A possible long-term and very-deep aseismic slip event activating
seismicity off Tohoku
Abstract
Various slips at plate interfaces in subduction zones have been
documented, and the role of aseismic slips in strain release and stress
re-distribution has been revealed. Prior to the M9 2011 Tohoku
earthquake in Japan, various small-scale aseismic slip events which
possibly affected the occurrence of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake had been
reported. However, the small-scale aseismic slip behaviors after the M9
2011 Tohoku earthquake have not been well-clarified because the dominant
postseismic deformation of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake has hidden minor
aseismic slips. In this study, we performed trajectory models for the
GNSS time-series after eliminating the postseismic deformation of the
2011 Tohoku earthquake, and we extracted afterslips followed by M7 class
earthquakes, and an ongoing long-term aseismic slip event (L-ASE) since
late 2019. The spatial extent of these aseismic slips was also
clarified, and the 2019 L-ASE was estimated to be in the down-dip area
of the seismogenic zone. As a similar L-ASE was also found before the
2011 Tohoku earthquake, a comparison of these L-ASEs suggests that the
repeated L-ASEs promoted strain accumulation in the shallow plate
interface, including the M9 rupture area, and may be markers preceding
M7 class seismicity. Because L-ASEs are key phenomena in assessing
sequential seismic behaviors in the Tohoku subduction zone, monitoring
the ongoing L-ASE and investigating its physical interaction with other
slip behaviors is important.