Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

From 3-Hz P Waves to 0 S 2: No Evidence of A Slow Component to the Source of the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake

  • Published:
Pure and Applied Geophysics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In the hours following the 2011 Honshu event, and as part of tsunami warning procedures at the Laboratoire de Géophysique in Papeete, Tahiti, the seismic source of the event was analyzed using a number of real-time procedures. The ultra-long period mantle magnitude algorithm suggests a static moment of 4.1 × 1029 dyn cm, not significantly different from the National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) value obtained by W-phase inversion. The slowness parameter, \(\Uptheta = -5.65, \) is slightly deficient, but characteristic of other large subduction events such as Nias (2005) or Peru (2001); it remains significantly larger than for slow earthquakes such as Sumatra (2004) or Mentawai (2010). Similarly, the duration of high-frequency (2–4 Hz) P waves in relation to seismic moment or estimated energy, fails to document any slowness in the seismic source. These results were confirmed in the ensuing weeks by the analysis of the lowest-frequency spheroidal modes of the Earth. A dataset of 117 fits for eight modes (including the gravest one, 0 S 2, and the breathing mode, 0 S 0) yields a remarkably flat spectrum, with an average moment of 3.5 × 1029 dyn cm (*/1.07). This behavior of the Tohoku earthquake explains the generally successful real-time modeling of its teleseismic tsunami, based on available seismic source scaling laws. On the other hand, it confirms the dichotomy, among mega-quakes (M 0 > 1029 dyn cm) between regular events (Nias, 2005; Chile, 2010; Sendai, 2011) and slow ones (Chile, 1960; Alaska, 1964; Sumatra, 2004; and probably Rat Island, 1965), whose origin remains unexplained.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10

References

  • Aki, K. (1967), Scaling law of seismic spectrum, J. Geophys. Res., 72, 1217–1231.

  • Ben-Menahem, A. (1961), Radiation of seismic surface-waves from finite moving sources, Bull. Seismol. Soc. Amer., 51, 401–435.

  • Boatwright, J., and G.L. Choy (1986), Teleseismic estimates of the energy radiated by shallow earthquakes, J. Geophys. Res., 91, 2095–2112.

  • Choy, G.L., and J. Boatwright (2007), The energy radiated by the 26 December 2004 Sumatra-Andaman earthquake estimated from 10–minute P–wave windows, Bull, Seismol. Soc. Amer., 97, S18–S24.

  • Cifuentes, I.L., and P.G. Silver (1989), Low-frequency source characteristics of the great 1960 Chilean earthquake, J. Geophys. Res., 94, 643–663.

  • Dahlen, F.A. (1982), The effect of data windows on the estimation of free oscillation parameters, Geophys. J. Roy. astr. Soc., 69, 537–549.

  • Duputel, Z., L. Rivera, H. Kanamori, G. Hayes, B. Hirshorn, and S. Weinstein (2011), Real-time W–phase inversion during the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, Earth, Planets, Space, 63, 535–539.

  • Fukao, Y. (1979), Tsunami earthquakes and subduction processes near deep-sea trenches, J. Geophys. Res., 84, 2303–2314.

  • Geller, R.J. (1976), Scaling relations for earthquake source parameters and magnitudes, Bull. Seismol. Soc. Amer., 66, 1501–1523.

  • Guilbert, J., J. Vergoz, E. Schisselé, A. Roueff, and Y. Cansi (2005), Use of hydroacoustic and seismic arrays to observe rupture propagation and source extent of the M w  = 9.0 Sumatra earthquake, Geophys. Res. Letts., 32, (15), L15310.

  • Gutenberg, B., and C.F. Richter, Seismicity of the Earth and associated phenomena (Princeton University Press, 310 pp., 1954).

  • Han, S.-C., J. Sauber, and R.E.M. Riva (2011), Contribution of satellite gravimetry to understanding seismic source processes of the 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake, and focal mechanism, Geophys. Res. Letts., 38, (24), L24312.

  • Ide, S., and G.C. Beroza (2001), Does apparent stress vary with earthquake size? Geophys., Res. Letts., 28, 3349–3352.

  • Ishii, M., P.M. Shearer, H. Houston, and J.E. Vidale (2005), Extent, duration and speed of the 2004 Sumatra-Andaman earthquake, imaged by the Hi-Net array, Nature, 435, 933–936.

  • Kanamori, H. (1972), Mechanism of tsunami earthquakes, Phys. Earth Planet. Inter., 6, 346–359.

  • Kanamori, H., and D.L. Anderson (1975), Amplitude of the Earth’s free oscillations and long-period characteristics of the earthquake source, J. Geophys. Res., 80, 1075–1078.

  • Kanamori, H., and J.J. Cipar (1974), Focal process of the great Chilean earthquake, May 22, 1960, Phys. Earth Planet. Inter., 9, 128–136.

