Active strike–slip faulting and macroscopically nonrigid deformation of volcanic rocks in central Japan inferred from a paleomagnetic study

Abstract

Detailed paleomagnetic investigation of a pyroclastic flow deposit has clarified the deformation mode around an active fault. In central Japan, the early Quaternary Nyukawa Pyroclastic Flow Deposit is cut by the active dextral Enako fault. Activity level of the fault is evaluated on the basis of geological and geomorphological surveys. Then, paleomagnetic samples are collected from 22 sites at exposures located on a lineament that is adjoining and parallel to the Enako fault. Stable thermoremanent magnetization (TRM) of the pyroclastic deposit is isolated through progressive thermal and/or alternating field demagnetization tests. Untilted site-mean directions of the TRMs simultaneously acquired during initial cooling indicate significant clockwise vertical-axis rotation. The lineament was then activated with right-lateral motions through the early Quaternary. Together with the late Quaternary activities along the adjoining Enako fault evaluated by our study, the present result exemplifies a migration of active segments within a fault system during the Quaternary. Paleomagnetic directions on the strike–slip fault are not concordant with uniform deformation predicted by the model of rotation of rigid blocks aligned on a master fault, but suggestive of a periodic deformation as a result of intense fracturing and differential rotation of blocks bounded by nested parallel faults.