elevated pore pressure and anomalously low stress in regions of low frequency earthquakes along the nankai trough subduction megathrust 1 recent seismic reflection and ocean bottom seismometer obs studies reveal broad regions of low seismic velocity along the nankai subduction plate boundary megathrust offshore sw japan these low velocity zones lvz s extend 55 km landward from the trench corresponding to depths of 10 km below sea floor here we estimate the in situ pore pressure and stress state within these lvz s by combining p wave velocities obtained from the geophysical surveys with new well constrained empirical relations between p wave velocity porosity and effective mean stress defined by laboratory deformation tests on drill core samples of the incoming oceanic sediment we document excess pore pressures of 17 87 mpa that extend 55 km into the subduction zone indicating that trapped pore fluids support 45 91 of the overburden stress along the base of the upper plate and surrounding major fault zones the resulting effective stresses in the lvz are limited to 1 3 of the values expected for non overpressured conditions these low effective stresses should lead to a mechanically weak and predominantly aseismic plate boundary the region of lowest effective stress coincides with precisely located very low frequency earthquakes providing the first quantitative evidence linking these anomalous slip events to low stress and high pore pressure

shumagin seismic gap alaska peninsula history of great earthquakes tectonic setting and evidence for high seismic potential the shumagin seismic gap a segment of the plate boundary along the eastern aleutian arc has not ruptured during a great earthquake since at least 1899 1903 because at least 77 years have elapsed since the shumagin gap last ruptured in a great earthquake and repeat times for the 1938 rupture zone and part of the shumagin gap are estimated to be 50 to 90 years a high probability exists for a great earthquake to occur within the shumagin gap during the next one to two decades reconsideration of the rupture zones of the aleutian earthquakes of 1938 1946 and 1948 suggests that those events did not break the interplate boundary beneath the shumagin islands thus the shumagin seismic gap extends from the western end of the 1938 rupture zone to the eastern end of that of 1946 these boundaries also coincide with transverse structural features at least the eastern half of the shumagin gap broke in great earthquakes in 1788 and 1847 and possibly in 1898 1903 the shumagin gap is probably not the result of aseismic slip rather plate motion is accommodated there seismically and episodically and can be expected to produce large earthquakes in the future although there is no definitive evidence of long term precursors of a possible future earthquake several observations suggest that the shumagin gap is in an advanced stage of the earthquake cycle both teleseismic and local network data indicate a near absence of seismic activity m 2 above a depth of 30 km along the main thrust zone within the gap this is in strong contrast to adjacent portions of the arc where seismic activity is scattered across most of the main thrust zone two earthquakes with high stress drops 600 900 bars which occurred at the base of the main thrust zone may indicate the accumulation of a considerable amount of strain energy within the gap a possible seismic gap at the eastern end of the aftershock zone of the aleutian earthquake of 1957 has been identified near unalaska island an earthquake that nucleates in the shumagin gap could also rupture the possible unalaska gap to the west the 1938 aftershock zone to the east or both with resultant magnitude up to mw 9 0 alternatively the shumagin gap alone or in one of the above combinations could rupture in a series of very large earthquakes instead of a single great shock past alaska aleutian earthquakes including those of 1788 1938 1946 1957 1964 and 1965 have generated very large tsunamis future large earthquakes in the shumagin islands region could generate wave heights of several tens of meters along shorelines near the rupture areas the shumagin gap is one of two major gaps along the united states portion of the alaska aleutian plate boundary and is one of the few areas in the united states where processes leading to a great earthquake are likely to be observed within a reasonable span of time

how does plate coupling affect crustal stresses in northeast and southwest japan plate subduction causes compression of the continental crust in northeast ne japan but not in southwest sw japan we propose that the different effects are both consistent with weak subduction faults of which the static shear stress is described using an effective coefficient of friction stresses in the overriding plate are controlled by two competing factors the plate coupling force inducing compression and the gravitational force inducing tension in cold subduction zones such as ne japan the frictionally coupled portion of the thrust fault is wider and extends to a greater depth thus even a low can give rise to a large total plate coupling force and hence compression in the upper plate using a model of two converging plates in frictional contact we find that a of 0 03 explains the first order stresses of both ne and sw japan

