Abstract
Excavations across several active faults in southwest Japan have disclosed a series of large geologically recent earthquakes for each fault studied. Recurrence intervals range from 1,000 to 20,000 years for the Shikano, Yamasaki, Umehara, Atotsugawa, and Atera faults. Strong irregularity in the intervals is found for the Umehara fault, one of the 1891 Nobi earthquake faults. Activity on the Atotsugawa and Atera faults, two large conjugate faults, seems to be coupled. Some geologically estimated events coincide well with the historical earthquakes.
Microearthquake distribution on and around an active fault seems to depend on the mode of the latest large earthquake associated with the fault and the lapse of time from it. Difference of microseismic pattern around individual faults may reflect different stages in an earthquake cycle of a several-thousand-year period. Relatively large aseismic regions of 20-km diameter, found on both the Yamasaki and Atotsugawa faults, may be where the stresses were almost completely released during the latest large slip events about 1,100 and 120 years ago, respcetively.
A series of large earthquakes represents a long-term behavior of an active fault, while medium-scale earthquakes and microseismic patterns provide a medium-term activity. The 3–4 year period fluctuation in the microseismic activity around the Yamasaki fault is one of short-term characteristics.
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Tsukuda, T. (1985). Long-Term Seismic Activity and Present Microseismicity on Active Faults in Southwest Japan. In: Kisslinger, C., Rikitake, T. (eds) Practical Approaches to Earthquake Prediction and Warning. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-2738-9_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-2738-9_4
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