New paper on the activity of the Atotsugawa Fault, Japan
Tsukamoto et al. (2024) used luminescence measurements on quartz to investigate the seismic activity of the Atotsugawa Fault in Japan. Erick Prince from our group was involved in the study.
Erick Prince
Published:
The Atotsugawa fault in Japan is a right-lateral strike-slip fault. In 1858, it hosted a devastating earthquake of magnitude 7. Using luminescence measurements on quartz from the fault core, an international team of scientists has now shown that earthquakes on this fault lead to significant shear heating. A typical earthquake, which occurs approximately every 2500 years on this fault, heats the surface-area parts of the fault to up to 300°C. This result can be used to study other faults whose earthquake recurrence interval is less well known. Here, luminescence measurements can help to narrow down the seismic activity more precisely. Erick Prince was involved in the study as part of his doctoral thesis.
The study was published in the journal Earth, Planets and Space:
Tsukamoto, S., Guralnik, B., Prince, E., Oohashi, K., & Otsubo, M. (2024): Recurrent partial resetting of quartz OSL signal by earthquakes: a thermochronological study on fault gouges from the Atotsugawa Fault, Japan. Earth, Planets and Space, 76:117, doi: 10.1186/s40623-024-02061-0External link.