Skip to main content
Earth, Planets and Space
Download PDF

Slip distribution of the 1973 Nemuro-oki earthquake estimated from the re-examined geodetic data

Earth, Planets and Space volume 61, pages 1203–1214 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

Geodetic data, including leveling, tide-gauge, triangulation/trilateration, and repeated EDM data, from eastern Hokkaido, Japan, were re-examined to clarify the crustal deformation associated with the 1973 Nemuro-oki earthquake. We inverted the geodetic data to estimate the slip distribution on the interface of the subducting Pacific plate. The estimated coseismic slip, potentially including afterslip, showed a patch of large slip (i.e., an asperity) near the epicenter of the mainshock. The moment magnitude of the Nemuro-oki earthquake was estimated to be 8.0 from the geodetic data, which is comparable to the 2003 Mw = 8.0 Tokachi-oki earthquake. The estimated slip distribution suggests a 50 km-long gap in the coseismic slip between the 1973 Nemuro-oki and the 2003 Tokachi-oki earthquakes. The slip area of the 2004 Mw = 7.0 Kushiro-oki earthquake, estimated from GPS data, was located at the northwestern edge of the Nemuro-oki earthquake, which implies that the area may have acted as a barrier during the Nemuro-oki earthquake. The postseismic deformation observed by leveling and tide-gauge measurements suggests that the afterslip of the Nemuro-oki earthquake occurred at least in a western and northern (i.e., deeper) extension of the asperity on the plate interface.

References

  • Akaike, H., Likelihood and the Bayes procedure, in Bayesian Statistics, edited by J. M. Bernardo, M. H. DeGroot, D. V. Lindley, and A. F. M. Smith, 143–166, University Press, Valencia, 1980.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baba, T., K. Hirata, T. Hori, and H. Sakaguchi, Offshore geodetic data conducive to the estimation of the afterslip distribution following the 2003 Tokachi-oki earthquake, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 241, 281–292, 2006.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DeMets, C., R. G. Gordon, D. F. Argus, and S. Stein, Effect of recent revisions to the geomagnetic reversal time scale on estimates of current plate motions, Geophys. Res. Lett., 21, 2191–2194, 1994.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fukao, Y. and M. Furumoto, Foreshocks and multiple shocks of large earthquakes, Phys. Earth Planet. Inter., 10, 355–368, 1975.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Geographical Survey Institute, Crustal deformations of Entire Japan, Rep. Coord. Comm. Earthq. Predict., 80, 5–27, 2008 (in Japanese).

    Google Scholar 

  • Hashimoto, M. and T. Tada, Horizontal crustal movements in Hokkaido and its tectonic implications, J. Seismol. Soc. Jpn. (Zisin), 41, 29–38, 1988 (in Japanese with English abstract).

    Google Scholar 

  • Headquarters for Earthquake Research Promotion, Long-term evaluation for seismic activities along the Chishima (Kuril) Trench (2nd Ed.), http://www.jishin.go.jp/main/chousa/04decchishima2/index.htm, 2004.

  • Heki, K., S. Miyazaki, and H. Tsuji, Silent fault slip following an interplate thrust earthquake at the Japan Trench, Nature, 386, 595–598, 1997.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hirata, K., E. Geist, K. Satake, Y. Tanioka, and S. Yamaki, Slip distribution of the 1952 Tokachi-oki earthquake (M8.1) along the Kuril trench deduced from tsunami waveform inversion, J. Geophys. Res., 108(B4), 2196, doi:10.1029/2002JB001976, 2003.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kasahara, K. and T. Kato, Aseismic faulting following the 1973 Nemuro-oki earthquake, Hokkaido, Japan (a Retrospective Study), Pure Appl. Geophys., 157, 392–403, 1980.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kato, T. and K. Tsumura, Vertical land movement in Japan as deduced from tidal record, Bull Earthq. Res. Inst., Univ. Tokyo, 54, 559–628, 1979 (in Japanese with English abstract).

    Google Scholar 

  • Katsumata, K. and Y. Yamanaka, The 29 November 2004 M7.1 Kushiro-oki earthquake: An event between the on-going seismic quiescence area and the asperity ruptured by the 1973 Nemuro-oki earthquake, Geophys. Bull. Hokkaido Univ., 69, 23–39, 2006.

    Google Scholar 

  • Katsumata, K., N. Wada, and M. Kasahara, Newly imaged shape of the deep seismic zone within the subducting Pacific plate beneath the Hokkaido corner, Japan-Kurile arc-arc junction, J. Geophys. Res., 108(B12), 2565, doi:10.1029/2002JB002175, 2003.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kikuchi, M. and Y. Fukao, Inversion of long-period P-waves from great earthquakes along subduction zones, Tectonophysics, 144, 231–247, 1987.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Komaki, K., Horizontal crustal movements revealed by geodetic measurements—Applications of a new method for estimating displacement vectors—, J. Geod. Soc. Jpn., 39, 387–410, 1993.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miura, S., Y. Suwa, A. Hasegawa, and T. Nishimura, The 2003 M8.0 Tokachi-oki earthquake? How much has the great event paid back slip debts?, Geophys. Res. Lett., 31, L05613, doi:10.1029/2003GL019021, 2004.

  • Miyazaki, S. and K. M. Larson, Coseismic and early postseismic slip for the 2003 Tokachi-oki earthquake sequence inferred from GPS data, Geophys. Res. Lett., 35, L04302, doi:10.1029/2007GL032309, 2008.

  • Nagai, R., M. Kikuchi, and Y. Yamanaka, Comparative study on the source process of recurrent large earthquakes in Sanriku-Oki region: The 1968 Tokachi-Oki earthquake and the 1994 Sanriku-oki earthquake, J. Seis-mol. Soc. Jpn. (Zisin), 52, 267–289, 2001 (in Japanese with English abstract).

    Google Scholar 

  • Nakanishi, A., A. J. Smith, S. Miura, T. Tsuru, S. Kodaira, K. Obana, N. Takahashi, P. R. Cummins, and Y. Kaneda, Structural factors controlling the coseismic rupture zone of the 1973 Nemuro-Oki earthquake, the southern Kuril Trench seismogenic zone, J. Geophys. Res., 109, B05305, doi:10.1029/2003JB002574, 2004.

  • Namegaya, Y. and Y. Tsuji, Delayed peaks of tsunami waveforms at Miyako from earthquakes east off Hokkaido, in Tsunamis: Case Studies and Recent Developments, edited by K. Satake, 115–134, Springer, Netherlands, 2005.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Nanayama, F., K. Satake, R. Furukawa, K. Shimokawa, B. F. Atwater, K. Shigeno, and S. Yamaki, Unusually large earthquakes inferred from tsunami deposits along the Kuril trench, Nature, 424, 660–663, 2003.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nishimura, T., Fault model of the 1952 Tokachi-oki earthquake induced from geodetic data, Earth Monthly, 28, 441–447, 2006 (in Japanese).

    Google Scholar 

  • Nishimura, T., T. Hirasawa, S. Miyazaki, T. Sagiya, T. Tada, S. Miura, and K. Tanaka, Temporal change of interplate coupling in northeastern Japan during 1995–2002 estimated from continuous GPS observations, Geophys. J. Int., 157, 901–916, 2004.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nyst, M., T. Nishimura, F. F. Pollitz, and W. Thatcher, Inference of post-seismic deformation mechanisms of the 1923 Kanto earthquake, J. Geophys. Res., 111, B05408, doi:10.1029/2005JB003901, 2006.

  • Okada, T., Surface deformation due to shear and tensile faults in a half-space, Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am., 75, 1135–1154, 1985.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oleskevich, D. A., R. D. Hyndman, and K. Wang, The updip and downdip limits to great subduction earthquakes: Thermal and structural models of Cascadia, south Alaska, SW Japan, and Chile, J. Geophys. Res., 104(B7), 14965–14991, 1999.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ozawa, S., Geodetic inversion for the fault model of the 1994 Shikotan earthquake, Geophys. Res. Lett., 23, 2009–2012, 1996.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ozawa, S., M. Kaidzu, M. Murakami, T. Imakiire, and Y. Hatanaka, Coseismic crustal deformation after the Mw8 Tokachi-oki earthquake in Japan, Earth Planets Space, 56, 675–680, 2004.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sagiya, T. and W. Thatcher, Coseismic slip resolution along a plate boundary megathrust: The Nankai trough, southwest Japan, J. Geophys. Res., 104, 1111–1129, 1999.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sagiya, T., S. Miyazaki, and T. Tada, Continuous GPS array and present-day crustal deformation of Japan, Pure Appl. Geophys., 157, 2303–2322, 2000.

