Source zones of the catastrophic Simushir earthquakes on November 15, 2006 (M w = 8.3) and January 13, 2007 (M w = 8.1) and the deep crust structure beneath the Middle Kuril segment

The data on catastrophic earthquakes with magnitudes of 8.3 and 8.1 that occurred in the Simushir Island area on November 15, 2006, and January 13, 2007, respectively, were compared with the results of land-sea deep seismic studies by different methods (deep seismic sounding, the correlation method of refracted waves, the earthquake converted-wave method, the common mid-point) in the Central Kuril segment. The structure of the Earth’s crust and the hypocentral zones of these earthquakes were analyzed. It was established that the hypocenter of the main shock of the first earthquake was located at the bend of the seismofocal zone under the island slope of the trench on the outer side of the subsiding lithospheric plate in the rapidly rising granulite-basite (ìbasalticî) crustal layer, which, at depths of 7–15 km, replaced the granulite-gneiss layer. This was accompanied by an increase of the seismic wave velocity from 6.4 to 7.1 km/s. The focus of the second earthquake was located beneath the axis of the deep-sea trench. The aftershocks were concentrated in two bands 60–120 km wide that extend along the trench, as well as in the third zone orthogonal to the island arc. It was shown that the epicenters of the earthquakes are linked with regional faults. The main shock of the first earthquake (November 15, 2006) was interpreted as a thrust fault and the second one (January 13, 2007) was attributed to a normal fault.     

Estimation of the stress state of the Earth’s crust and the upper mantle in the area of the Southern Kuril Islands

The catastrophic Shikotan earthquake of October 4 (5), 1994, occurred in the Pacific Ocean. Its focus was located 80 km eastward of Shikotan Island. The stress state of the Earth’s crust in this area was estimated by the method of the cataclastic analysis of the whole range of the earthquake mechanisms. The performed reconstruction of the parameters of the current stress state of the Earth’s crust and the upper mantle in the area of the Southern Kuril Islands made it possible to establish that this area is characterized, on the one hand, by the presence of extensive areas of steady behavior of the stress tensor parameters and, on the other hand, by the presence of local sections of anomalously fast changes in these parameters.     

Possibility of the reconstruction of the real dynamics of the Earth’s crust (The example of the southern regions of Sakhalin and Kuril Islands)

Doklady Earth Sciences -     

Tectonic stress field analysis of the northern part of the Kuril–Okhotsk region before the May 24, 2013 deep-focus earthquake

This paper presents the results of reconstruction of the modern tectonic stress field of the northern part of the Kuril–Okhotsk region prior to the May 24, 2013 deep-focus earthquake. This earthquake is the strongest deep-focus earthquake not only in the Okhotsk region but also in the world over the entire period of seismic observations. The tectonic stress field is reconstructed using the method of cataclastic analysis (MCA) of the earthquake source mechanism data. New data on the depth variations of regional tectonic stress field are obtained.     

Deep structure and seismotectonics of the Southern Sea of Okhotsk region along a profile from southern Sakhalin to the southern Kuril Islands

The results of deep seismic profiling through Southern Sakhalin, the southern Sea of Okhotsk, and the Southern Kuril Islands allowed the identification of deep fault zones, the hypocenter locations, the features of the stress state, and the types of seismic dislocations at the earthquake sources. The east side of the fault was upthrown relative to the west side beneath the southern part of the Tatar Strait and Sakhalin Island and led, as a result of multiple thrusting events along the fault over the geologic history, to the rise and 5-8 km displacement of the seismic boundaries. The true uplift of the Greater Kuril arc block was determined using the focal mechanism solutions. The seismoctectonics and present-day dynamics of the crustal blocks were estimated using a detailed joint analysis of the position of the structural boundaries at the seismic section and the seismotectonic movements according to the earthquake focal mechanisms.