Skip to main content
Earth, Planets and Space
Download PDF

Variations of gravity anomaly roughness in Chugoku district, Japan: Relationship with distributions of topographic lineaments

Earth, Planets and Space volume 56, pages e5–e8 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

Tectonic movement may disturb lateral continuities of crustal structures at weak zones. These lateral discontinuities of density structure cause undulations of the gravity anomaly field whose complexity can be an indicator of past crustal instability. On the other hand, topographic lineaments are formed along weak crustal zones. We would expect therefore that gravity anomaly roughness bears some relation to the distribution of surface lineaments. We develop a statistical method by employing the Bouguer anomaly standard deviation as an index of gravity anomaly roughness in terms of which we interpret the spatial distribution of topographic lineaments in Chugoku district, Japan. Locations of the lineaments, which could be diagnostic of the heterogeneity of the previously damaged crust, tend to coincide with those of high roughness areas of gravity anomaly fields.

References

  • Bird, R. T. and R. A. Pockalny, Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic seafloor and oceanic basement roughness: Spreading rate, crustal age and sediment thickness correlations, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 123, 239–254, 1994.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fujiwara, K., Planation surfaces of Chugoku district, Japan: Their pluralistic development, edited by K. Fujiwara, Frontiers of Topography, Daimeido Press, 47–70, 1996 (in Japanese).

  • Geological Survey of Japan (ed.), Gravity CD-ROM of Japan, Digital Geoscience Map P-2, Geological Survey of Japan, 2000.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goff, J. A., Quantitative characterization of abyssal hill morphology along flow lines in the Atlantic Ocean, J. Geophys. Res., 97, 9183–9202, 1992.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gravity Research Group in Southwest Japan (Representatives: Ryuichi Shichi and Akihiko Yamamoto), Gravity measurements and database in southwest Japan, Gravity Database of Southwest Japan (CD-ROM), Bull. Nagoya University Museum, Special Rept., No.9, 2001.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kudo, T. and M. Furumoto, Characterization of crustal structures by fractal analysis of gravity anomalies, Proc. Japan Academy, Ser. B, 74, 69–74, 1998.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kudo, T. and Y. Kono, Relationship between distributions of shallow earthquakes and gradients of gravity anomaly field in Southwest Japan, Zisin (J. Seismological Soc. Japan), 52, 341–350, 1999 (in Japanese with English abstract).

    Google Scholar 

  • Kudo, T., A. Yamaji, M. Furumoto, and T. Nagao, Effective elastic thickness of island arc lithosphere under Japan, The Island Arc, 10, 135–144, 2001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Malinverno, A., Inverse square-root dependence of mid-ocean ridge flank roughness on spreading rate, Nature, 352, 58–60, 1991.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nakata, T., and T. Imaizumi (eds.), Digital active fault map of Japan, Univ. of Tokyo Press, 2002 (in Japanese).

    Google Scholar 

  • Otofuji, Y., T. Matsuda, and S. Nohda, Opening mode of the Japan Sea inferred form the palaeo-magnetism of the Japan Arc, Nature, 317, 603–604, 1985.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shichi, R., A. Yamamoto, A. Kimura, and H. Aoki, Gravimetric evidences for active faults around Mt. Ontake, central Japan: Specifically for the hidden faulting of the 1984 western Nagano Prefecture earthquake, J. Phys. Earth, 40, 459–478, 1992.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Small, C. and D. T. Sandwell, An analysis of ridge axis gravity roughness and spreading rate, J. Geophys. Res., 97, 3235–3245, 1992.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tai, Y., Some problems on the peneplanation of the Chugoku Mountains based on the Miocene paleogeography, Japan, J. Geography, 84, 133–139, 1975 (in Japanese with English abstract).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Takada, K., T. Nakata, T. Nohara, T. Haraguchi, Y. Ikeda, K. Ito, T. Imaizumi, K. Otsuki, T. Sagiya, and H. Tsutsumi, Evaluation of active faults and lineaments as potential seismogenic faults in Chugoku district, Southwest Japan, Active Fault Research, 23, 77–91, 2003 (in Japanese with English abstract).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tono Geoscience Center, Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute, Japan

    Takeshi Kudo, Tsuyoshi Nohara & Hirohisa Kinoshita

  2. Graduate School of Science, Hokkaido University, Japan

    Akihiko Yamamoto

  3. College of Engineering, Chubu University, Japan

    Ryuichi Shichi

Authors
  1. Takeshi Kudo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Akihiko Yamamoto
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Tsuyoshi Nohara
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Hirohisa Kinoshita
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Ryuichi Shichi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Takeshi Kudo.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Kudo, T., Yamamoto, A., Nohara, T. et al. Variations of gravity anomaly roughness in Chugoku district, Japan: Relationship with distributions of topographic lineaments. Earth Planet Sp 56, e5–e8 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03352505

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03352505

Key words

  • Gravity anomaly
  • roughness
  • standard deviation
  • lineament
  • Chugoku District
  • active fault