The 1998 Hida Mountain, Central Honshu, Japan, earthquake swarm: Double-difference event relocation, frequency–magnitude distribution and Coulomb stress changes

By using the double-difference relocation technique, we have determined the fine structure of seismicity during the 1998 Hida Mountain earthquake swarm. The distribution of seismic activity defines two main directions (N–S and E–W) that probably correspond to the regional stress pattern. The detailed structure of seismicity reveals intense spatio-temporal clustering and earthquake lineations. Each cluster of events contains a mainshock and subsequent aftershock activity that decays according to the Omori law. The seismicity and the b-value temporal and spatial patterns reflect the evolution of the static stress changes during the earthquake swarm. About 80% of the swarm's best-relocated events occur in regions of increased ΔCFF. The smaller value of b found in the northern part of the swarm region and a larger b-value observed to the south, for the same period of time, could be well explained by the static stress changes caused by the larger events of the sequence. We argue that the state of stress in the crust is the main factor that controls the variation of b-value.     

Two recent flowslides in Yamashina area, Kanazawa City, Japan

Due to a continual rainfall, a flowslide occurred in Yamashina area, Kanazawa City, Japan on November 8, 2002 in the Tertiary mudstone area. The sliding mass was fully fluidized during the motion and moved downward the slope for a long distance. On December 31, 2003, slope failure was triggered by intensive rainfall and snowmelt water at the same site again, and resulted in the second occurrence of flowslide. The total displacement of the slope was recorded with an extensometer. Through field investigation, the difference of the sliding mechanism between the two flowslides was examined.     

Tidal triggering of earthquakes in the subducting Philippine Sea plate beneath the locked zone of the plate interface in the Tokai region, Japan

We found a characteristic space–time pattern of the tidal triggering effect on earthquake occurrence in the subducting Philippine Sea plate beneath the locked zone of the plate interface in the Tokai region, central Japan, where a large interplate earthquake may be impending. We measured the correlation between the Earth tide and earthquake occurrence using microearthquakes that took place in the Philippine Sea plate for about two decades. For each event, we assigned the tidal phase angle at the origin time by theoretically calculating the tidal shear stress on the fault plane. Based on the distribution of the tidal phase angles, we statistically tested whether they concentrate near some particular angle or not by using Schuster's test. In this test, the result is evaluated by p-value, which represents the significance level to reject the null hypothesis that earthquakes occur randomly irrespective of the tidal phase angle. As a result of analysis, no correlation was found for the data set including all the earthquakes. However, we found a systematic pattern in the temporal variation of the tidal effect; the p-value significantly decreased preceding the occurrence of M ≥ 4.5 earthquakes, and it recovered a high level afterwards. We note that those M ≥ 4.5 earthquakes were considerably larger than the normal background seismicity in the study area. The frequency distribution of tidal phase angles in the pre-event period exhibited a peak at the phase angle where the tidal shear stress is at its maximum to accelerate the fault slip. This indicates that the observed small p-value is a physical consequence of the tidal effect. We also found a distinctive feature in the spatial distribution of p-values. The small p-values appeared just beneath the strongly coupled portion of the plate interface, as inferred from the seismicity rate change in the past few years.     

Stray-light correction in magnetograph observations using the maximum entropy method

We have developed a method of stray-light correction which is applicable to filter-based magnetograph observations. Stray-light-corrected Stokes images are obtained by performing the deconvolution of observed Stokes images by the point spread function which is determined from the Stokes I image. For image deconvolution, the maximum entropy principle is used to guarantee that intensity should be positive and polarization degrees should be less than unity. We present an iterative algorithm for the maximum entropy method, which seeks the solution in Fourier space and thus accomplishes fast convergence. We find that our method is effective in correcting stray light which has a spread angle greater than the full width at half maximum of the point spread function. We also discuss the effect of stray light on magnetograph calibration.     

High temperature creep of single crystal gadolinium gallium garnet

High temperature creep of single crystal gadolinium gallium garnet (GGG) was studied in the temperature range of 1723–1853 K (0.86–0.94 T_m, T_m: melting temperature) and strain rate from 9 · 10^?7 s^?1 to 2 · 10^?5 s^?1. The compression tests were made along the 〈100〉 and 〈111〉 orientations. We have performed both constant strain-rate and stress-dip tests. For the 〈100〉 orientation, deformation occurs via the 〈111〉 slip systems. For the 〈111〉 orientation, both the 〈100〉 {010} and the 〈111〉 slip systems can be activated. GGG garnet is very strong under these conditions: σ/μ=(1–3)×10^?3 (σ: creep strength, μ: shear modulus). The creep behavior is characterized by a power law with stress exponent n=2.9–3.3 and high activation energies E^*=612–743 kJ/mol (E^*～45×RT_m, at zero stress which decrease with the increase of stress). Stress-dip tests suggest a small internal stress (σ_i/σ～0.62; σ_i: internal stress, σ: applied stress) compared to other materials. These results suggest that the high creep strength of GGG is mainly due to difficulty of dislocation glide rather than dislocation climb.     