shear stresses on megathrusts implications for mountain building behind subduction zones 1 shear stresses on a subduction megathrust play an important role in determining the forces available for mountain building adjacent to a subduction zone in this study the temperatures and shear stresses on megathrusts in 11 subduction zones around the pacific rim hikurangi tonga izu ogasawara western nankai northeastern japan aleutians western alaska cascadia northern chile southern chile and se asia northern sumatra have been determined the main constraint is that vertical normal stresses beneath the highlands behind the subduction zone are nearly equal to horizontal normal stresses in the plane of a trench or arc normal section for a typical brittle and ductile megathrust rheology frictional shear stress gz for depth z and ductile shear stress a exp b rt at temperature t where a b are rheological parameters treated as constants rheological constants common to all the megathrusts crust mantle b are determined by simultaneously solving for the force balance in the overlying wedge and megathrust thermal structure using a simplex minimization algorithm taking account of the induced mantle corner flow at depth 65 15 km 2 and constant radiogenic heating 0 65 0 3 w m 3 2 throughout the crust the a constants are solved individually for each subduction zone assuming that the maximum depth of interplate slip earthquakes marks the brittle ductile transition the best fit solution shows two groupings of megathrusts with most subduction zones having a low mean shear stress in the range 7 15 mpa crust 0 032 0 006 mantle 0 019 0 004 and unable to support elevations 2 5 km for a typical frictional sliding coefficient 0 5 the low effective coefficients of friction suggest high pore fluid pressures at 95 lithostatic pressure tonga and northern chile require higher shear stresses with crust 0 095 0 024 mantle 0 026 0 007 suggesting slightly lower pore fluid pressures at 81 lithostatic ductile shear in the crust is poorly resolved but in the mantle appears to show a strong power law dependency with b 36 18 kj mol 1 amantle values are sensitive to the precise value of b but are in the range 1 20 kpa the power law exponent n for mantle flow is poorly constrained but is likely to be large n 4 the brittle ductile transition in the crust occurs at temperatures in the range 370 c 512 c usually close to the base of the crust and in the mantle at much lower temperatures 180 c 300 c possibly reflecting a marked change in pore fluid pressure or quasi ductile and subfrictional properties in subduction zones where the subducted slab is older than 50 ma a significant proportion of the integrated shear force on the megathrust is taken up where it cuts the mantle and temperatures are 300 c in much younger subduction zones the stress transmission is confined mainly to the crust the shear stresses particularly in the crust may be kept low by some sort of lubricant such as abundant water rich trench fill which lowers the frictional sliding coefficient or effective viscosity and or raises pore fluid pressure the unusual high stress subduction zone in northern chile lacks significant trench fill and may be poorly lubricated with a mean shear stress 37 mpa required to support elevations 4 km in the high andes however where the crust is thin in sediment starved and poorly lubricated subduction zones such as tonga the mean shear stress will still be low sediment may lubricate megathrusts accommodating underthrusting of continental crust such as in the himalayas or eastern central andes which have a low mean shear stress 15 mpa

characterization of excess pore pressures at the toe of the nankai accretionary complex ocean drilling program sites 1173 1174 and 808 results of one dimensional modeling 1 elevated fluid pore pressures play a critical role in the development of accretionary complexes including the development of the decollement zone in this study we used measured permeabilities of core samples from ocean drilling program odp leg 190 to develop a permeability porosity relationship for hemipelagic sediments at the toe of the nankai accretionary complex this permeability porosity relationship was used in a one dimensional loading and fluid flow model to simulate excess pore pressures and porosities simulated excess pore pressure ratios as a fraction of lithostatic pressure hydrostatic pressure using the best fit permeability porosity relationship were lower than predicted from previous studies we then tested sensitivity of excess pore pressure ratios in the underthrust sediments to bulk permeability lateral stress in the prism and a hypothetical low permeability barrier at the decollement our results demonstrated significant increase in pore pressures below the decollement with lower bulk permeability such as obtained by using the lower boundary of permeability porosity data or when a low permeability barrier is added at the decollement in contrast pore pressures in the underthrust sediments demonstrated less sensitivity to added lateral stresses in the prism although the profile of the excess pore pressure ratio is affected both simulations with lateral stress and a low permeability barrier at the decollement resulted in sharp increases in porosity at the decollement similar to that observed in measured porosities furthermore in both scenarios maximum excess pore pressure ratios were found at the decollement suggesting that either of these factors would contribute to stable sliding along the decollement

