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Spectrum of slip behaviour in Tohoku fault zone samples at plate tectonic slip rates

Nature Geoscience volume 8, pages 870–874 (2015)Cite this article

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Abstract

During the 2011 Tohoku-oki earthquake, extremely extensive coseismic slip ruptured shallow parts of the Japan Trench subduction zone and breached the sea floor1,2. This part of the subduction zone also hosts slow slip events (SSE)3,4. The fault thus seems to have a propensity for slip instability or quasi-instability that is unexpected on the shallow portions of important fault zones. Here we use laboratory experiments to slowly shear samples of rock recovered from the Tohoku-oki earthquake fault zone as part of the Japan Trench Fast Drilling Project. We find that infrequent perturbations in rock strength appear spontaneously as long-term SSE when the samples are sheared at a constant rate of about 8.5 cm yr−1, equivalent to the plate-convergence rate. The shear strength of the rock drops by 3 to 6%, or 50 kPa to 120 kPa, over about 2 to 4 h. Slip during these events reaches peak velocities of up to 25 cm yr−1, similar to SSE observed in several circum-Pacific subduction zones. Furthermore, the sheared samples exhibit the full spectrum of fault-slip behaviours, from fast unstable slip to slow steady creep, which can explain the wide range of slip styles observed in the Japan Trench. We suggest that the occurrence of SSE at shallow depths may help identify fault segments that are frictionally unstable and susceptible to large coseismic slip propagation.

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Figure 1: Overview of the Tohoku Region of the Japan Trench.
Figure 2: Summary of experimental results.
Figure 3: Comparison of laboratory and natural SSE.

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Acknowledgements

This research uses samples and/or data provided by the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP). We are grateful for discussions with the IODP Expedition 343 scientific party, and H. Savage for her constructive comments. This work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) Grant #IK107/1-1 to M.J.I.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. MARUM, Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen, D-28359 Bremen, Germany

    Matt J. Ikari & Achim J. Kopf

  2. Disaster Prevention Research Institute, Kyoto University, Gokasyo, Uji 611-0011, Japan

    Yoshihiro Ito

  3. Research and Development Center for Ocean Drilling Science, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Yokohama 236-0001, Japan

    Yoshihiro Ito & Kohtaro Ujiie

  4. Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8577, Japan

    Kohtaro Ujiie

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  1. Matt J. Ikari
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M.J.I. conducted friction experiments and data analysis. All authors contributed to planning and writing the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Matt J. Ikari.

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Ikari, M., Ito, Y., Ujiie, K. et al. Spectrum of slip behaviour in Tohoku fault zone samples at plate tectonic slip rates. Nature Geosci 8, 870–874 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2547

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