Source rupture process of the 2003 Tokachi-oki earthquake determined by joint inversion of teleseismic body wave and strong ground motion data

Abstract

The spatio-temporal slip distribution of the 2003 Tokachi-oki, Japan, earthquake was estimated from teleseismic body wave and strong ground motion data. To perform stable inversion, we applied smoothing constraints to the slip distribution with respect to time and space, and determined the optimal weights of constraints using an optimized Akaike’s Bayesian Information Criterion (ABIC). We found that the rupture propagates mainly along the dip direction, and the length of the rupture area is shorter than its width. The mean rise time in the shallow asperity is significantly longer than that in the deep asperity, which might be attributed to variable frictional properties or lower strength of the plate interface at shallower depths. The average rupture velocity of deep asperity extends to the shear-wave velocity. The derived source parameters are as follows: seismic moment Mo = 1.7×1021 Nm (Mw 8.0); source duration = 50 sec. We also estimated the shear stress change due to the mainshock on and around the major fault zone. It appears that many aftershocks on the plate boundary took place in and adjacent to the zones of stress increase due to the rupture of the mainshock.