modeling of fluid flow and pore pressure at the toe of oregon and barbados accretionary wedges fluid venting was recently found on the central oregon accretionary wedge and evidence of fluid flow along the decollement were obtained in the barbados wedge the chemistry of hydrocarbons contained in the migrating fluids is different in these two areas and indicates that the main source is deep for the barbados decollement and shallow for the oregon vents we apply a finite element model with imposed thrusting kinematics and nonlinearities in the compaction equation to the toe of both wedges no deep fluid source is included thus the main source is the footwall just below the frontal thrust the model indicates the following 1 pore pressure build up would be essentially controlled by kn the equivalent permeability in the direction normal to the strata in spite of very different sediment lithologies kn is of the order of 10 17 m2 for both oregon turbidites horath 1989 and barbados muds taylor and leonard 1990 and no high pore pressures can be obtained inside the offscraped sediments 2 permeability anisotropy greatly modifies fluid flow paths a fault with a permeability anisotropy of 103 would channel fluids efficiently but leave the footwall pressure almost unchanged a stratigraphic permeability anisotropy of 102 as documented for the oregon turbidites would redirect the flow of pressurized fluids in the footwall along strata into the trench if clogging of the frontal thrust occured fluids expelled from the footwall would move across the frontal thrust migrate along permeable strata in the hanging wall and then be vented near the top of the eroded anticline as observed in oregon 3 comparison of published estimates from data of fluid explusion fluxes with the modeling results suggests that a deeper and larger fluid source is needed at the barbados site but is not required for the oregon site

the high p t sambagawa extrusional wedge japan abstract a metamorphic inversion along the asemigawa section of the besshi unit in the sambagawa high p t metamorphic zone has been explained previously by s vergent major recumbent folding or thrusting through careful structural field investigations however we recognize the d2 asemigawa detachment fault at the boundary of the highest grade oligoclase biotite zone thermal culmination in the belt we have also discovered a series of normal faults in the hanging wall of the major detachment in the upper domain and a series of thrust faults bounding every metamorphic mineral zone of the footwall in the lower domain outcrop scale d2 asymmetric folds are closely associated with axial planar pressure solution cleavages and are genetically related to the above d2 normal faulting and thrusting as fault propagation folds northward fold vergence is found only in the upper domain and southward vergence is found only in the lower domain exceptions to this rule occur only for parasitic folds in the overturned limbs of mesoscopic folds which indicates flexural slip as a likely fold mechanism we propose an extrusion wedge model for the inverted metamorphism and accordingly this mechanism may also account for a large part of the exhumation of the sambagawa metamorphic rocks although westward shear at the time of d1 stretching lineation has partly contributed to the exhumation by counter flow in the accretionary wedge we infer that m1 with its retrograde actinolite schists represents a d1 ductile shear zone but it contributes as much as a component of the d2 asemigawa detachment other normal and thrust faults and asymmetric folds as reactivated brittle shear zones thus shear direction had changed orthogonally and drastically between ductile d1 stretching and ductile brittle transition to brittle d2 extrusion we infer that this transition reflects the collision of an actively spreading mid ocean ridge and is a consequence of increased coupling of plates and orogen normal stress followed by oblique subduction d0 and d 1 record eastward down flow during the oblique underthrusting of oceanic plate before peak metamorphism m1

fluid budgets of subduction zone forearcs the contribution of splay faults 1 geochemical and geophysical evidence indicate that splay faults cutting subduction zone forearcs are a key hydraulic connection between the plate boundary at depth and the seafloor existing modeling studies have generally not included these structures and therefore a quantitative understanding of their role in overall fluid budgets the distribution of fluid egress at the seafloor and advection of heat and solutes has been lacking here we use a two dimensional numerical model to address these questions at non accretionary subduction zones using the well studied costa rican margin as an example we find that for a range of splay fault permeabilities from 10 16 m2 to 10 13 m2 they capture between 6 and 35 of the total dewatering flux simulated flow rates of 0 1 17 cm yr are highly consistent with those reported at seafloor seeps and along the decollement near the trench our results provide a quantitative link between permeability architecture fluid budgets and flow rates and illustrate that these features play a fundamental role in forearc dewatering and in efficiently channeling heat and solutes from depth

