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Is the Ryukyu subduction zone in Japan coupled or decoupled? —The necessity of seafloor crustal deformation observation

Earth, Planets and Space volume 61, pages 1031–1039 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

The 2004 Sumatra-Andaman earthquake of Mw 9.3 occurred in a region where a giant earthquake seemed unlikely from the point of view of tectonics. This clearly implies that our current understanding of strain accumulation processes of large earthquakes at subduction zones needs to be reexamined. The Ryukyu subduction zone is one such zone since no large earthquake has been anticipated there for reasons similar those pertaining to the Sumatra-Andaman arc. Based on our analysis of historical earthquakes, plate motion, back-arc spreading, and GPS observation along the Ryukyu trench, we highly recommend monitoring seafloor crustal deformation along this trench to clarify whether a large earthquake (Mw>8) could potentially occur there in the future.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Earth Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taiwan

    Masataka Ando

  2. Department of Earth and Material Sciences, University of Ryukyus, Ryukyus, Japan

    Mamoru Nakamura, Takeshi Matsumoto & Masahide Furukawa

  3. Graduate School of Environmental Sciences, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan

    Keiichi Tadokoro & Muneyoshi Furumoto

Authors
  1. Masataka Ando
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  2. Mamoru Nakamura
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  3. Takeshi Matsumoto
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  4. Masahide Furukawa
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  5. Keiichi Tadokoro
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  6. Muneyoshi Furumoto
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Correspondence to Masataka Ando.

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Ando, M., Nakamura, M., Matsumoto, T. et al. Is the Ryukyu subduction zone in Japan coupled or decoupled? —The necessity of seafloor crustal deformation observation. Earth Planet Sp 61, 1031–1039 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03352954

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03352954

Key words

  • Subduction zones
  • Ryukyu trench
  • decoupled/couple subduction
  • back-arc spreading
  • seafloor crustal deformation