Premium
Birth of a major strike‐slip fault in SW Japan
Author(s) -
Gutscher,
Serge Lallemand
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
terra nova
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.353
H-Index - 89
eISSN - 1365-3121
pISSN - 0954-4879
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-3121.1999.00247.x
Subject(s) - geology , sinistral and dextral , seismology , subduction , strike slip tectonics , slab , volcano , slip (aerodynamics) , trench , tectonics , geophysics , chemistry , physics , organic chemistry , layer (electronics) , thermodynamics
A 500 km‐long strike‐slip fault, the North Chugoku Shear Zone (NCSZ) is identified in SW Japan, responsible for four M > 7 earthquakes in the past 130 years. A new geodynamic mechanism of increased interplate coupling above an obliquely subducting flat slab is presented to explain the transfer of trench parallel motion 400 km inland from the Nankai Trough, to the level of the Quaternary adakitic volcanic arc. While Quaternary dextral strike‐slip motion is widely believed to have occurred along the Median Tectonic Line (MTL), near the Miocene volcanic arc, the central segment in Shikoku has shown little seismicity for the last 1000 years. Pure dextral strike‐slip focal mechanisms for 15 modern and historical events indicate that part of the transcurrent motion is being transferred from the MTL to the NCSZ.