Seismic Velocity and Attenuation Images of the Nankai Subduction Zone: New Insight into Megathrust Earthquakes

Abstract:

Dapeng Zhao, Xin Liu (Tohoku University, Japan)

Many large interplate earthquakes (M > 7) occurred on the megathrust fault of the Nankai subduction zone, where the young Philippine Sea plate is subducting beneath the Eurasian plate along the Nankai Trough. The most significant megathrust events in this region are the 1944 Tonankai (Mw 8.1), the 1946 Nankai (Mw 8.3) and the 1968 Hyuganada (Mw 7.5) earthquakes. The landward down-dip limit of the Nankai megathrust seismogenic zone is located at a depth of ~30-40 km, marked by the occurrence of episodic tremors and slips. The seaward up-dip limit is not very distinct, being generally at a depth of ~10 km and correlated with a suite of diagenetic to low-grade metamorphic processes. To clarify the causal mechanism of the megathrust earthquakes, we studied the detailed three-dimensional P and S wave velocity (Vp and Vs), attenuation (Qp and Qs), and Poisson’s ratio (σ) structures of the SW Japan forearc, using a large number of high-quality arrival time and t* data measured precisely from seismograms of local earthquakes. The suboceanic earthquakes used are relocated precisely using sP depth phase and ocean bottom seismometer data. Our results show the existence of two prominent high-V, high-Q, and low-σ patches separated by low-V, low-Q, and high-σ anomalies in the Nankai megathrust zone. Megathrust earthquakes during 1900 to 2013 nucleated in or around the high-V, high-Q, and low-σ patches, which may represent strongly coupled areas (i.e., asperities) in the megathrust zone. This feature is very similar to that of the NE Japan megathrust zone where the great Tohoku-oki earthquake (Mw 9.0) occurred on 11 March 2011 (e.g., Zhao, 2015). These results indicate that structural heterogeneities in the megathrust zone, such as the subducting seafloor topography and compositional variations, control the nucleation of megathrust earthquakes.