Geodetic slip model of the 2011 M9.0 Tohoku earthquake

Frederick Pollitz; Roland Bürgmann; Paramesh Banerjee

doi:10.1029/2011gl048632

Home/Archive/USGS

USGS · 70188366

Geodetic slip model of the 2011 M9.0 Tohoku earthquake

Frederick Pollitz·Roland Bürgmann·Paramesh Banerjee

View original source ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

The three-dimensional crustal displacement field as sampled by GPS is used to determine the coseismic slip of the 2011 M9.0 Tohoku Earthquake. We employ a spherically layered Earth structure and use a combination of onland GPS, out to ∼4000 km from the rupture, and offshore GPS, which samples the high-slip region on the interplate boundary along the Japan trench. Inversion of the displacement field for dip slip, assuming an interplate boundary of variable dip and striking 195°, yields a compact slip maximum of about 33 m located 200 km east of Sendai. The geodetic moment is 4.06 × 10 22 N m, corresponding to M w = 9.0. The area of maximum slip is concentrated at a depth of about 10 km, is updip of the rupture areas of the M ≳ 7 Miyagi-oki earthquakes of 1933, 1936, 1937, and 1978, and roughly coincides with the rupture area of the M7.1 1981 Miyagi-oki earthquake. The overlap of the 2011 slip area with several preceding ruptures suggests that the same asperities may rupture repeatedly with M ≳ 7 events within several decades of one another.

Explore related subjects

Geophysical Research Letters Article

Source-reported bounding extent: 32° to 44° latitude; 136° to 148° longitude. This indicates report coverage, not an exact sampling location. View area on OpenStreetMap.

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeX RIS

Frederick Pollitz, Roland Bürgmann, Paramesh Banerjee. 2011-09-01. Geodetic slip model of the 2011 M9.0 Tohoku earthquake. https://doi.org/10.1029/2011gl048632

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related USGS reports

USGS2026

Emergent headwater types for watershed monitoring, research, and planning

Headwaters—that is headwater streams and the watersheds they drain—strongly influence water quality, ecosystem services, and hydrologic connectivity, yet remain poorly mapped, monitored, and understood at large spatial scales. Using available spatial data to classify headwater “types” could therefore enhance the utility of sparse monitoring data to advance research and watershed planning—and help update literature-based perceptual models of headwaters as steep, forested, and minimally disturbed watersheds. Here, we analyze headwaters across the contiguous United States to quantify how their attributes (climate, topography, land cover, soils) vary regionally and differ from their downstream watersheds. Our analysis (a) identified seven dominant headwater types with distinct combinations of biophysical and climatic attributes and (b) revealed systematic contrasts with downstream watersheds, with strongest differences in attributes representing potential flowpath depth. Our findings offer a transferable framework for classifying, modeling, and managing these critical yet understudied components of the hydrologic network.

conterminous United States↗

USGS2026

Corundum discovered by SuperCam and the Perseverance rover at Jezero crater, Mars

Mars is primarily composed of mafic mineral assemblages and their alteration products, but small, scattered rocks strewn across the landscape offer clues to greater petrological diversity. While traversing the Jezero crater rim, the Perseverance rover encountered several plagioclase-rich light-toned float rocks. SuperCam identified the distinctive signature of corundum (α-Al 2 O 3 ) in these rocks using time-resolved luminescence spectroscopy. Two strong peaks (692.7 and 694.1 nm) with millisecond lifetimes, and additional supporting lines, are consistent with Cr 3+ substitution for Al 3+ in corundum. Corundum forms in Al-rich, Si-depleted environments through magmatic or metamorphic processes. Given the rocks' small size, association with plagioclase, and location on the crater rim, we interpret the most plausible formation scenario to be impact induced metamorphism at the interface of a felsic and a mafic/ultramafic member with the likely action of fluids at some stage, although other possibilities are not excluded.

Geophysical Research Letters↗

USGS2026

Subsurface vertical connectivity shapes solute transport to montane streams: Insights from watershed-scale geophysics-informed modeling

Headwater catchments provide essential water and nutrients to downstream ecosystems. The timing and evolution of their transport is shaped in part by the “invisible” subsurface structure but have been largely unexplored at the watershed scale. This raises a fundamental question: how and to what extent does subsurface structure influence streamflow and solute transport in montane watersheds? Here, we test controls of three-dimensionally resolved subsurface structure on solute transport, which reflects source waters and water residence time. We integrate the geophysically mapped architecture of Coal Creek, a headwater catchment in the Colorado River Basin, into numerical flow-transport models. Our results reveal greater vertical connectivity elongates flow paths and enhances deep groundwater contributions to streams, therefore substantially influencing the timing and magnitude of solute transport. In contrast, watershed-integrated outlet discharge can be predicted without high-resolution subsurface information. These findings demonstrate incorporating subsurface architecture is critical for predicting ecosystem health and contaminant transport.

Colorado↗