Source Processes of Moderate Earthquakes that Occurred in the Upper Crust of NE Japan

Northeastern (NE) Japan is located at a typical subduction zone, and many shallow inland earthquakes occur in this region. In recent years, several moderate earthquakes have occurred in the land area of NE Japan. The characteristics of these earthquakes are strongly related to tectonic features in this region. We investigated source processes of these earthquakes using empirical Green\u27s function method. In Sendai city, a moderate (M5.0) earthquake occurred on 15 September, 1998. It was located at the deepest portion of an active fault-Nagamachi-Rifu fault. We used data observed by nearby strong motion arrays. The spatial extent of the rupture area corresponds to that of the aftershock area, and the aftershock activity was high in the area with a relatively small amount of slip of the main shock rupture. We also investigated the source process of the largest foreshock (M3.8). The rupture area of the foreshock does not strongly overlap the asperities of the main shock. Three earthquakes with magnitudes greater than 5 (M5.9 event at 3: 12, M5.4 event at 3: 54 and M5.7 event at 8: 10) occurred on 11 August, 1996 in the Onikobe area near the border of Akita and Miyagi prefectures. Two days after these events, a M4.9 event occurred in an adjacent region. These events were located close to each other, but their mechanism solutions are quite different; thrust-type faults for M 5.9 and M 5.4 events and strike-slip faults for M 5.7 and M 4.9 events. We used waveform data observed by the regional strong motion network (Kyoshin-net, NIED, Japan) and the broadband station network of Tohoku Univ. and JMA. The rupture areas of these earthquakes do not overlap and the areas with high activity of aftershocks are located at the edge of the rupture areas and in areas with little slip