  • Lay, T., and S.L. Bilek, Anomalous earthquake ruptures at shallow depths on subduction zone megathrusts, in: The seismogenic zone of subduction thrust faults (Eds. T. Dixon and C. Moore, Columbia Univ. Press, New York, 2007) pp. 476–511.

  • Lay, T., C.J. Ammon, H. Kanamori, L. Xue, and M.J. Kim (2011), Possible large near-trench slip during the 2011 M w  = 9.0 Tohoku earthquake, Earth Planets Space, 63, 687–692.

  • Linde, A.T., and P.G. Silver (1989), Elevation changes and the great 1960 Chilean earthquake: Support for asesimic slip, Geophys. Res. Letts., 16, 1305–1308.

  • López, A.M., and E.A. Okal (2006), A seismological reassessment of the source of the 1946 Aleutian “tsunami” earthquake, Geophys. J. Intl., 165, 835–849.

  • Nettles, M., G. Ekström, A.M. Dziewoński, and N. Maternovskaya (2005), Source characteristics of the great Sumatra earthquake and its aftershocks, Eos, Trans. Amer. Geophys. Un., 86, (18), U43A-01 [abstract].

  • Newman, A.V., and E.A. Okal (1998), Teleseismic estimates of radiated seismic energy: The E/M 0 discriminant for tsunami earthquakes, J. Geophys. Res., 103, 26885–26898.

  • Newman, A.V., G. Hayes, Y. Wei, and J.A. Convers (2011), The 25 October 2010 Mentawai tsunami earthquake, from real-time discriminants, finite-fault rupture, and tsunami excitation, Geophys. Res. Letts., 38, (5), L05302.

  • Ni, S., H. Kanamori, and D.V. Helmberger (2005), Energy radiation from the Sumatra earthquake, Nature, 434, 582.

  • Okal, E.A. (2011), Lessons from Sendai: A perspective from Polynesia and the world, Geophys. Res. Abstracts, 13, EGU2011-14228.

  • Okal, E.A., and J. Talandier (1989), M m : A variable period mantle magnitude, J. Geophys. Res., 94, 4169–4193.

  • Okal, E.A., S. Hongsresawat, and S. Stein (2012), Split mode evidence for no ultra-slow component to the source of the 2010 Maule, Chile earthquake, Bull. Seismol. Soc. Amer., 102, 391–397.

  • Polet, J., and H. Kanamori (2000), Shallow subduction zone earthquakes and their tsunamigenic potential, Geophys. J. Intl., 142, 684–702.

  • Reymond, D., O. Hyvernaud, and J. Talandier, An integrated system for real-time estimation of seismic source parameters, and its application to tsunami warning, In: Tsunamis in the World (ed. S. Tinti, Kluwer, Dordrecht, 1993) pp. 177–196.

  • Reymond, D., O. Hyvernaud, and E.A. Okal (2012), The 2010 and 2011 tsunamis in French Polynesia: Operational aspects and field surveys, Pure Appl. Geophys., doi:10.1007/s00024-012-0485-5.

  • Rundle, J.B. (1989), Derivation of the complete Gutenberg–Richter magnitude–frequency relation using the principle of scale invariance, J. Geophys. Res., 94, 12337–12342.

  • Stein, S., and R.J. Geller (1977), Amplitudes of the Earth’s split normal modes, J. Phys. Earth, 25, 117–142.

  • Stein, S., and E.A. Okal (2005), Size and speed of the Sumatra earthquake, Nature, 434, 581–582.

  • Stein, S., and E.A. Okal (2007), Ultra-long period seismic study of the December 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and implications for regional tectonics and the subduction process, Bull. Seismol. Soc. Amer., 97, S279–S295.

  • Talandier, J., and E.A. Okal (2001), Identification criteria for sources of T waves recorded in French Polynesia, Pure Appl. Geophys., 158, 567–603.

  • Tanioka, Y., L.J. Ruff, and K. Satake (1997), What controls the lateral variation of large earthquake occurrence along the Japan trench?, Island Arc, 6, 261–266.

  • Tsai, V.C., M. Nettles, G. Ekström, and A.M. Dziewoński (2005), Multiple CMT source analysis of the 2004 Sumatra earthquake, Geophys. Res. Letts., 32, (17), L17304.

  • Weinstein, S.A., and E.A. Okal (2005), The mantle wave magnitude M m and the slowness parameter \(\Uptheta\): Five years of real-time use in the context of tsunami warning, Bull. Seismol. Soc. Amer., 95, 779–799.

Download references

Acknowledgments

I thank Dominique Reymond and Olivier Hyvernaud, with whom I shared the intense night of 10 March 2011 at the Laboratoire de Géophysique in Papeete. The mode-splitting codes were originally written 35 years ago by Seth Stein.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Northwestern University, 1850 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA

    Emile A. Okal

Authors
  1. Emile A. Okal
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Emile A. Okal.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Okal, E.A. From 3-Hz P Waves to 0 S 2: No Evidence of A Slow Component to the Source of the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake. Pure Appl. Geophys. 170, 963–973 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00024-012-0500-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00024-012-0500-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation