Skip to main content

Volume 60 Supplement 11

Special Issue: Special Section for the 2007 Chuetsu-oki, Niigata, Japan, Earthquake

Coseismic and postseismic deformation related to the 2007 Chuetsu-oki, Niigata Earthquake

Abstract

An intermediate-strength earthquake of magnitude Mj 6.8 occurred on July 16, 2007, centered beneath the Japan Sea a few kilometers offshore of Niigata Prefecture in central Japan. We constructed a dense GPS network to investigate postseismic deformation after this event, choosing our GPS sites carefully so as to complement the nationwide GPS GEONET array. Coseismic displacements caused by the mainshock detected at some GEONET sites were used to estimate coseismic fault parameters. The results indicate that the geodetic data can be explained by a combination of two rectangular faults dipping northwest and southeast. Minor but definite postseismic deformation was detected largely in the southern part of the dense network. The time series of site coordinates can be characterized by a logarithmic decay function, and the estimated time constant seems to be almost similar in range to that of the 2004 Mid-Niigata Prefecture Earthquake. We also found a possible site instability at 960566 (Izumo-zaki, GEONET) caused by a small, local landslide associated with the mainshock and therefore concluded that the data obtained at this site should not be used for coseismic or postseismic analysis.

References

  • Geographical Survey Institute (GSI), Crustal deformation associated with 2007 Niigataken Chuetsu-oki earthquake, http://www.gsi.go.jp/WNEW/PRESS-RELEASE/2007/0719b.htm, 2007 (in Japanese).

    Google Scholar 

  • Hugentobler, U., S. Schaer, and P. Fridez, Bernese GPS Software Version 4.2, 515 pp., University of Bern, 2001.

    Google Scholar 

  • Iinuma, T., Y. Ohta, S. Miura, K. Tachibana, T. Matsushima, H. Takahashi, T. Sagiya, T. Ito, S. Miyazaki, R. Doke, A. Takeuchi, K. Miyao, A. Hirao, T. Maeda, T. Yamaguchi, M. Takada, M. Iwakuni, T. Ochi, I. Meilano, and A. Hasegawa, Postseismic slip associated with the 2007 Chuetsu-oki, Niigata, Japan, Earthquake (M 6.8 on 16 July 2007) as inferred from GPS data, Earth Planets Space, 60, this issue, 1087–1091, 2008.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kato, A., S. Sakai, E. Kurashimo, T. Igarashi, T. Iidaka, N. Hirata, T. Iwasaki, T. Kanazawa, and Group for the aftershock observations of the 2007 Niigataken Chuetsu-oki Earthquake, Imaging heterogeneous velocity structures and complex aftershock distributions in the source region of the 2007 Niigataken Chuetsu-oki Earthquake by a dense seismic observation, Earth Planets Space, 60, this issue, 1111–1116, 2008.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lichten, S. M. and J. S. Border, Strategies for high precision global positioning system orbit determination, J. Geophys. Res., 92(B12), 12751–12762, 1987.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marone, C. J., C. H. Scholz, and R. Bilham, On the mechanics of earthquake afterslip, J. Geophys. Res., 96, 8441–8452, 1991.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nakao, S., H. Takahashi, T. Matsushima, Y. Kohno, and M. Ichiyanagi, Postseismic deformation following the 2005 West Off Fukuoka Prefecture Earthquake (M 7.0) derived by GPS observation, Earth Planets Space, 58, 1617–1620, 2006.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Okada, T., N. Umino, T. Matsuzawa, J. Nakajima, N. Uchida, T. Nakayama, S. Hirahara, T. Sato, S. Hori, T. Kono, Y. Yabe, K. Ariyoshi, S. Gamage, J. Shimizu, J. Suganomata, S. Kita, S. Yui, M. Arao, S. Hondo, T. Mizukami, H. Tsushima, T. Yaginuma, A. Hasegawa, Y. Asano, H. Zhang, and C. Thurber, Aftershock distribution and 3D seismic velocity structure in and around the focal area of the 2004 mid Niigata prefecture earthquake obtained by applying double-difference tomography to dense temporary seismic network data, Earth Planets Space, 57, 435–440, 2005.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Okada, Y., Internal deformation due to shear and tensile faults in a halfspace, Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am., 82, 1018–1040, 1992.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scholz, C. H., The Mechanics of Earthquakes and Faulting, Cambridge University Press, 1990.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sagiya, T., S. Miyazaki, and T. Tada, Continuous GPS Array and Present-day Crustal Deformation of Japan, PAGEOPH, 157, 2303–2322, 2000.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sagiya, T., M. Ohzono, S. Nisiwaki, Y. Ohta, T. Yamamuro, F. Kimata, and M. Sasaki, Postseismic Deformation Following the 2004 Mid-Niigata Prefecture Earthquake around the Southern Part of the Source Region, Zisin 2, 58, 359–369, 2005 (in Japanese with English abstract).

    Google Scholar 

  • Takahashi, H., T. Matsushima, T. Kato, A. Takeuchi, T. Tamaguchi, Y. Kohno, T. Katagi, J. Fukuda, K. Hatamoto, R. Doke, Y. Matsu’ura, and M. Kasahara, A dense GPS observation immediately after the 2004 mid-Niigata prefecture earthquake, Earth Planets Space, 57, 661–665, 2005.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wessel, P. and W. H. F. Smith, Free software helps map and display data, EOS Trans. AGU, 72, 441, 1991.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, H. and C. H. Thurber, Double-difference tomography: The method and its application to the Hayward fault, California, Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am., 93, 1875–1889, 2003.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zumberge, J. F., M. B. Heflin, D. C. Jefferson, M. M. Watkins, and F. H. Webb, Precise point positioning for the efficient and robust analysis of GPS data from large networks, J. Geophys. Res., 102(B3), 5005–5017, 1997.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yusaku Ohta.

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

Ohta, Y., Miura, S., Iinuma, T. et al. Coseismic and postseismic deformation related to the 2007 Chuetsu-oki, Niigata Earthquake. Earth Planet Sp 60, 1081–1086 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03353140

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03353140

Key words