标题：A tectonic interpretation of NW-SE strike-slip faulting during the 2004 off the Kii peninsula earthquakes, Japan: Probable tear of the Philippine Sea plate
摘要：The 2004 off the Kii peninsula earthquakes ( M w 7.5 for the main shock) occurred within the subducting Philippine Sea (PHS) plate near its boundary, the Nankai trough, southwest Japan. The rupture mode of the foreshock-main shock-aftershock sequence was complicated, a combination of ENE-WSW striking (almost trough parallel) reverse faulting beneath the trough and NW-SE trending (almost trough normal) strike-slip faulting mostly on the landward side of the former. In this paper, we discuss the tectonic meaning of this NW-SE running strike-slip fault. We examined hypocenter distribution and focal mechanisms of slab earthquakes from October 1997 through September 2004 and confirmed a NW-SE striking tear of the PHS slab beneath the middle part of the Kii Peninsula pointed out by Miyoshi and Ishibashi (2004). According to the Earthquake Research Committee (2004) there is a NW-SE trending structural discontinuity in the PHS crust to the southeast of the main shock epicenter. Putting all features together, we interpret that there is a NW-SE striking fracture within the PHS plate continuously from the Nankai trough region to the slab beneath the Kii Peninsula, and that a partial rupture of this fracture occurred during the off the Kii peninsula earthquakes together with trough-parallel reverse faulting. It should be noted that two disastrous M 7-class slab earthquakes seem to have occurred along this tear beneath the peninsula in 1899 and 1952.
关键词：2004 off the Kii peninsula earthquakes; intra-oceanic-plate earthquake; Philippine Sea plate; slab
tear; hypocentral distribution; focal mechanism
