Rupture extent of the 1978 Miyagi‐Oki, Japan, earthquake and seismic coupling in the northern Honshu Subduction Zone

Abstract

Underthrusting at subduction zones can cause large earthquakes at shallow depths, but is always accommodated by aseismic creep below a certain depth. This transition depth is referred to as the depth of seismic coupling and can be directly observed in a subduction zone as the lower depth extent of significant moment release of the deepest large underthrusting earthquakes. In 1978, a large (Ms=7.5) earthquake occurred off the coast of Miyagi Prefecture in northern Honshu. Its focal mechanism represents underthrusting of the Pacific plate beneath Honshu. Since the hypocenter is located 150 km landward from the trench and there are no other large interplate earthquakes further landward from the trench axis, this event defines the maximum depth of the coupled zone.The lower limit of significant moment release of the Miyagi‐Oki earthquake is obtained by analysis of the long‐period P waves. The deconvolved source time function consists of a dominant single pulse with peak moment release at 12 s and a total duration of 18 s. The rupture extent of this dominant pulse does not extend deeper than 40 km, thus the transition from coupled to uncoupled in northern Honshu occurs at or above 40 km depth.