Abstract The lateral (along trench axis) variation in the mode of large earthquake occurrence near the northern Japan Trench is explained by the variation in surface roughness of the subducting plate. The surface roughness of the ocean bottom near the trench is well correlated with the large-earthquake occurrence. The region where the ocean bottom is smooth is correlated with'typical'large underthrust earthquakes (e.g. the 1968 Tokachioki event) in the deeper part of the seismogenic plate interface, and there are no earthquakes in the shallow part (aseismic zone). The region where the ocean bottom is rough (well-developed horst and graben structure) is correlated with large normal faulting earthquakes (e.g. the 1933 Sanriku event) in the outer-rise region, and large tsunami earthquakes (e.g. the 1896 Sanriku event) in the shallow region of the plate interface zone. In the smooth surface region, the coherent metamorphosed sediments form a homogeneous, large and strong contact zone between the plates. The rupture of this large strong contact causes great under-thrust earthquakes. In the rough surface region, large outer-rise earthquakes enhance the well-developed horst and grabens. As these structure are subducted with sediments in the graben part, the horsts create enough contact with the overriding block to cause an earthquake in the shallow part of the interface zone, and this earthquake is likely to be a tsunami earthquake. When the horst and graben structure is further subducted, many small strong contacts between the plates are formed, and they can cause only small underthrust earthquakes. 相似文献
While most aspects of subduction have been extensively studied, the process of subduction initiation lacks an observational foundation. The Macquarie Ridge complex (MRC) forms the Pacific-Australia plate boundary between New Zealand to the north and the Pacific-Australia-Antarctica triple junction to the south. The MRC consists of alternating troughs and rises and is characterized by a transitional tectonic environment in which subduction initiation presently occurs. There is a high seismicity level with 15 large earthquakes (M>7) in this century. Our seismological investigation is centered on the largest event since 1943: the 25 MAY 1981 earthquake. Love, Rayleigh, andP waves are inverted to find: a faulting geometry of right-lateral strike-slip along the local trend of the Macquarie Ridge (N30°E); a seismic moment of 5×1027 dyn cm (Mw=7.7) a double event rupture process with a fault length of less than 100km to the southwest of the epicenter and a fault depth of less than 20km. Three smaller thrust earthquakes occurred previous to the 1981 event along the 1981 rupture zone; their shallow-dipping thrust planes are virtually adjacent to the 1981 vertical fault plane. Oblique convergence in this region is thus accommodated by a dual rupture mode of several small thrust events and a large strike-slip event. Our study of other large MRC earthquakes, plus those of other investigators, produces focal mechanisms for 15 earthquakes distributed along the entire MRC; thrust and right-lateral strike-slip events are scattered throughout the MRC. Thus, all of the MRC is characterized by oblique convergence and the dual rupture mode. The true best-fit rotation pole for the Pacific-Australia motion is close to the Minster & Jordan RM2 pole for the Pacific-India motion. Southward migration of the rotation pole has caused the recent transition to oblique convergence in the northern MRC. We propose a subduction initiation process that is akin to crack propagation; the 1981 earthquake rupture area is identified as the crack-tip region that separates a disconnected mosaic of small thrust faults to the south from a horizontally continuous thrust interface to the north along the Puysegur trench. A different mechanism of subduction initiation occurs in the southernmost Hjort trench region at the triple junction. newly created oceanic lithosphere has been subducted just to the north of the triple junction. The entire MRC is a soft plate boundary that must accommodate the plate motion mismatch between two major spreading centers (Antarctica-Australia and Pacific-Antarctica). The persistence of spreading motion at the two major spreading centers and the consequent evolution of the three-plate system cause the present-day oblique convergence and subduction initiation in the Macquarie Ridge complex. 相似文献
The Daiichi-Kashima Seamount subducting in the Japan Trench has two reef-capped flat tops with different depths, which are bounded by a nearly straight scarp. The western (inboard) crest is 5300–5450 m deep, and the eastern (outboard) one is 3880–4000 m deep.
A variety of shallow-water reefoid limestones studied by the Kaiko “Nautile” dives not only confirms the similarity in thickness and lithologies, but also establishes an approximate biostratigraphic correlation between the two reefoid caps, based for the first time on the orbitolinid foraminifers (Orbitolina (Mesorbitolina) parva from the western block and O. (M.) texana from the eastern block).
