Earth Planets Space, 61,345356,2013

Resistivity and density modelling in the 1938 Kutcharo earthquake

source area
along a large caldera boundary
HiroshiIchihara,ToruMogi,HideakiHase,TomonoriWatanabe,andYusukeYamaya

Institute of Seismology and Volcanology, Hokkaido University, N10W8 Kita-ku, Sapporo, Japan

(ReceivedApril5,2012;RevisedOctober11,2012;AcceptedOctober14,2012;OnlinepublishedMarch3,2013)

Abstract
Wepresentthecrustalstructurearoundthefaultzonepertainingtothe1938Kutcharoearthquake( M6.0),
northernJapan,toconsiderwhylargeearthquakeshaveoccurredaroundcalderas.Thestudywasbasedongravity
anomaliesandmagnetotelluricanddirectcurrent(DC)electricalresistivitysurveydata.Thedensitystructure
obtainedfromgravityanomaliesindicatedthatthefaultplanecorrespondedtothemaindepressionboundaryof
theKutcharocaldera.Theresistivitysection,basedonaudiofrequencymagnetotelluricsurveys,indicatedthat
theestimatedfaultplanewaslocatedalongtheboundaryofresistivityblocks,whichalsocorrespondedtothe
depressionboundary.AdetailedresistivitysectionintherupturedzonerevealedbyaDCelectricalresistivity
surveyshowedadiscontinuityoflayers,implyingcumulativefaultdisplacements.Theseresultsindicatethatthe
1938earthquakewasanabruptslipalongthemaindepressionboundaryoftheKutcharocaldera.Themostlikely
hypothesispertainstouidintrusionalongthedepressionboundary.However,additionalseismicandgeodetic
studiesarerequiredtoidentifyotherfeasibleearthquakemechanisms.
Key words:Magnetotellurics,gravityanomaly,DCelectricalresistivitysurvey,inlandearthquake,Kutcharo
caldera.

1. Introduction
Largeearthquakeevents( M >5)haveoftenbeenre
portedaroundlargevolcaniccalderas,suchastheLong
ValleycalderaintheUnitedStates(e.g.,Hill et al.,2003;
Prejean et al.,2003),theOnikobecalderainnortheastern
Japan(Umino et al.,1998),andtheRabaulcalderainPapua
NewGuinea(MoriandMcKee,1987).Severalstudieshave
identiedpossiblemechanismsfortheoccurrenceofearth
quakesaroundlargecalderas.Forexample,Umino et al.
(1998)suggestedthat M5.7and M5.9earthquakesatthe
Onikobecalderain1996werefaultslipearthquakes,which
mighthaveoccurredalongstructuraldiscontinuitiesaround
thecalderaboundary.Becausemanyinlandearthquakesoc
curringintheuppercrusthavebeenconsideredabruptslips
withinlargediscontinuouszones(e.g.,Jackson,1980;Kato
et al.,2006),thelargestructuralboundariesalongcalderas
mayalsobeimportantfactorsfortheoccurrenceofearth
quakes,suggestingthatthecalderastructureaffectstheoc
currenceoflargeinlandearthquakes.However,thedetailed
relationshipbetweencalderastructuresandfaultactivity
hasnotyetbeenclaried.
Volcanicactivitymaybeassociatedwiththeoccurrence
oflargeearthquakesaroundcalderasashasbeensuggested
fortheLongValleycaldera(e.g.,Julian,1983;Savageand
Cockerham,1984;Prejean et al.,2003).Forexample,Ju
Presentaddress:EarthquakeResearchInstitute,theUniversityof
Tokyo,111Yayoi,Bunkyoku,Tokyo1130032,Japan.
CopyrightcTheSocietyofGeomagnetismandEarth,PlanetaryandSpaceSci
ences(SGEPSS);TheSeismologicalSocietyofJapan;TheVolcanologicalSociety
ofJapan;TheGeodeticSocietyofJapan;TheJapaneseSocietyforPlanetarySci
ences;TERRAPUB.
lian(1983)indicatedthatseveralearthquakesin1980were
causedbyuidinjectionintodykesthroughamechanism
explainedbythecompensatedlinearvectordipolemodel.
SavageandCockerham(1984)suggestedthatdykeination
generatedtensionacrosstheverticalplanethatbecamethe
rupturedsurfaceoftheearthquakeswarm.Thisreducedthe
frictionalstressontheruptureplaneandperhapstriggered
theslipthatcausedtheswarms.
The1938Kutcharoearthquake( M6.0)occurredwithin
theKutcharocaldera,whichislocatedintheAkan
ShiretokovolcanicbeltinthesouthwesternKurilearcof
northernJapan(Fig.1(a)).Thisarealieswithinoneofthe
activeinlandearthquakeareasoftheHokkaidodistrict,the
Teshikagaarea,whereeightlargeearthquakes( M >5)
occurredbetween1938and1972(Fig.1(b)).The1938
earthquakeformednumerousrupturezones,mostlystriking
northwesttosoutheast(Fig.1(c)).Basedonthedistribu
tionofsurfaceruptures,theearthquakefaultwasestimated
tobealonganorthwestsoutheaststrikeazimuthbetween
theKushiroRiverandtheWakotoPeninsula(Tanakadate,
1938;Tsuya,1938;Kato,1940;Fig.1(c)).Someofthe
rupturesshowedleftlateralstrikeslipandamaximumdis
placementof2.5m(Tsuya,1938;Fig.1(c)).Verticaldis
placementswerealsoreportedintherupturesandformed
adepressionzoneinthelargestrupturezone(Fig.1(c)).
AccordingtoTsuya(1938),thenortheasternsideofthe
slipontheeasternankofMaruyamasubsidedamaximum
0.8m.Achangeinthelakelevelwasalsoobservedaf
terthe1938earthquakeatthesouthpartoftheKutcharo
caldera.Tanakadate(1938)andKato(1940)reportedsub
sidencealong,andupheaval,atthenortheastsideofthe
1938estimatedfault(Fig.1(c)).Theverticaldeformation

