High resolution location of deep low-frequency tremors beneath the Kii Peninsula, Nankai subduction zone, Japan, using data from a dense seismic array

Abstract

SUMMARY This study performs detection and location of deep low-frequency tremors beneath the Kii Peninsula, Nankai subduction zone, Japan, using data from a dense seismic array. We set a quantitative threshold for the tremor detection based on the Gaussian distribution of waveform coherence among stations to distinguish between tremor signal and noise. Then, we estimated slownesses and arrival azimuths by applying the Multiple Signal Classification method and performed hypocentre determination by backprojection onto the plate interface. During the analysed period of 2 yrs from July 2012 to July 2014, we detected 25155 tremor events which are approximately 2.2 times more than those in the AIST-tremor catalogue based on the conventional envelope correlation method ( 11475 events). This improvement is due to the detection of even weak amplitude tremors owing to the array analysis scheme, which uses recorded waveform’s phase information. Our high-resolution tremor catalogue leads to the following findings of the tremor activity in the Kii Peninsula. A few tremor episodes show continuous updip migration in the initial stage. The updip migration speed depends on whether the tremor migrates in the along-strike direction after the updip migration: approximately 1.0 km hr –1 for tremors that develop into the along-strike migration, and approximately 0.5 km hr–1 for those that do not. Estimated radiated energies are found to increase gradually with propagation into the updip direction. These findings suggest the depth dependence of the frictional strength on the plate interface. Furthermore, we noticed that accumulated radiated energies are positively correlated with the updip migration speed, and this relationship implies that fluid migration might play a role in the updip migration.