the effect of seamount subduction on seismic coupling it has long been speculated that the subduction of seamounts may have profound mechanical consequences particularly on the generation of large subduction zone earthquakes we consider this problem as a special case of the seismic coupling model of scholz and campos the model predicts that the subduction of a large seamount will increase the normal stress across the subduction interface and hence will enhance seismic coupling in the case of coupled arcs this increased coupling will result in a large increase in the recurrence intervals of earthquakes such events will therefore appear rare in the instrumental record as is observed for decoupled arcs the subduction of a large seamount should cause them to become locally coupled three of the latter localities have been found with satellite altimetry data two on the tonga kermadec trench and one on the izu bonin trench the diagnostic feature is a shallowing or obstruction of the trench axis adjacent to a chain or group of large seamounts on the subducting plate in each case the small to moderate plate interface seismicity typical of decoupled seismic zones is almost completely absent in a 100 200 km arc segment indicating that the subduction zone is locally locked as predicted by the model the occurrence of large interplate earthquakes at both tonga sites confirms that they are seismically coupled

computational approaches to studying non linear dynamics of the crust and mantle we outline a mathematical formulation for mantle convection which can deal with the viscoelastic plastic rheology of the cool parts of the lithosphere this formulation is then analyzed to expose the numerical challenges inherent in the equations and a suitable solution strategy is outlined with this strategy in place we discuss a parallel implementation explaining how we maintain computational efficiency in a tiered and modular software environment we show two examples from geodynamics which demonstrate the capability of the numerical method and its implementation c 2007 elsevier b v all rights reserved

determination of the pore fluid pressure ratio at seismogenic megathrusts in subduction zones implications for strength of asperities and andean type mountain building 1 we construct the differential stress profile across the fore arc in a subduction zone from the force balance between the shear stress at seismogenic megathrust and the lithostatic pressure we assume that is written by 1 n where is the pore fluid pressure ratio is the coefficient of static friction and n is the normal stress given a density structure of the fore arc wedge we determine by comparing calculated fore arc stresses with observed ones as 0 95 0 98 in shikoku miyagi peru north chile and south chile and 0 90 0 93 in south vancouver island and washington the parameter averaged over the seismogenic megathrust is of the order of 10 mpa stress drops of great earthquakes in these zones occupy 14 87 and not a constant fraction of they on the other hand increase linearly with 1 we propose a simple fault model in which the area of asperities as a fraction of the total fault area is proportional to 1 variation of fractional area of asperities thus may explain the observed correlation and the regional variation of assuming that the differential stress at summit of the andean mountains is zero not at the coast as observed at present we determine to be 0 84 in north chile in the mountain building stage such a smaller value of along with 0 9 in subduction zones would suggest that variation of controls the tectonic style of the earth

surface expression of fluid venting at the toe of the nankai wedge and implications for flow paths abstract cold seeps have been observed with manned submersibles at many sites on the tokai margin most sites are found on the hanging wall of major thrust faults within 1 2 km of their outcrop few sites relate to purely erosional features this relationship between thrusting and venting may be explained either by fluid flow along fault zones by fluid flow along permeable layers outcropping at the fault scarp or by diffuse upward flow of fluids released during footwall compaction we use deep towed side scan sonar and sediment sounder profiles acquired at the toe of the nankai accretionary wedge to identify the context of seepage at a smaller scale modes of fluid expulsion inferred from observations in this zone include flow channelling along strata along thrusts along gravity faults and along joint fractures as well as diffuse flow we then combine visual observation and monitoring of electrochemical potential eh to assess the relative importance of seepage sites we show that bacterial mats are better visual indicators of active seepage than bivalve beds and that the most active seepage sites correlate with outcrops of coarse turbidites cemented by authigenic carbonates these were sampled and have permeability high enough to channel fluid flow 1 4 10 14 m2 we suggest they are the main conduits near the seafloor however seepage sites are also observed directly on the outcrop of major thrusts indicating that they do play a role as fluid conduits we observe negative polarity seismic reflections on these faults below 1 km depth and wonder about their significance

