Mapping non-asperities and continuous, active monitoring of the interior of the earth's crust

Tsuruga, Kayoko; Kasahara, Junzo; Mikada, Hitoshi*; Yamaoka, Koshun; Fujii, Naoyuki

This paper proposes the idea (Exploration of Asperities-Reflectors System, EARS) for getting to know the occurrence of large - huge earthquakes which take place along a subduction plate boundary. A large earthquake along the subducting plate boundary is considered to occur repeatedly in the particular asperity, which is the region of strongly coupled zone of two plates. The regions other than asperities along the plate boundary are considered as stable - quasi-stable region in which slow-slip may release the strain energy caused by the oceanic plate subduction. The intensity of coupling and the heterogeneities in a particular large asperity is not possible to know at present. The strong seismic reflections from the subducting plate boundary were found in the aseismic forearc region in the Japan Trench. Similar strong PP reflections were also observed in the NE region of the Hamana Lake and the same region has also showed large aseismic slip detected by GPS. When we map the asperities-reflectors system, the continuous monitoring of seismic reflection intensity may give the change of the physical state at the subducting plate boundary. The rapid change may trigger a large earthquake at an adjacent asperity. We introduce the innovative measurement system, ACROSS, which has been developed for active monitoring by continuous sinusoidal elastic waves and also describe the recent submarine OBS system. To obtain real-time monitor of the transmission signals from ACROSS at the potential regions near the trenches can be done by use of submarine cables. A newly built system planned in the Tonankaki region should consider this requirement.