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The 2011 Tohoku earthquake (Mw 9.0) produced a very large slip on the shallow part of a megathrust fault that resulted in destructive tsunamis. Although multiple causes of such large slip at shallow depths are to be expected, the frictional property of sediments around the fault, particularly at coseismic slip velocities, may significantly contribute to large slip along such faults. We have thus investigated the frictional properties of incoming pelagic sediments that will subduct along the plate boundary fault at the Tohoku subduction zone, in order to understand the rupture processes that can cause large slip in the shallow parts of subduction zones. Our experimental results on clayey sediment at the base of the sedimentary section on the Pacific Plate yield a low friction coefficient of <0.2 over a wide range of slip velocities (0.25 mm/s to 1.3 m/s), and extremely low fracture energy during slip weakening, as compared with previous experiments of disaggregated sediments under coseismic slip conditions. Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Expedition 343 confirmed that the clay-rich sediment investigated here is identical to those in the plate boundary fault zone, which ruptured and generated the Tohoku earthquake. The present results suggest that smectite-rich pelagic sediment not only accommodates cumulative plate motion over interseismic periods but also energetically facilitates the propagation of earthquake rupture towards the shallow part of the Tohoku subduction zone.

earth, planets and space

Frictional properties of incoming pelagic sediments at the Japan Trench: implications for large slip at a shallow plate boundary during the 2011 Tohoku earthquake