Tsunami deposits and earthquake recurrence along the Nankai, Suruga and Sagami Troughs OSAMU FUJIWARA1 and JUNKO KOMATSUBARA1 1: Active Fault Research Center, AIST, C7, 1-1-1 Higashi, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8567, Japan (
[email protected]) INTRODUCTION Histories of great (M~8) subduction-zone earthquakes inferred from tsunami deposits span 3000 years for the Nankai and Suruga Troughs and nearly 10,000 years for the Sagami Trough. The inferred histories contain variable recurrence intervals. The shortest recurrence intervals, 100-200 years for the Nankai Trough and 150-300 years for the Sagami Trough, are similar to those known from written earthquake and tsunami records in the last 1300 years. Longer intervals inferred from the tsunami deposits probably reflect variability in rupture mode, incompleteness of geologic records, and insufficient research. 130E 140E GEOLOGICAL SETTING The Nankai, Suruga and Sagami Troughs comprising the northeastern subduction margin of the Philippine Sea plate are 40N seismically active areas in the world. The Philippine Sea plate converges with overriding plates at a rate of 49-42 mm/year along the Nankai Trough and 27 mm/year around the Sagami Trough (Seno et al., 1993, 1994). Several source areas (segments) 35N Japan are located along these troughs, each of which are 100 - 150 km long along the trough axis and potentially excites M8-class Trench earthquake accompanied by large tsunami and coastal uplift or subsidence. Earthquakes and tsunamis occurred from these areas have repeatedly damaged the Pacific coast of Japan, including Tokyo Nankai Trough and Osaka metropolitan areas. Trench Trench Izu-Ogasawara Izu-Ogasawara Fig.