evolution of the nankai trough decollement from the trench into the seismogenic zone inferences from three dimensional seismic reflection imaging we mapped the amplitude of the nankai trough subduction thrust seismic reflection from the trench into the seismogenic zone with three dimensional seismic reflection data the decollement thrust forms within the lithologically homogeneous lower shikoku basin facies along an initially nonreflective interface the reflection develops from a porosity contrast between accreted and underthrust sedimentary material because of accretionary wedge consolidation and rapid loading and delayed consolidation of the underthrust section a decollement amplitude map shows a significant decline from high amplitudes at the trench to barely detectable levels 25 30 km landward three other observations coincide with the amplitude decline 1 the decollement initially steps down to deeper stratigraphic levels 2 the wedge taper increases dramatically and 3 the thrust becomes seismogenic the amplitude decline and the coincident decollement and accretionary wedge tectonic and seismogenic behavior are attributed to the loss of fluids and potentially loss of excess fluid pressures downdip along the subduction thrust

numerical modeling of accretionary wedge mechanics application to the barbados subduction problem the mechanisms for the development of accretionary prisms in subduction complexes is numerically simulated using finite element plasticity analysis and the barbados problem as an example the accreted and subducting sediments are modeled as elastoplastic continua separated by rigid plastic contact elements to simulate the thrusting mechanism results of the analyses demonstrate the importance of both lateral compression and topographic slope in the development and propagation of accretionary prisms in the barbados subduction complex affirming the analytical theory on the mechanics of thin skinned fold and thrust belts presented by chapple 1978 numerical analyses also reveal that the shape of the accretionary prism requires a critical balance in material characteristics such as the frictional strength of the basal layer the modulus of the decollement and the flow laws governing the yielding of the elastoplastic accretionary prism itself finally it is shown that unless the high normal stress at the base of the overriding plate is counteracted by a high fluid pressure localized in the decollement region the frictional component of the basal traction will make the horizontal propagation of accretionary prisms difficult

slow wavespeeds and fluid overpressure in a region of shallow geodetic locking and slow slip hikurangi subduction margin new zealand abstract travel times recorded onshore from active source marine seismic surveys were used to determine hikurangi forearc wavespeeds ray path midpoints sample forearc crust above the shallow v p from the seabed to 4 km depth consistent with rapidly deposited clastic sediments and near constant v p 5 0 0 2 km s at depths of 4 10 km within the forearc the northern region has slow slip events at shallow depths of c 5 15 km beneath the volume sampled by our analysis average travel times at offsets of 20 80 km are 1 s more than at equivalent offsets in the south and v p increases with depth within the forearc from 3 5 0 1 km s at 4 km depth to 4 5 0 2 km s at 10 km depth we interpret the low wavespeeds in terms of compaction disequilibrium and compare seismic inferences of anomalously high porosity 10 with hydrostatic reference compaction models to show effective stress is low in both the north 27 10 mpa and south 36 14 mpa in the south pore space and conduits have a high chance of being localized on faults or sand layers the wedge is clearly compressionally critical and we suggest the higher seismic velocities recorded primarily reflect higher effective stress levels transmitted through the rock framework the observed wedge geometry and our estimate of fluid pressure within the wedge 0 87 0 05 suggest a weak overpressured subduction thrust in the north we suggest high fluid pressure is maintained by a large fluid inventory from subducting sediment a pore space geometry characterized by pervasively fractured rock and mudstone and a lower mean stress due to its stable and non critical wedge geometry we consider both end member assumptions of convergent and tensile failure the latter of which reveals the possibility of near lithostatic fluid pressure on the north hikurangi subduction interface although this remains unproven our observations are consistent with high fluid pressures encountered in petroleum wells at depths

