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Earth, Planets and Space
Fig. 6 | Earth, Planets and Space

Fig. 6

From: Gravity changes observed between 2004 and 2009 near the Tokai slow-slip area and prospects for detecting fluid flow during future slow-slip events

Fig. 6

(a) Vertical cross section of the plate subduction zone and the configuration of the model. X denotes the distance along the plate boundary from the lower end of the zone where high-pressure fluids exist. The dip angle is 15°. The model has a horizontal dimension of 40 km perpendicular to the page. The bottom right box shows the pressure distribution along the plate interface. (b) Observed and modeled average rates of gravity changes (μGal/yr). The observed values are indicated in figures, followed by 1a (see also Table 1). The color contour illustrates the modeled changes. The red rectangle shows the horizontal projection of the area on the plate boundary initially filled with high-pressure fluids, which is consistent with the high-Poisson-ratio zone indicated by seismic tomography. After rupture was initiated by the slow slip, the fluids spread upward along the plate interface into the area delimited by the black rectangle. The white circle marked as A denotes the center of mass of the high-pressure fluids before the SSE, which moved to B by 2009.

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