Temporal variation of crustal deformation during the days preceding a thrust-type great earthquake — The 1944 Tonankai earthquake of magnitude 8.1, Japan

The temporal variation in precursory ground tilt prior to the 1944 Tonankai (Japan) earthquake, which is a great thrust-type earthquake along the Nankai Trough, is discussed using the analysis of data from repeated surveys along short-distance leveling routes.Sato (1970) pointed out that an anomalous tilt occurred one day before the earthquake at Kakegawa near the northern end of the focal region of the earthquake. From the analysis of additional leveling data, Sato's result is re-examined and the temporal change in the ground tilt is deduced for the period of about ten days beginning six days before the earthquake. A remarkable precursory tilt started two or three days before the earthquake. The direction of the precursory tilt was up towards the south (uplift on the southern Nankai Trough side), but the coseismic tilt was up towards the southeast, perpendicular to the strike of the main thrust fault of the Tonankai earthquake. The postseismic tilt was probably opposite of the coseismic tilt. The preseismic tilt is attributed to precursory slip on part of the main fault. If similar precursory deformation occurs before a future earthquake expected to occur in the adjacent Tokai region, the deformation may help predict the time of the Tokai earthquake.