gravity anomalies crustal structure and seismicity at subduction zones 2 interrelationships between fore arc structure and seismogenic behavior an ensemble averaging technique is used to remove the long wavelength topography and gravity field associated with subduction zones short wavelength residual anomalies are attributed to the tectonic structure of subducting and overthrusting plates a paired positive negative fore arc anomaly is observed consisting of a long 1000 km linear trench parallel ridge landward of the deep sea terrace basin ridges have amplitudes of 1500 3000 m and 160 240 mgal wavelengths of 150 200 km and high gravity anomaly to topography ratios 50 75 mgal km 1 the ridge crests correlate with the downdip limit of coseismic slip and strong interplate coupling and in cascadia the updip limit of tremor epicenters the ridge crest may be interpreted as defining the boundary between the velocity weakening and seismogenic region of the subduction interface and the downdip frictional transition zone in tonga kermadec the kuril islands and chile landward ridges are associated with extinct volcanic arcs paired anomalies are attributed to the preferential subduction erosion of the outer fore arc and a spatially varying combination of a lower crustal underplating beneath the inner fore arc b the transformation of interseismic strain into permanent geologic strain via faulting folding or buckling of the inner fore arc and c the relative trenchward migration of extinct volcanic arcs in regions operating with a net crustal deficit along strike transitions in fore arc morphology and seismogenic behavior are related to preexisting crustal structure of subducting and overthrusting plates fore arcs have the added potential of recording the time integrated response of the upper plate to subduction processes and fore arc structure should be considered in tandem with seismological observations

excess pore pressures within subducting sediments does the proportion of accreted versus subducted sediments matter 1 although previous numerical modeling studies have examined pore pressures in both accretionary and non accretionary subduction zones they have not addressed the question of whether the proportion of accreted versus subducted sediments significantly affects pore pressures this modeling study used consistent parameters to compare excess pore pressures directly below the decollement for varying proportions of accreted sediment within the initial 5 to 12 kilometers arcward of the deformation front subduction zones with lesser accretion thickness show lower simulated excess pore pressures than those with greater accretion thickness due to the ease of fluid escape when overlying wedge sediments are thin however at greater distances arcward of the deformation front the magnitude of excess pore pressures significantly increases and the excess pore pressures peak further arcward as the proportion of underthrust sediments increases this difference suggests that the proportion of accreted versus subducted sediment could potentially affect seismogenesis

do subducting seamounts generate or stop large earthquakes seamount subduction is a common process in subduction zone tectonics contradicting a widely held expectation that subducting seamounts generate large earthquakes seamounts subduct largely aseismically producing numerous small earthquakes on rare occasions when they do produce relatively large events the ruptures tend to be complex suggesting multiple rupture patches or faults we explain that the seismogenic behavior of these seamounts is controlled by the development and evolution of an adjacent fracture network during subduction and cannot be described using the frictional behavior of a single fault the complex structure and heterogeneous stresses of this network provide a favorable condition for aseismic creep and small earthquakes but an unfavorable condition for the generation and propagation of large ruptures

slow and delayed deformation and uplift of the outermost subduction prism following ets and seismogenic slip events beneath nicoya peninsula costa rica abstract two odp cork ocean drilling program circulation obviation retrofit kit borehole hydrologic observatory sites deployed in 2002 at the toe of the subduction prism off nicoya peninsula costa rica were visited in december 2013 the five years of seafloor and formation fluid pressure data collected since the previous visit include clear signals associated with an episodic tremor and slip ets event off the coast of nicoya peninsula in 2009 and a mw 7 6 subduction thrust earthquake beneath the peninsula in 2012 formation pressure anomalies associated with the ets event are similar to ones observed following ets events observed previously here as well as ones following very low frequency earthquake swarms within the nankai accretionary prism off southwestern japan positive and negative impulsive transients in the hanging wall and foot wall of the subduction thrust respectively suggest contractional and dilatational strain generated by local slip propagating up the thrust fault beneath the outermost prism in the case of the 2009 event the transients occurred roughly two weeks after the initiation of slip observed at gps sites along the adjacent coast at the same time a decrease in seafloor pressure at the prism site relative to the subducting plate was observed indicating concurrent uplift of the prism of 1 2 cm other events at the prism toe following ets events closer to the coast are seen in 2006 2007 2008 2010 and 2011 the time between the initiation of ets slip constrained by gps and the onset of the prism toe transients suggest up dip rupture propagation along the seaward part of the subduction thrust at rates of a few km day in the case of the 2009 event the slip at the prism toe c 11 cm estimated from the 1 2 cm uplift and the local dip on the decollement 6 is roughly a factor of 5 greater than the slip further landward estimated from gps data by dixon et al in press in other cases slip at the toe is less or unresolvable similar uplift and formation fluid pressure transients occurred two days after the 2012 nicoya thrust earthquake then episodically unrelated to aftershocks every 1 3 weeks over the next few months slip rates at the prism toe estimated from the magnitude and duration of these and ets related uplift events are roughly 5 cm day such rates are much too slow for tsunamigenesis or seismogenesis total slip of the outermost prism after the 2012 earthquake determined from the uplift accumulated until the end of the observation period and the estimated local fault dip is roughly 75 cm a significant fraction of the seismogenic slip of the mw 7 6 earthquake itself a maximum of over 3 m negative steps in formation pressure are observed at both the prism and subducting plate sites simultaneous with the 2012 thrust earthquake the sign of these steps is inconsistent with the contractional deformation predicted by an elastic fault dislocation model with slip limited to the seismogenic zone highly compliant low shear modulus sediment below the decollement or very low stress deformation along splay faults may be responsible for the co seismic dilatation observed in the outermost prism and incoming plate

