2019 M6.7 Yamagata-Oki earthquake in the stress shadow of 2011
Tohoku-Oki earthquake: Was it caused by the reduction in fault strength?
Abstract
Earthquake occurrence in the stress shadow provides a unique opportunity
for extracting the information about the physical processes behind
earthquakes because it highlights processes other than the ambient
stress change in earthquake generation. In this study, we examined the
fault structure and the spatiotemporal distribution of the aftershocks
of the 2019 M6.7 Yamagata-Oki earthquake, which occurred in the stress
shadow of the 2011 M9.0 Tohoku-Oki earthquake, to better understand the
earthquake generation mechanism. Moreover, we investigated the temporal
evolution of the surface strain rate distribution in the source region
by using GNSS data. The earthquake detection and hypocenter relocation
succeeded in delineating three planar structures of earthquakes. The
results suggest that individual aftershocks were caused by a slip on the
macroscopic planar structures. Aftershock hypocenters rapidly migrated
upward from the deeper part of the major plane (fault) similar to the
recent earthquake swarm sequences triggered by the 2011 Tohoku-Oki
earthquake in the stress shadow in the upper plate. East–west
contraction strain rate in the source region of the Yamagata-Oki
earthquake with E–W compressional reverse fault mechanism changed to
the E–W extension as a result of Tohoku-Oki earthquake, and it
continued until the occurrence of the Yamagata-Oki earthquake. The
upward hypocenter migrations, together with the earthquake occurrence in
the stress shadow and in the E–W extension strain rate field, suggest
that the reduction in the fault strength due to the uprising fluids
contributed to the occurrence of this earthquake sequence. Localized
aseismic deformations, such as aseismic creeps, beneath the fault zone
may also have contributed to the earthquake occurrence. The results
support the hypothesis that aseismic processes in the deeper part of the
fault play crucial roles in the occurrence of shallow intraplate
earthquakes.