This conclusion supports the interpretation that the present topography of the seamount has resulted from a subduction-induced faulting of a once single reef-capped guyot. A plausible scenario of the fate of a subducting Early Cretaceous guyot in the Western Pacific is outlined as exemplified by the Daiichi-Kashima Seamount. 相似文献
A theoretical equation was developed to express the time variation of drainage density in a basin or geomorphic surface: Di(t, T) is the drainage density at time T on the i-th basin or geomorphic surface, which was formed at time t; β(τ) is a factor related to the erosional force causing the development of the rivers of the basin or surface at time τ; δi is the maximum drainage density; and Di is the initial drainage density on the i-th geomorphic surface or basin. The equation is based on the assumption that the drainage density increases with time until it reaches a specific upper limit δi(t)), the maximum drainage density, which is related to certain physical properties of the basin. The equations for various dated basins or geomorphic surfaces can be combined into one modified equation if the same relative erosional forces have acted on those basins or surfaces (β(t) = β(t) and if the basins or surfaces have the same physical properties δi(t) = δi(t), (Di = D0). The application of this equation to coastal terraces and glacial tills shows that the model is compatible with observed drainage densities on various dated basins or surfaces. 相似文献
In order to understand the role of aqueous fluid on the differentiation of the mantle, the compositions of aqueous fluids coexisting with mantle minerals were investigated in the system MgO-SiO2-H2O at pressures of 3 to 10 GPa and temperatures of 1000 to 1500°C with an MA8-type multianvil apparatus. Phase boundaries between the stability fields of forsterite + aqueous fluid, forsterite + enstatite + aqueous fluid, and enstatite + aqueous fluid were determined by varying the bulk composition at constant temperature and pressure. The composition of aqueous fluid coexisting with forsterite and enstatite can be defined by the intersection of these two phase boundaries. The solubility of silicate components in aqueous fluid coexisting with forsterite and enstatite increases with increasing pressure up to 8 GPa, from about 30 wt% at 3 GPa to about 70 wt% at 8 GPa. It becomes almost constant above 8 GPa. The Mg/Si weight ratio of these aqueous fluids is much higher than at low pressure (0.2 at 1.5 GPa) and almost constant (1.2) at pressures between 3 and 8 GPa. At 10 GPa, it becomes about 1.4. Aqueous fluid migrating upward through the mantle can therefore dissolve large amounts of silicates, leaving modified Mg/Si ratios of residual materials. It is suggested that the chemical stratification of Mg/Si in the Earth may have been formed as a result of aqueous fluid migration. 相似文献
Soil H2 and CO2 surveys were carried out along seven active faults and around the aftershock region of the 2000 Tottori-ken Seibu earthquake
in Japan. Diffuse CO2 effluxes were also measured along one fault and around the 2000 aftershock region. The results show highly variable H2 concentration in space and time and it seems that the maximum H2 concentration at each active fault correlates with fault activity as exemplified by the time of the latest big earthquakes.
Even though observed H2 concentrations in four faults were markedly lower than those collected previously in the latter half of the 1970s, it is
evident that the higher H2 concentrations in this study are due to the addition of the fault gases. Comparing the chemical composition of trapped gases
(H2: 5–20% and CO2/H2: 0.5–12) in fractured rocks of drill cores bored at the Nojima fault, a soil gas sample with the highest H2 concentration showed large amounts of the trapped fault gas, diluted with atmospheric component. The profile experiment across
a fracture zone at the Yamasaki fault showed higher H2 concentrations and lower CO2/H2 ratios as was observed in soil gas from the fracture zone. A few days after the 2000 Tottori-kei Seibu earthquake, no CO2 effluxes related to the occurrence of earthquakes were observed at the aftershock region. However, only above the epicenter
zone, relatively high H2 concentrations in soil gases were observed. 相似文献
Precise determination of the partitioning of Mg and Fe2+ between olivine and ultramafic melt has been made at pressures from 5 to 13 GPa using a MA-8 type multi-anvil high-pressure apparatus (PREM) installed at Earthquake Research Institute, University of Tokyo. A very short rhenium capsule (<100 μm sample thickness) was adopted to minimize temperature variation within the sample container. Synthetic gels with the composition of the upper mantle peridotite were used as starting materials to promote the homogeneity. Analyses of quenched melts and coexisting olivines were made with an electron probe microanalyzer. The obtained partition coefficient, KD [=(FeO/MgO)ol/(FeO/MgO)melt], decreases from 0.35 to 0.25 with increasing pressure from 5 to 13 GPa, suggesting a negative correlation between pressure and KD above 5 GPa. Our result is consistent with a parabolic relationship between KD and degree of polymerization (NBO/T) of melts reported by previous studies at lower pressures. The negative correlation between pressure and KD suggests that olivine crystallizing in a magma ocean becomes more Mg-rich with depth and that primary magmas generated in the upper mantle become more Fe-rich with depth than previously estimated. 相似文献
We propose a new automatic orbital tuning algorithm to adjust climatic signals to insolation. This can tune two signals with periodicity only without shape similarity. A Genetic Algorithm (GA) is used as an optimizing method. The new age model for the Brunhes epoch in Lake Baikal core BDP98 defined climatic shifts at about 250 kyr B.P., 350 kyr B.P. and 700 kyr B.P. The sedimentation rate for the interval from 350 kyr B.P. to 700 kyr B.P. was comparatively low and stable. This new model also indicates that there was a stadial during the super interglacial period (MIS 11), and that the terrestrial response to climate change was complex in this period. 相似文献
