A Catalog showing distribution and features of lineaments and related landforms in an active shear zone with unclear fault displacement topography; An Example of an active left-lateral shear zone in southern Kyushu Island, southwest Japan (Contract research)
Goto, Akira; Sasaki, Akimichi*; Komatsu, Tetsuya ; Miwa, Atsushi*; Terusawa, Shuji*; Kagohara, Kyoko*; Shimada, Koji
Improvement of the investigation techniques to identify active faults is important for the implementation of geological disposal projects from the viewpoint of avoiding locations where permeability increases due to fault displacement. Generally, the existence of active faults is confirmed by aerial photography interpretation of fault displacement topography, which is a topographical trace of fault movement, and on-site geological surveys. However, the investigation method for cases where the topographical traces are unclear is not sufficiently developed. Therefore, to improve existing topographical methods, this study deciphered lineaments up to the rank of poorly defined features, which are almost neglected in general active fault research. The investigation area is one of the geodetic strain concentration zone, called the southern Kyushu shear zone, where the seismogenic faults of the 1997 Kagoshima northwest earthquakes are concealed. We conducted aerial photography interpretation of 62 sheets of 1/25,000 topographic maps, and obtained 1,327 lineaments. Distribution density, direction and length of lineaments were also investigated with topographic and geologic information. As a result, it was clarified that the east-west lineaments in the south Kyushu shear zone predominate in the western part, and the lineaments are densely distributed in the aftershock distribution area of the Kagoshima northwest earthquake. Along with these results, we have compiled a catalog of typical 13 lineaments based on combinations of clarity, direction, length and geomorphic characters of lineaments.