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Studies on the 2011 Off the Pacific Coast of Tohoku Earthquake pp 17–36Cite as

Source Process of the 2011 Off the Pacific Coast of Tohoku Earthquake

Part of the Natural Disaster Science and Mitigation Engineering: DPRI reports book series (NADISME)

Abstract

The kinematic source process of the 2011 Off the Pacific Coast of Tohoku earthquake is studied using strong motion data both in low- and high-frequency ranges. The slip distribution is estimated by the waveform inversion analysis using velocity waveforms in the frequency range from 0.01 to 0.125 Hz at strong motion stations along the Pacific coast. The strong motion generation area (SMGA) is estimated by the strong ground motion simulation in 0.1–10 Hz using the empirical Green’s function method. The slip distribution is characterized by a large asperity with peak slip of 48 m which is imaged in the shallower portion of the source fault near the Japan Trench. Four SMGAs are identified in the deeper portion of the source fault. Unlike the past M7–8 subduction-zone plate-boundary events, the SMGAs and the asperity seem to be complementary in space. But the rupture time of each SMGA matches the timing of slip in each area. The total size of SMGAs is much smaller than the asperity area. This event coincides with empirical scaling relationships between total rupture area, asperity area, SMGA, and its seismic moment proposed for subduction-zone plate-boundary earthquakes by previous papers although the asperity abstracted for this event may have different nature from those of past smaller earthquakes.

Keywords

  • Relationship between slip distribution and strong motion generation area
  • Scaling relationship
  • Source process of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake
  • Strong motion data
  • Strong motion generation area

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Acknowledgments

The strong motion data of K-NET, KiK-net, and JMA are used in this study. The digital data of the geometry of the Pacific plate is compiled and provided via the Internet by Dr. Fuyuki Hirose at the Meteorological Research Institute of JMA. Most of figures were produced by using the Generic Mapping Tools (Wessel and Smith 1998).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Disaster Prevention Research Institute (DPRI), Kyoto University, Uji, Japan

    Kimiyuki Asano, Haruko Sekiguchi & Tomotaka Iwata

  2. National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention (NIED), Tsukuba, Japan

    Wataru Suzuki, Shin Aoi & Takashi Kunugi

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  1. Kimiyuki Asano
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  2. Haruko Sekiguchi
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  3. Tomotaka Iwata
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  4. Wataru Suzuki
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  5. Shin Aoi
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  6. Takashi Kunugi
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Correspondence to Kimiyuki Asano .

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  1. Disaster Management for Safe and Secure Safety Control of Urban Space, Kyoto University Disaster Prevention Research Institute, Kyoto, Japan

    Hiroshi Kawase

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Asano, K., Sekiguchi, H., Iwata, T., Suzuki, W., Aoi, S., Kunugi, T. (2014). Source Process of the 2011 Off the Pacific Coast of Tohoku Earthquake. In: Kawase, H. (eds) Studies on the 2011 Off the Pacific Coast of Tohoku Earthquake. Natural Disaster Science and Mitigation Engineering: DPRI reports. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-54418-0_3

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