSP): a tear in the plate to the east beneath the Kii Peninsula, and a subducting seamount farther to the west. We speculate that these features may be associated with low-strength parts of the upper and/or lower plates that may be susceptible to permanent, anelastic deformation which prevents the accumulation of the elastic strain energy necessary to sustain seismic rupture. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]