STUDY ON SOURCE PROCESS OF VERY LONG PERIOD SEISMIC EVENTS

Research Project

Project/Area Number	11640404
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Section	一般
Research Field	固体地球物理学
Research Institution	TOHOKU UNIVERSITY
Principal Investigator	NISHIMURA Takeshi Graduate School of Science, TOHOKU UNIVERSITY, Associate Professor, 大学院・理学研究科, 助教授 (40222187)
Project Period (FY)	1999 – 2000
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2000)
Budget Amount *help	¥3,400,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,400,000) Fiscal Year 2000: ¥700,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000) Fiscal Year 1999: ¥2,700,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,700,000)
Keywords	very long period seismic events / magmatic fluid / moment tensor inversion / source process / magma chambers / 長周期地震 / 岩手山 / マグマ溜り / 圧縮性流体 / 広帯域地震観測 / 火山
Research Abstract	I studied source process of very long period seismic events that have recently been observed at many active volcanoes. I deployed four to six broad band seismometers and a low-frequency microphone around Mounts Iwate and Bandai, northeastern Japan. The two volcanoes have recently shown significant crustal deformations and/or micro earthquake activities, so I successfully recorded high quality data of very long period seismic events of the two volcanoes. Examining the observed waveform characteristics, I determined the locations and space-time functions of moment tensors of the seismic source that excites long period signals of about 10 s. The results show that : (1) the sources for Mount Iwate events are located in a region having a high Vp/Vs ratio that indicates an existence of magmatic fluid ; (2) the source mechanisms of very long period events observed at both of the two volcanoes indicate mutual inflation and deflation motions. Such source mechanisms are also reported for the ver … More y long period seismic events at other active volcanoes such as Mount Aso. I, therefore, conclude that the source mechanisms of very long period events includes significant volumetric changes. To explain the observed source mechanisms and the dominant periods of the oscillations, I presented a source model in which compressible fluid motions in an irregular dike or volcanic pipe are expressed by the basic equations for a one-dimensional fluid dynamics. Calculations of the motions using a finite difference method indicate that two chambers connected by a narrow channel can act as an inflation and deflation seismic source. The long period waves of 10 s are easily excited by narrowing the channel without unrealistic large magma chambers and/or magmatic fluid having extremely low acoustic velocity. Based on my analyses of the observed waveforms and theoretical considerations, I conclude that the very long period seismic events are excited by a migration of magmatic fluid in volcanic dikes or pipes with an irregular shape. Less