4.7 Article

Effects on fluvial discharges of the 2016 Kumamoto earthquakes, Japan

Journal

JOURNAL OF HYDROLOGY
Volume 583, Issue -, Pages -

Publisher

ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2020.124600

Keywords

The 2016 Kumamoto earthquake; River water level; River discharge; Mountain groundwater

Funding

  1. SUNTORY Kumamoto groundwater research project
  2. JSPS [16KT0151]
  3. Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research [16KT0151] Funding Source: KAKEN

Ask authors/readers for more resources

The 2016 Kumamoto earthquakes comprised an Mw 6.2 foreshock and an Mw 7.0 mainshock that occurred at 21:26 JST on April 14 and at 01:25 JST on April 16, respectively. Ruptures and vibrations associated with these earthquakes induced effects on streams' discharge in Kumamoto and Oita prefectures; however, few studies have conducted comprehensive investigation of such changes in those areas. In this study, 174 measurements of river water level were carried out as reflecting increase, decrease, or no change after the foreshock or after the mainshock when compared with the level before the foreshock. Trends of increase and decrease after the foreshock (mainshock) were recognized at 6 and 19 (37 and 15) stream gauges, respectively. The ones that showed a trend of increase after the mainshock were located mostly in mountainous areas (elevation> 300 m). A coseismic increase in river water level suggested increased groundwater supply from the mountains via enhanced permeability. The difference in river discharge between upstream and downstream gauges relative to the Suizenji fault zone revealed a huge volume (approx. 900,000 m(3)) of river water was lost from the river during the 12-h period following the mainshock. It is possible that the missing river water flowed into new fault zones formed by the earthquakes.

Authors

I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.

Reviews

Primary Rating

4.7
Not enough ratings

Secondary Ratings

Novelty
-
Significance
-
Scientific rigor
-
Rate this paper

Recommended

No Data Available
No Data Available