Takashi Furumura I Shunsuke Takemura I Shinako Noguchi I Teito Takemoto I Takuto Maeda I Kazuhisa Iwai I Simanchal Padhy Strong ground motions from the 2011 off-the Pacific-Coast-of-Tohoku, Japan (Mw=9.0) earthquake obtained from a dense nationwide seismic network Abstract The dense recordings of the K-NET and KiK-net nationwide strong motion network of 1,189 accelerometers show clearly the radiation and propagation properties of the strong ground motions associated with the 2011 off-the-Pacific Coast-ofTohoku, Japan (Mw=9.0) earthquake. The snapshots of seismic wave propagation reveal strong ground motions from this earthquake that originate from three large slips; the first two slips occurred over the plate interface of off-Miyagi at the southwest and the east of the hypocenter, and the third one just beneath the northern end of Ibaraki over the plate interface or in the crust. Such multiple shocks of this event caused large accelerations (maximum 1-2G) and prolonged ground shaking lasting several minutes with dominant high-frequency (T<1s) signals over the entire area of northern Japan. On the other hand, ground motions of relatively longer-period band (T=1-2s), which caused significant damage to wooden-frame houses, were about 1/2-1/3 of those observed near the source area of the destructive 1995 Kobe, Japan (M=7.3) earthquake. Also, the long-period (T=6-8s) ground motion in the Kanto (Tokyo) sedimentary basin was at an almost comparable level of those observed during the recent Mw=7 inland earthquakes, but not as large as that from the former M=8 earthquakes. Therefore, the impact of the strong ground motion from the present M=9 earthquake was not as large as expected from the previously M=7-8 earthquakes and caused strong motion damage only to short-scale construction and according to instruments inside the buildings, both have a shorter (T<1s) natural period.

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Ð On 28 March, 1999 (19:05:10.09, UT) a signi®cant earthquake of M w 6.4 occurred in the Garhwal Himalaya (30.555°N, 79.424°E). One hundred and ten well-recorded aftershocks show a WNW-ESE trending northeasterly dipping seismic zone extending from a depth of 2 to 20 km. As the main shock hypocenter occurred at the northern end of this seismic zone and aftershocks extended updip, it is inferred that the main-shock rupture nucleated on the detachment plane at a depth of 15 km and then propagated updip along a NE-dipping thrust plane. Further, the epicentral distribution of aftershocks de®nes a marked concentration near a zone where main central thrust (MCT) takes a signi®cant turn towards the north, which might be acting as an asperity in response to the NNE compression due to the underthrusting of Himalayan orogenic process prevalent in the entire region. Presence of high seismicity including ®ve earthquakes of magnitude exceeding 6 and twelve earthquakes of magnitude exceeding 5 in the 20th century is presumed to have caused a higher level of shallow crustal heterogeneity in the Garhwal Himalaya, a site lying in the central gap zone of the Himalayan frontal arc. Attenuation property of the medium around the epicentral area of the 1999 Chamoli earthquake, covering a circular area of 61,500 km 2 with a radius of 140 km, is studied by estimating the coda Q c from 48 local earthquakes of magnitudes varying from 2.5±4.8. These earthquakes were recorded at nine 24-bit REFTEK digital stations; two of which were equipped with three-component CMG40T broadband seismometers and others with three-component L4-3D short-period seismometers. The estimated Q o values at dierent stations suggest on average a low value of the order of (30 0.8), indicating an attenuating crust beneath the entire region. The frequency-dependent relation indicates a relatively low Q c at lower frequencies (1±3 Hz) that can be attributed to the loss of energy due to scattering on heterogeneities and/or the presence of faults and cracks. The large Q c at higher frequencies may be related to the propagation of backscattered body waves through deeper parts of the lithosphere where less heterogeneities are expected. An important observation is that the region north of MCT (more rigid highly metamorphosed crystalline rocks) is less attenuative in comparison to the region south of MCT (less rigid slightly metamorphosed rocks (sedimentary wedge)). The acceleration decays to 50% at 20 km distance and to 7% at 100 km. Hence, even 1g acceleration at the source may not cause signi®cant damage beyond 100 km in this region.

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