We can regard the occurrence of earthquakes as the partial release of tectonic stress by sudden brittle rupture. In the framework of linear elasticity, any indigenous source including earthquake rupture is represented by a moment tensor. The moment tensor is mathematically equivalent to the volume integral of stress release over the whole elastic region surrounding the source, and so we can quantitatively relate the centroid moment tensor (CMT) of seismic events with an unknown tectonic stress field. On the basis of such an idea and Bayesian statistical inference theory, we developed an inversion method to estimate the 3‐D pattern of tectonic stress from CMT data. Applying the CMT data inversion method to 12,500 seismic events in and around Japan, we obtained precise 3‐D tectonic stress patterns that illuminate the present‐day (Quaternary) complex tectonic motion of Japanese islands. The stress pattern of the Kuril‐Japan‐Nankai arc is basically E–W compression, but the direction of intermediate principal stress changes from N–S (reverse faulting type) in northeast Japan to vertical (strike‐slip faulting type) in southwest Japan. On the other hand, the stress pattern of the Ryukyu and Izu‐Bonin back‐arc regions is basically trench perpendicular tension (normal faulting type). In addition to these basic stress patterns governed by mechanical interaction between the Eurasian, North American, Pacific, and Philippine Sea plates, we can recognize several characteristic local stress patterns corresponding to the horizontal motion of the Kuril fore‐arc sliver, the collision of the Izu Peninsula with the mainland of Japan, and the opening of the Beppu‐Shimabara rift zone.

No abstract

[1] We analyzed 118 well-constrained focal mechanisms to estimate the pore fluid pressure field of the stimulated region during the fluid injection experiment in Basel, Switzerland. This technique, termed focal mechanism tomography (FMT), uses the orientations of slip planes within the prevailing regional stress field as an indicator of the fluid pressure along the plane at the time of slip. The maximum value and temporal change of excess pore fluid pressures are consistent with the known history of the wellhead pressure applied at the borehole. Elevated pore fluid pressures were concentrated within 500 m of the open hole section, which are consistent with the spatiotemporal evolution of the induced microseismicity. Our results demonstrate that FMT is a robust approach, being validated at the meso-scale of the Basel stimulation experiment. We found average earthquake triggering excess pore fluid pressures of about 10 MPa above hydrostatic. Overpressured fluids induced many small events (M < 3) along faults unfavorably oriented relative to the tectonic stress pattern, while the larger events tended to occur along optimally oriented faults. This suggests that small-scale hydraulic networks, developed from the high pressure stimulation, interact to load (hydraulically isolated) high strength bridges that produce the larger events. The triggering pore fluid pressures are substantially higher than that predicted from a linear pressure diffusion process from the source boundary, and shows that the system is highly permeable along flow paths that allow fast pressure diffusion to the boundaries of the stimulated region.

We analyzed seismicity linked to the 2014 phreatic eruption of Mount Ontake, Japan, on 27 September 2014. We first relocated shallow volcano tectonic (VT) earthquakes and long-period (LP) events from August to September 2014. By applying a matched-filter technique to continuous waveforms using these relocated earthquakes, we detected numerous additional micro-earthquakes beneath the craters. The relocated VT earthquakes aligned on a near-vertical plane oriented NNW-SSE, suggesting they occurred around a conduit related to the intrusion of magmatic-hydrothermal fluids into the craters. The frequency of VT earthquakes gradually increased from 6 September 2014 and reached a peak on 11 September 2014. After the peak, seismicity levels remained elevated until the eruption. b-values gradually increased from 1.2 to 1.7 from 11 to 16 September 2014 then declined gradually and dropped to 0.8 just before the eruption. During the 10-min period immediately preceding the phreatic eruption, VT earthquakes migrated in the up-dip direction as well as laterally along the NNW-SSE feature. The migrating seismicity coincided with an accelerated increase of pre-eruptive tremor amplitude and with an anomalous tiltmeter signal that indicated summit upheaval. Therefore, the migrating seismicity suggests that the vertical conduit was filled with pressurized fluids, which rapidly propagated to the surface during the final 10 min before the eruption.