Source Mechanisms of Tsunamis Associated with the Fukushima-oki Earthquake Swarm in 1938

Abstract

The source mechanisms of eight tsunamis generated off Fukushima, the Pacific side of northeast Japan, in May to November 1938 are re-studied, making use of tide gauge records. The source areas for each tsunami inferred from the inverse refraction diagrams are shown in the bathymetric charts. The source locations moved to the north direction along the continental shelf, and the north end was in contact with the source area of the tsunami at Nov. 3, 1936. Among these tsunamis, three tsunamis were recorded in a downward direction at Onahama located near the sources, but other tsunamis began with an upward motion. According to the seismic wave data, the tsunamis of downward and upward initial motions correspond to the normal and reverse fault earthquakes, respectively. Tsunamis accompanied by earthquake of the normal fault type were generated later than those for the reverce fault earthquakes, and these source areas are located in the deep sea-bottom side. The source lengths of tsunami are 60-130km, corresponding to earthquake magnitude. A whole length from north to south ends of the sources is 200km. The calculated sea-level disturbances at the sources for each tsunami are in the range of 10-50cm which the heights nearly agree with the seismic fault models. The whole volume of the displaced water in the tsunami sources is 13 X 101cm3 which is comparable to that of the 1968 Tokachi-oki tsunami (tsunami magnitude of Imamura-Iida scale m=2.5). •˜1. ‚Í ‚ ¶ ‚ß ‚É •Ÿ " ‡ ‰« ‚Í 'n •k Šˆ"Šˆ"®‚Ì ‚« ‚í ‚ß ‚ÄŠˆ"‚ÄŠˆ"-‚ÈŠCˆae ‚Å‚ ‚é ‚ª, 'Ã"g Šˆ"Šˆ"®‚Í 'á ‚¢.-ð Žj "I ‚É‚Ý ‚Ä ‚à, Žü•Ó ‚Ì ŽO-¤ •E-[ '• ‰«‚AE‚Í 'Î •AE"I ‚É ‚² ‹• 'å 'n •k ‚Ì ‹N ‚« ‚½-Ⴊ ‚Ù ‚AE ‚ñ ‚Ç‚È ‚¢ •-. ƒv ƒOE •[ ƒgƒe ƒNƒgƒj ƒbƒN‚Ì-§ •ê ‚© ‚ç ‚à ‹»-¡ ‚ ‚é 'n ˆae ‚Å ‚ ‚é.