Phase F,a new hydrous magnesium silicate synthesized at 1000 °C and 17 GPa: Crystal structure and estimated bulk modulus

The structure of phase F, a non-stoichiometric hydrous silicate synthesized in a uniaxial, split-sphere, multi-anvil apparatus at conditions of 17 GPa and 1000° C, has been solved and refined in space group P6₃cm, using synchrotron X-ray data for a single crystal of a size 18 × 24 × 30 μm. The composition and unit cell for phase F are Mg_3.35Si_5.51H_7.26O₁₈, a=5.073(3) Å, c=14.013(9) Å, 7= 312.3(5) ų. The structure contains layers with many similarities to superhydrous phase B. The layers of oxygen atoms are stacked in the ABCBAC-type double cubic closest packing arrangement. The bulk modulus of phase F was estimated from the structural and compositional relationship to superhydrous phase B and periclase.     

Crustal movement along a collision boundary of plates (case of eastern Taiwan)

Recent crustal movements in eastern Taiwan were investigated based on geodetic and seismological data as a case study of the tectonics along a colliding plate boundary. Secular horizontal strain along the Longitudinal Valley, a probable arc-continent collision boundary between the Philippine Sea and Eurasion plates, is compressive with a large rate of 2 microstrains/year, and the maximum compression axis trends in NW-SE direction. This means that nearly two-thirds of the convergence rate between the two plates is consumed in the narrow zone along the valley and confirms the view that the valley is the plate boundary between the two. The amount of uplift in the Central Range, deduced from trigonometric leveling, reaches more than one meter during the past 60 years. Such active orogeny is caused by the high strain rate in this area. Horizontal displacement of the Coastal Range, a leading edge of the Philippine Sea plate, has a left-lateral component, suggesting that the boundary is a region of oblique collision and the range moves toward the north, producing subduction of the Philippine Sea plate off the Coast of northeastern Taiwan.An extensional strain pattern is found northeastern Taiwan near Hualien, in northern Taiwan near Ilan, and in southeastern Taiwan south Taitung. In northeastern Taiwan, the direction of the maximum extension axis is nearly parallel to the isodipth contours of deep-focus earthquakes that occurred under the southern part of the Ryukyu Trench. From a model calculation using a finite-element method, this pattern of strain is interpreted as an edge effect of the collision-subduction junction in northeastern Taiwan. The direction of the maximum extension in northern Taiwan forms high angles with the direction of the tectonic line near Ilan stretching from the Okinawa Trough. This fact is harmonious with the view that the Okinawa Trough is spreading. Extensional strain observed in southeastern Taiwan may be related to the eastward subduction since the area is situated on a transition zone, from collision to subduction.     

Restoring forces on vertical circular cylinders forced by earthquakes

An eigenfunction solution is presented for the dynamic response of vertical circular cylinders to earthquake excitation in a compressible fluid of finite depth. This single eigenseries expansion eliminates the need for a double summation over both the eigenfunctions and the trial functions as required by Rayleigh-Ritz methods. Revised definitions for the added mass and hydrodynamic radiation damping coefficients per unit length are derived from the hydrodynamic fluid pressures. Based on comparisons between these newly defined coefficients, the compressibility of the fluid is found to be relatively more important at dimensionless frequencies greater than unity (ω > 1.0) when analysing both rigid and flexible cylinders having relatively large diameter to water depth ratios,r₀/h > 0.25 (squatty type). This conclusion regarding the relative importance of the fluid compressibility is derived from a comparison between the relative magnitudes and the vertical distributions over depth of both the added mass and radiation damping coefficients per unit length for both rigid and flexible squatty cylinders. From additional comparisons with Rayleigh-Ritz solutions that require trial functions, the results for totally immersed flexible slender cylinders (r₀/h< 0.10) are shown to be equivalent; but the results for totally immersed flexible squatty cylinders (r₀/h > 0.25) are not. The reason for this difference appears to be in the truncation of the trial function series in the Rayleigh-Ritz methods, which excludes the higher mode shapes, and in the definitions of the added mass coefficients. Comparisons with laboratory data for both rigid and flexible cylinders confirm the accuracy of the solutions obtained by the eigenseries in the limited frequency interval above the highest frequency for surface gravity waves (f > 1.0 Hz) and below the first dimensionless cut-off frequency for acoustic waves (ω< 1.0).