JAPAN TOHOKO EARTHQUAKE

JAPAN TOHOKO EARTHQUAKE

JAPAN EARTHQUAKE 2011 literally in wikipedia called “The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami” was a 9.0-magnitude megathrust earthquake off the coast of Japan that occurred at 14:46 JST (local time) on Friday 11 March 2011, followed by a severely destructive tsunami. Epicenter was 130 km of the east coast Peninsula Tohoku near Sendai (wikipedia.com).



Tectonic Summary
Occurred as thrust faulting on or near the subduction zone interface plate boundary between the Pacific and North America plates. The Pacific plate thrusts underneath Japan at the Japan Trench, and dips to the west beneath Eurasia.This thrust faulting associated with subduction along this plate boundary (Jorge en, 2011). Acording to Ross Stein : Blok 400 km length, vertically thrusting 0.6 m, while Pacific Plate moved 20 meters until 40 m to Westward with 100km width. One of the biggest faulting connected to Earthquake.

Scientific data about the earthquake, from USGS

Pic Sources USGS

11/03/11 5:46:23

Epicenter: 38.321 142.369

MW 8.9

USGS/WPHASE CENTROID MOMENT TENSOR

11/03/11 05:46:23.00

Centroid: 37.321 141.769

Depth 24 No. of sta: 89

Moment Tensor; Scale 10**22 Nm

Mrr= 1.16 Mtt= 0.18

Mpp=-1.34 Mrt= 1.33

Mrp= 2.17 Mtp=-0.10

Principal axes:

T Val= 2.88 Plg=55 Azm=313

N = -0.08 11 205

P = -2.79 32 108

Best Double Couple:Mo=2.8*10**22

NP1:Strike=162 Dip=17 Slip= 45

NP2: 28 78 102

Sources : http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqinthenews/2011/usc0001xgp/#details



Date 14:46:23, 11 March 2011 (+09:00)
Duration 6 minutes Magnitude 9.0 MW Depth 32 km (19.9 mi)
Epicenter location :
38°19′19″N 142°22′08″E/38.322°N 142.369°E

(Tsunami).
Total damage Flooding, landslides, fires, building and infrastructure damage, nuclear incidents Peak ground acceleration 2.99 g (vector sum)
Tsunami Yes
Landslides Yes
Foreshocks 7+ (4+ above 6.0 MW)
Aftershocks 656+ (44+ above 6.0 MW)
Casualties: 8,928 deaths, 2,628 injured, 12,664 people missing (all figures preliminary)

Library Sources:

Jorge en “Honshu earthquake and tsunami in Japan, 8.9 Mw “ at http://www.structuralgeology.org/2011/03/honshu-earthquakein-japan-89-mw.html

Wikipedia

BGS at http://www.bgs.ac.uk/research/highlights/earthquakes/honshuMarch2011.html

USGS



Video :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=LU_QTr5-eTU
BGS marine geologist Prof Dave Tappin interviewed by BGS minerals geologist Clive Mitchell.
They discuss what conditions are necessary for a tsunami to occur,
how far it may travel and what size the wave height may reach.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7Ij-EW7EBuI
BGS seismologist Dr Brian Baptie compares recent earthquakes from Haiti 2010 (7.1),
Christchurch, New Zealand 2011 (6.3) and Honshu, Japan (9.0).




http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=I4M6OX16Yco
Dr David Kerridge, BGS, explains how they recorded the recent earthquakes in Japan.
The seismic waves take about 10-12 minutes to arrive at our
Edinburgh-based seismometers from their source off the coast of Japan.


Link Pictures before and after tsunami :
http://www.abc.net.au/news/events/japan-quake-2011/beforeafter.htm