Seismicity around the trench axis and outer-rise region of the southern Japan Trench, south of the main rupture area of the 2011 Tohoku-oki earthquake

The 2011 M-w 9.0 Tohoku-oki earthquake ruptured the subduction megathrust fault in the central Japan Trench. We investigated the aftershock activity in the southern Japan Trench to the south of the main rupture area using ocean bottom seismographs deployed both landward and seaward of the trench. In the trench-outer rise region seaward of the trench axis, we identified several similar to 100-km-long linear earthquake trends both parallel and oblique to the southern Japan Trench. The earthquake trend oblique to the southern Japan Trench is a southward extension of the trench-parallel linear earthquake trend in the central to northern Japan Trench. The trench-parallel normal-faults in the trench-outer rise region could extend linearly, despite the change of the trench strike from N-S to NNE-SSW to the south of the main rupture area. Normal-faults oblique to the trench should be considered as substantial parts of large intraplate normal-faulting earthquakes. In addition, intraplate seismicity coinciding with the lower velocity oceanic mantle suggest that the structure heterogeneity would be indicative of normal-faults extending into the mantle. In the trench landward area, earthquake activity showed along-trench variations. Earthquakes along the shallow megathrust interface near the trench were observed south of 37 degrees N. These shallow near-trench regular earthquakes, which are located close to the episodic tremors and temporally correlated with the tremor activities, suggest that the afterslip on the plate interface likely extended to the shallow plate interface close to the trench axis. Smaller spatial scale structure heterogeneity, such as the thickness variation in the channel-like low-velocity sedimentary unit, likely relate to the proximity of the regular earthquakes and slow slip which results in the formation of diverse slip behaviours in the shallow subduction zone of the southern Japan Trench.

Automated summary

The study investigated aftershock activities in the southern Japan Trench and found linear earthquake trends parallel and oblique to the trench axis. In the trench landward area, earthquake activity showed variations along the trench, with shallow near-trench regular earthquakes observed near the trench axis. The study also suggested that smaller spatial scale structure heterogeneity could relate to the diversity of slip behaviors in the shallow subduction zone.