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Volume 57 Supplement 3

Special Issue: Special Section for the 2004 off the Kii peninsula earthquakes (1)

Resistivity image of the Philippine Sea Plate around the 1944 Tonankai earthquake zone deduced by Marine and Land MT surveys

Earth, Planets and Space volume 57, pages 209–213 (2005)Cite this article

Abstract

The Nankai Trough is an active convergent region in southwest Japan and mega-thrust earthquakes have repeatedly occurred in some areas of its plate-boundary interface. Generation of mega-thrust earthquakes is inferred to be related to the existence of water. The resistivity structure is very sensitive to the existence of water. For that reason, it is important to obtain the resistivity image around the rupture area of mega-thrust earthquakes. We carried out land and marine magnetotelluric surveys in the Kii Peninsula and the offshore Kii Peninsula where the 1944 Tonankai earthquake occurred. We constructed a 2D resistivity model using an inversion technique. The modeled resistivity structure portrayed the Philippine Sea Plate as a resistive region. However, its resistivity becomes more conductive as the plate subducts, showing 10 Ω-m around the down-dip limit. These characteristics are considered to relate to the water. Therefore, we infer that water might control the generation of mega-thrust earthquakes.

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Author notes

  1. Hitoshi Mikada

    Present address: Department of Civil and Earth Resources Engineering Faculty of Engineering Kyoto Univ., Yoshida-honmachi, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, Japan

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Japan Agency of Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Natsushima-cho 2-15, Yokosuka, 237-0061, Japan

    Takafumi Kasaya, Tada-nori Goto, Hitoshi Mikada, Kiyoshi Baba & Kiyoshi Suyehiro

  2. Earthquake Research Institute, University of Tokyo, University of Tokyo, Yayoi 1-1-1, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan

    Hisashi Utada

Authors
  1. Takafumi Kasaya
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  2. Tada-nori Goto
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  3. Hitoshi Mikada
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  4. Kiyoshi Baba
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  5. Kiyoshi Suyehiro
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  6. Hisashi Utada
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Takafumi Kasaya.

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Kasaya, T., Goto, Tn., Mikada, H. et al. Resistivity image of the Philippine Sea Plate around the 1944 Tonankai earthquake zone deduced by Marine and Land MT surveys. Earth Planet Sp 57, 209–213 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03351817

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03351817

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