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Volcanic subsidence triggered by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake in Japan

Nature Geoscience volume 6, pages 637–641 (2013)Cite this article

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Abstract

The 2011 Mw 9.0 Tohoku earthquake caused an unprecedented level of crustal deformation in eastern parts of Japan1,2,3. The event also induced seismic activity in the surrounding area, including some volcanic regions4,5, but has not yet triggered any eruptions. Here we use data from satellite radar and the Global Positioning System to show that volcanic regions, located between 150 and 200 km from the rupture area6, experienced subsidence coincident with the Tohoku earthquake. The volcanic regions subsided by 5–15 cm, forming elliptical depressions with horizontal dimensions of up to 15–20 km. The depressions are elongated in a direction roughly perpendicular to the axis of maximum coseismic extension. A high concentration of Late Cenozoic calderas7, high heat flow8, hot thermal waters9, and young and hot granite10 in the subsided regions imply the presence of magmatic and hot plutonic bodies beneath the volcanoes, that may have deformed and subsided in response to stress changes associated with the Tohoku earthquake along with the surrounding, thermally weakened host rocks. Similar subsidence observed in Chile following the 2010 Maule earthquake11 indicates that earthquake-triggered subsidence could be widespread in active volcanic chains along subduction zones.

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Figure 1: Interferograms showing the volcanic subsidence.
Figure 2: Time series of GPS-derived vertical displacements.
Figure 3: Relationship between geothermal, geological and geodetic observations.
Figure 4: Model predictions for the Mt. Azuma region.

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Change history

  • 16 July 2013

    In the version of this Letter originally published online, the published online date was incorrect; it should have read 1 July 2013. This has been corrected in all versions of the Letter.

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Acknowledgements

We thank T. Yoshida, M. Pritchard, K. Ishihara and M. Hashimoto for discussions. We thank Y. Ohta for assistance in analysis of GPS data. The PALSAR level 1.0 data were provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) via the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan as part of the project ‘Evaluation of Use of Advanced Land Observation Satellite for Disaster Mitigation’ of the Earthquake Working Group and via the PALSAR Interferometry Consortium to Study our Evolving Land surface (PIXEL) based on a cooperative research contract between JAXA and the Earthquake Research Institute, the University of Tokyo. The PALSAR product is owned by JAXA and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Japan. We used Generic Mapping Tools28 to prepare illustrations. This work was supported by MEXT/JSPSGrant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)24740305 to Y.T.

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  1. Youichiro Takada and Yo Fukushima: Both authors contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Disaster Prevention Research Institute, Kyoto University, Uji, Kyoto, 611-0011 Gokasho, Japan

    Youichiro Takada & Yo Fukushima

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Contributions

Y.T. and Y.F. contributed equally to the work presented in this paper. Y.T. analysed the SAR images and GPS data. Y.F. analysed the SAR images and conducted the model calculations. Both authors discussed the significance of interferometry and the interpretation of the geodetic inversion.

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Correspondence to Youichiro Takada.

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Takada, Y., Fukushima, Y. Volcanic subsidence triggered by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake in Japan. Nature Geosci 6, 637–641 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1857

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