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Seismic wave velocity changes and stress build‐up in the crust of the Kanto‐Tokai Region
Author(s) -
Furumoto Muneyoshi,
Ichimori Yuko,
Hayashi Nobuhiko,
Hiramatsu Yoshihiro,
Satoh Takashi
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2001gl013172
Subject(s) - crust , geology , seismology , upper crust , stress (linguistics) , seismic velocity , earth crust , seismic wave , geophysics , linguistics , philosophy
We show there are large temporal P‐wave velocity changes in the crust of the Kanto‐Tokai region in Japan from repeated observations of explosions. We find that the variation is the response of the crustal rocks to two components of stress change, the tidal stress and the secular stress accumulation. The inferred annual rate of fractional velocity change (Δν/ν/ year ) caused by the stress accumulation in the upper crust is of the order of 10 −3 /year. The results indicate that the build‐up of stress in the crust can be monitored by precise observations of seismic wave velocities.