Afterslip, viscoelastic relaxation, poroelastic rebound: A possible mechanism in the short and long term postseismic deformation following the 2011 Tohoku earthquake

Postseismic deformation of the Tohoku earthquake has been investigated by Ozawa et al. (2011), Wang et al. (2012), Diao et al. (2013), Sun et al. (2014), Perfettini and Avouac (2014), Shirzaei et al. (2014), Silverii et al. (2014), and Yamagiwa et al. (2015). Of these studies, Diao et al. (2013) investigated rheological model inferred from postseismic deformation of the Tohoku earthquake using 1.5 years GPS data following the mainshock. Because reliable investigation of the viscosity and its transient behavior require observation with longer time period, we build postseismic deformation model of the Tohoku earthquake using longer GPS data than that of used by previous studies and estimated the inferred rheological model. In addition, we also evaluate the possibility of the poroelastic relaxation signal due to the Tohoku earthquake. We used observed surface deformation recorded by inland GEONET stations from 12 March 2011) to 12 October 2016 (~ 5.6 years). Afterslip model was inverted by assuming a homogeneous elastic half-space (Okada 1992). Viscoelastic relaxation due to coseismic stress change of the Tohoku earthquake is estimated using the Fortran code PSGRN/PSCMP (Wang et al. 2006). We estimated poroelastic relaxation following Gahalaut et al. (2008) and compared the result with observed ground water-level change to investigate relaxation time of poroelastic rebound. Observed postseismic displacement for 5.6 following the mainshock show that deformation is characterized by seaward movement and is more broadly distributed than the coseismic displacement. Our model show an effective thickness of the elastic crust (D) and an asthenosphere viscosity (η ) are 50 km and 5.6×10^18 Pa s, respectively. This result is consistent with most estimated viscosity in NE japan area (e.g., Rydelek and Sacks 1990; Suito and Hirahara 1999; Ueda et al. 2003; Hyodo and Hirahara 2003). Incorporating viscoelastic and poroelastic rebound in the early stage of postseismic deformation improve the agreement between predicted and observed displacement. It implies that postseismic deformation following the Tohoku earthquake is likely driven by multiple mechanism instead of single mechanism. Poroelastic relaxation is consistent with the ground water-level change during the first 140 days after the mainshock, suggesting that poroelastic rebound after the Tohoku earthquake have longer relaxation time than 60 days of poroelastic rebound following the 2000 South Iceland earthquake (Jonsson et al. 2003). Landward displacement of poroelastic rebound at offshore area indicate that this mechanism, along with viscoelastic relaxation, could have contributed to the postseismic deformation of the Tohoku earthquake

Nucleation and Cascade Features of Earthquake Mainshock Statistically Explored from Foreshock Seismicity

The relation between the size of an earthquake mainshock preparation zone and the magnitude of the forthcoming mainshock is different between nucleation and domino-like cascade models. The former model indicates that magnitude is predictable before an earthquake’s mainshock because the preparation zone is related to the rupture area. In contrast, the latter indicates that magnitude is substantially unpredictable because it is practically impossible to predict the size of final rupture, which likely consists of a sequence of smaller earthquakes. As this proposal is still controversial, we discuss both models statistically, comparing their spatial occurrence rates between foreshocks and aftershocks. Using earthquake catalogs from three regions, California, Japan, and Taiwan, we showed that the spatial occurrence rates of foreshocks and aftershocks displayed a similar behavior, although this feature did not vary between these regions. An interpretation of this result, which was based on statistical analyses, indicates that the nucleation model is dominant

Diurnal variation of atmospheric electric field at the summit of Mount Fuji, Japan, distinctly different from the Carnegie curve in the summertime

In fair weather, a clear diurnal variation of atmospheric electric field (AEF), which is distinctly different from the global diurnal variation, i.e., Carnegie curve, was observed during the summer time (July and August) of the year 2010 and 2011 at the summit of Mount Fuji, Japan (3776 m in altitude). The variation of the AEF at the summit showed a local time dependent feature, which means that the AEF increased at sunrise and decreased at sunset. This local diurnal variation is known as a mountain variation. The intensity of AEF in the daytime reached 1.5–3 times larger than that in the nighttime. From the multipoint observations of cloud images and AEF, the mountain variation was found to be attributable to the AEF generated by the positively charged top of a horizontally extensive sea of clouds below the summit. Since the sea of clouds grows with the temperature rise, the AEF variation follows local time