a simplified analysis of parameters controlling dewatering in accretionary prisms abstract one of the many dynamic geologic processes taking place at subduction zones is the compaction driven dewatering of seafloor sediments as they are accreted to the overriding plate the rate of dewatering is equal to the divergence of the sediment matrix velocity field this rate can be estimated analytically if simplifying assumptions are made about the geometry of the prism and motion of the sediments the analytical expression depends only on the sediment accretion velocity thickness of the accreted section prism taper angle and sediment porosity distribution a sensitivity analysis of the solution shows that the fluid production distribution is relatively insensitive to the sediment porosity distribution however the solution is very sensitive to the taper angle of the wedge high angle wedges expel almost all of the incoming water within 20 km while low angle wedges may retain a significant fraction of the incoming water for 50 or more kilometers thickness of the incoming section is also important dewatering of thin accreted sections is more concentrated near the toe of the wedge analyses of transects through the northern barbados makran vancouver and nankai accretionary prisms illustrate a range of dewatering rates and spatial distributions of dewatering

seamount subduction erosion in the nankai trough and its potential impact on the seismogenic zone seamount subduction along subduction zone plate boundary thrusts has long been implicated as a mechanism for abrasion and tectonic erosion of the base of the overriding plate however tectonic erosion processes have not been examined in detail with high quality three dimensional 3 d seismic reflection imaging in 1999 we acquired 3 d seismic reflection data from the nankai trough subduction zone to image the plate boundary fault and the overlying accretionary wedge structure fortuitously these data reveal a small to 1 km high basement ridge that has subducted to 7 km subseafloor updip from the basement ridge a 1 km thick sequence of sediment from the base of the accretionary wedge appears to be missing we interpret these data as evidence for tectonic erosion of the base of the accretionary wedge following the basement ridge subduction tectonic erosion has removed more than 25 km 3 from the updip edge of the seismogenic zone and carried it down into the seismogenic zone the tectonically eroded sediments are presumed to enhance fault zone fluid content potentially reducing fault zone effective stress and may temporarily inhibit earthquake rupture potential after the passage of the ridge the boundary fault returns to its former position in a period of enhanced underplating

changes in seismicity before and after the 2011 tohoku earthquake around its southern limit revealed by dense ocean bottom seismic array data the southern limit of the 2011 tohoku earthquake is considered to be located around off ibaraki however it is not well constrained how far south the large slip extended to give better constraints we investigated seismicity including small earthquakes before and after the tohoku earthquake around off ibaraki using dense ocean bottom seismic array data we automatically identified epicenters by backprojecting semblance values resulting in a considerable increase in the number of detected events compared with those listed in the catalog based on onshore observation the results revealed a couple of seismicity activated region the largest aftershock also occurred 30 min after the main shock our detailed results suggest that this highly activated seismicity was initiated by the largest aftershock instead of the main shock it then suggests that the large coseismic slip zone of the tohoku earthquake may not have extended off ibaraki