Geophysical observations from the 2011 moment magnitude (M_w) 9.0 Tohoku-Oki, Japan earthquake allow exploration of a rare large event along a subduction megathrust. Models for this event indicate that the distribution of coseismic fault slip exceeded 50 meters in places.
 Sources of high-frequency seismic waves delineate the edges of the
 deepest portions of coseismic slip and do not simply correlate with the
 locations of peak slip. Relative to the M_w 8.8 2010 Maule, Chile
 earthquake, the Tohoku-Oki earthquake was deficient in high-frequency
 seismic radiation-a difference that we attribute to its relatively
 shallow depth. Estimates of total fault slip and surface secular strain
 accumulation on millennial time scales suggest the need to consider the
 potential for a future large earthquake just south of this event.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/332/6036/1421.full.pdf

The 2011 Magnitude 9.0 Tohoku-Oki Earthquake: Mosaicking the Megathrust from Seconds to Centuries

Strong spatial variation of rupture characteristics in the moment magnitude (Mw) 9.0 Tohoku-Oki megathrust earthquake controlled both the strength of shaking and the size of the tsunami that followed. Finite-source imaging reveals that the rupture consisted of a small initial phase, deep rupture for up to 40 seconds, extensive shallow rupture at 60 to 70 seconds, and continuing deep rupture lasting more than 100 seconds. A combination of a shallow dipping fault and a compliant hanging wall may have enabled large shallow slip near the trench. Normal faulting aftershocks in the area of high slip suggest dynamic overshoot on the fault. Despite prodigious total slip, shallower parts of the rupture weakly radiated at high frequencies, whereas deeper parts of the rupture radiated strongly at high frequencies.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/332/6036/1426.full.pdf

Shallow Dynamic Overshoot and Energetic Deep Rupture in the 2011 Mw 9.0 Tohoku-Oki Earthquake

Tsunami waveform inversion for the 11 March, 2011, off the Pacific coast of Tohoku Earthquake (M 9.0) indicates that the source of the largest tsunami was located near the axis of the Japan trench. Ocean-bottom pressure, and GPS wave, gauges recorded two-step tsunami waveforms: a gradual increase of sea level (~2 m) followed by an impulsive tsunami wave (3 to 5 m). The slip distribution estimated from 33 coastal tide gauges, offshore GPS wave gauges and bottom-pressure gauges show that the large slip, more than 40 m, was located along the trench axis. This offshore slip, similar but much larger than the 1896 Sanriku “tsunami earthquake,” is responsible for the recorded large impulsive peak. Large slip on the plate interface at southern Sanriku-oki (~30 m) and Miyagi-oki (~17 m) around the epicenter, a similar location with larger slip than the previously proposed fault model of the 869 Jogan earthquake, is responsible for the initial water-level rise and, presumably, the large tsunami inundation in Sendai plain. The interplate slip is ~10 m in Fukushima-oki, and less than 3 m in the Ibaraki-oki region. The total seismic moment is estimated as 3.8 × 1022 N m (Mw = 9.0).

/pdf/tsunami-source-of-the-2011-off-the-pacific-coast-of-tohoku-42of6g6cz4.pdf

Tsunami source of the 2011 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku Earthquake