    Google Scholar 

  • Satake, K., K. Hirata, S. Yamaki, and Y. Tanioka, Re-estimation of tsunami source of the 1952 Tokachi-oki earthquake, Earth Planets Space, 58, 535–542, 2006.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Satake, K., F. Nanayama, and S. Yamaki, Fault models of unusual tsunami in the 17th century along the Kuril trench, Earth Planets Space, 60, 925–935, 2008.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sella, G. F., T. Dixon, and A. Mao, REVEL: A model for recent plate velocities from space geodesy, J. Geophys. Res., 107(B4), doi10.1092/ 2000JB000033, 2002.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seno, T., Variation of downdip limit of the seismogenic zone near the Japanese islands: Implications for the serpentinization mechanism of the forearc mantle wedge, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 231, 249–262, 2005.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shen, Z., D. D. Jackson, and B. X. Ge, Crustal deformation across and beyond the Los Angeles Basin from geodetic measurements, J. Geophys. Res., 101, 27957–27980, 1996.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shimazaki, K., Nemuro-oki earthquake of June 17, 1973: A lithospheric rebound at the upper half of the interface, Phys. Earth Planet. Inter., 9, 314–327, 1974.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Suwa, Y., S. Miura, A. Hasegawa, T. Sato, and K. Tachibana, Interplate coupling beneath NE Japan inferred from three-dimensional displacement field, J. Geophys. Res., 111, B04402, doi:10.1029/2004JB003203, 2006.

  • Tada, T., Fault model and crustal movement of the 1973 Nemuro-oki Earthquake, J. Seismol. Soc. Jpn. (Zisin), 27, 120–128, 1974 (in Japanese with English abstract).

    Google Scholar 

  • Tanioka, Y., K. Hirata, R. Hino, and T. Kanazawa, Slip distribution of the 2003 Tokachi-oki earthquake estimated from tsunami waveform inversion, Earth Planets Space, 56, 373–376, 2004.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tanioka, Y., K. Satake, and K. Hirata, Recurrence of recent large earthquakes along the southernmost Kurile-Kamchatka Subduction zone, in Geophysical Monograph, 172, 145–152, AGU, Washington D.C., 2007.

    Google Scholar 

  • Utsu, T., Large earthquakes near Hokkaido and the expectancy of the occurrence of a large earthquake off Nemuro, Rep. Coord. Comm. Earthq. Predict., 7, 7–13, 1972 (in Japanese).

    Google Scholar 

  • Yamanaka, Y., Asperity map in Hokkaido and southern Kurile arc, Earth Monthly, 28, 427–431, 2006 (in Japanese).

    Google Scholar 

  • Yamanaka, Y. and M. Kikuchi, Source process of the recurrent Tokachi-oki earthquake on September 26, 2003, inferred from teleseismic body waves, Earth Planets Space, 55, e21–e24, 2003.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yamanaka, Y. and M. Kikuchi, Asperity map along the subduction zone in northeastern Japan inferred from regional seismic data, J. Geophys. Res., 109, B07307, doi10.1092/2003JB002683, 2004.

  • Yoshida, S., A. Kato, N. Kato, and M. Nakatani, Interpretation of various slip modes on a plate boundary based on laboratory and numerical experiments, Earth Planets Space, 56, 795–801, 2004.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Affiliations

  1. Geography and Crustal Dynamics Research Center, Geographical Survey Institute, Kitasato 1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-0811, Japan

    Takuya Nishimura

Authors
  1. Takuya Nishimura
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Takuya Nishimura.

Rights and permissions

Open Access  This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made.

The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.

To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Nishimura, T. Slip distribution of the 1973 Nemuro-oki earthquake estimated from the re-examined geodetic data. Earth Planet Sp 61, 1203–1214 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03352973

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03352973

Key words

  • Kuril Trench
  • Nemuro-oki earthquake
  • slip distribution
  • geodetic data