Crustal block kinematics and seismic potential of the northernmost Philippine Sea plate and Izu microplate, central Japan, inferred from GPS and leveling data

Journal of Geophysical Research, 112, doi:10.1029/2005JB004102, 2007
[Printable article (4.8 Mb)]

Takuya Nishimura 1, Takeshi Sagiya 2 and Ross Stein 3
(1) Geographical Survey Institute Geography and Crustal Dynamics Research Center Tsukuba, Japan
(2) Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan
(3) U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park

 

Summary:We clarify the contemporary deformation observed by GPS and leveling for greater Tokyo (Kanto, eastern Tokai, and the Izu islands) region, where the Izu-Ogasawara (Bonin) arc is subducting and colliding with the central part of the Japan arc. From these data, we develop a kinematic model of fault sources with variable components of seismic and aseismic slip. Under the assumption that the contemporary deformation during 1995-2000 is representative of the longterm interseismic strain field, the geodetic data are inverted to estimate the rotation poles of the crustal blocks, the degree of elastic strain accumulation on faults, and the volumetric inflation sources beneath volcanoes. The present crustal movements are explained by four crustal blocks: the Izu micro-plate, the Central Japan block, the Pacific plate, and the Philippine Sea plate. Along the Suruga and Sagami margins of the Philippine Sea plate lie strongly coupled faults, which include sites of the 1854 M=8.4 Tokai, 1923 M=7.9 Kanto, and 1703 M~8.2 Genroku Kanto earthquakes. In contrast, the Philippine Sea plate boundary immediately north of the Izu peninsula, site of M =< 7.5 collisional earthquakes, is only weakly coupled. The boundary between the Izu micro-plate and the Philippine Sea plate experiences left-lateral motion with the rate of ~30 mm/yr. Most of this boundary is locked and thus has a large potential of future earthquakes. The Izu micro-plate is found to rotate rapidly clockwise at 10º/Myr, with a rotation pole relative to the Central Japan block located just north of its northern boundary. With the exception of the site of the 1938 M => 7 earthquake swarm, which we infer has the current potential to produce a M~8.1 earthquake, the Pacific megathrust has a very low seismic 3 potential, although the geodetic data have little resolving power for much of the Pacific plate interface east of Tokyo.


Strain accumulation of fault and four crustal blocks
(CJP, IMP, PHS, and PAC)

 

 
 
 
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