Subduction zone plate boundary megathrust faults accommodate relative plate motions with spatially varying sliding behavior. The 2004 Sumatra-Andaman (M_w 9.2), 2010 Chile (Mw 8.8), and 2011 Tohoku (M_w 9.0) great earthquakes had similar depth variations in seismic wave radiation across their wide rupture zones – coherent teleseismic short-period radiation preferentially emanated from the deeper portion of the megathrusts whereas the largest fault displacements occurred at shallower depths but produced relatively little coherent short-period radiation. We represent these and other depth-varying seismic characteristics with four distinct failure domains extending along the megathrust from the trench to the downdip edge of the seismogenic zone. We designate the portion of the megathrust less than 15 km below the ocean surface as domain A, the region of tsunami earthquakes. From 15 to ∼35 km deep, large earthquake displacements occur over large-scale regions with only modest coherent short-period radiation, in what we designate as domain B. Rupture of smaller isolated megathrust patches dominate in domain C, which extends from ∼35 to 55 km deep. These isolated patches produce bursts of coherent short-period energy both in great ruptures and in smaller, sometimes repeating, moderate-size events. For the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, the sites of coherent teleseismic short-period radiation are close to areas where local strong ground motions originated. Domain D, found at depths of 30–45 km in subduction zones where relatively young oceanic lithosphere is being underthrust with shallow plate dip, is represented by the occurrence of low-frequency earthquakes, seismic tremor, and slow slip events in a transition zone to stable sliding or ductile flow below the seismogenic zone.

http://authors.library.caltech.edu/31607/1/Lay2012p18168J_Geophys_Res-Sol_Ea.pdf

Depth‐varying rupture properties of subduction zone megathrust faults

A multiple time window inversion of 53 high‐sampling tsunami waveforms on ocean‐bottom pressure, Global Positioning System, coastal wave, and tide gauges shows a temporal and spatial slip distribution during the 2011 Tohoku earthquake. The fault rupture started near the hypocenter and propagated into both deep and shallow parts of the plate interface. A very large slip (approximately 25 m) in the deep part off Miyagi at a location similar to the previous 869 Jogan earthquake model was responsible for the initial rise of tsunami waveforms and the recorded tsunami inundation in the Sendai and Ishinomaki plains. A huge slip, up to 69 m, occurred in the shallow part near the trench axis 3 min after the rupture initiation. This delayed shallow rupture extended for 400 km with more than a 10‐m slip, at a location similar to the 1896 Sanriku tsunami earthquake, and was responsible for the peak amplitudes of the tsunami waveforms and the maximum tsunami heights measured on the northern Sanriku coast, 100 km north of the largest slip. The average slip on the entire fault was 9.5 m, and the total seismic moment was 4.2×1022  N·m ( M w 9.0). The large horizontal displacement of seafloor slope was responsible for 20%–40% of tsunami amplitudes. The 2011 deep slip alone could reproduce the distribution of the 869 tsunami deposits, indicating that the 869 Jogan earthquake source could be similar to the 2011 earthquake, at least in the deep‐plate interface. The large tsunami at the Fukushima nuclear power station is due to either the combination of a deep and shallow slip or a triggering of a shallow slip by a deep slip, which was not accounted for in the previous tsunami‐hazard assessments.

Online Material: Table of estimated slip for all subfaults at 0.5 min invervals.

Time and Space Distribution of Coseismic Slip of the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake as Inferred from Tsunami Waveform Data

The June 15, 1896 Sanriku earthquake generated devastating tsunamis with the maximum run-up of 25 m and caused the worst tsunami disaster in the history of Japan, despite its moderate surface wave magnitude (Ms=7.2) and weak seismic intensity. This is a typical tsunami earthquake, which generates anomalously larger tsunamis than expected from its seismic waves. Previously proposed mechanisms of tsunami earthquakes include submarine slumping and slow rupture in the accretionary wedge or in the subducted sediments. In this paper, we estimate the fault parameters of the 1896 tsunami earthquake by numerically computing the tsunami and comparing the waveforms with those recorded at three tide gauge stations in Japan. The result indicates that the tsunami source is very close to the Japan trench and the fault strike is parallel to the trench axis. The fault width is about 50 km, suggesting that the tsunami earthquake is a slow rupture in the subducted sediments beneath the accretionary wedge.

/pdf/fault-parameters-of-the-1896-sanriku-tsunami-earthquake-5gd21sdvij.pdf

Kenji Sataka

Papers

Fault parameters of the 1896 Sanriku Tsunami Earthquake estimated from Tsunami Numerical Modeling