Crustal microdeformations and tides in the coastal zone of the Sea of Japan

Based on experimental data and numerical modeling, the possible mechanisms of the effect of internal gravitational waves within the range of periods from tidal values to a few tens of minutes on crustal microdeformations in the coastal zone of the Sea of Japan are examined. The spectral analysis of oscillations in the sea level and microdeformations recorded in various seasons reveals common maximums of energy at diumal and semidiurnal periods, but the coincidence of the maximums at shorter periods is random and varies with time. The phase shifts between the surface tide and crustal deformations are also unstable in time. To explain the observed interrelations between the processes at sea and in the Earth’s crust, we modeled numerically the generation of internal tides, bores, and packets of short internal waves in terms of a nonlinear model of shallow water. It is shown that the observed effects can be caused (1) by the resonance between the wavelength of the internal tide and the shelf width and (2) by the reflection of bores and internal wave packets from a steep bottom and rocky shores or by their collapse.