Connection between high pore-fluid pressure and frictional instability at tsunamigenic plate boundary fault of 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake

The 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake (M 9.0) rupture propagated along a shallow plate boundary thrust fault (i.e. decollement) to the trench, displaced the seafloor, and triggered a devastating tsunami. Physical properties of the underthrust sediments which control the rupture propagation are yet poorly known. We use a 2D seismic dataset to build velocity model for imaging and apply reverse time migration. We then calculate pore-fluid pressure along the decollement as the top boundary of underthrust sediments, and along the backstop interface as the boundary between undeformed structures in the continental plate and the severely deformed sediments in the accretionary prism. The results show that within horizontal distance of 40-22 km toward the trench, pore-fluid pressure is 82-60% higher than the hydrostatic pressure for both decollement and backstop interface. It then reduces to hydrostatic level for the backstop interface but remains 60-40% higher than hydrostatic level for the decollement, causing frictional instability in favor of fault rupture along the decollement. We report for the first time, by our knowledge, detailed seismic images of fluid-rich trapped bucket sediments, quantitative stress states, and fluid drainage conditions at shallow tsunamigenic portion of the Japan Trench, which are consistent with the seafloor and borehole observations.

Automated summary

This study used seismic data to obtain more detailed images and related information of the 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake, revealing that the pore-fluid pressure along the decollement and backstop interface is generally higher than the hydrostatic pressure, especially in the decollement. This high pressure leads to fault rupture and earthquake occurrence.