345

(a)
346
 KUT
CHA
RO
EAR
THQ
UAK to
E z
H.ICHIHARA et al.:
RESISTIVITYANDDENSITY Akolca
STRUCTUREOFTHE1938

(c) Lake 2km

Kutcharo 200
Wakoto Rishiri
peninsula lava dome
te Borehole
100km Pacific
(TS1) 90a

Borehole 80a
(TS6)

(b)
70a 400
Lake 60a
A30 Oputakeshuke
Kutcharo
50a lava dome
Mt. Atosanupuri 55a
Maruyama
Nakajima
Lake lava dome
volcano
Mashu 45a Kush
iro
20a
40a
Borehole Riv er
400 (A20) (TS3)

1938 Kutcharo 200

earthquake (M 6.0) 10a

Altitude (m)

10km 100 300 700 1300

30a
Fig.1.(a)Tectonicsettingaroundthestudyarea.Redtrianglesdenoteactivevolcanoes.(b)Topographyofthestudyarea(redrectangle).Reddashed
lines,KutcharocalderarimafterKatsui(1962);stars,epicentresoftheinlandplateearthquakesthatoccurredbetween1938and1967(Suzukiand
Hirota,1973);redsoliddots,hydrothermalactivity.(c)LocationofMTstationsandrupturezonesofthe1938earthquake(lightbluerectangle).
Greylines,altitude;pinkareas,rupturezones;reddashedline,estimatedfaultofthe1938Kutcharoearthquake( M6.0;Tanakadate,1938);blueplus,
upheavalareas;blueminus,depressionareas(Kato,1940);Reddots,hydrothermalactivity;circles,widebandMTstations;triangles,AMTstations;
blueline,DCelectricalresistivityimagingsurvey.

43.7

43.65

100

43.6 90

80
TS-1 70

TS-6 60
43.55
50
TS-3 40
BougeranmlyG()

30
5 km
43.5
144.25 144.3 144.35 144.4 144.45 144.5

Fig.2.BougueranomalyaroundKutcharocaldera(assumeddensity,2400kg/m3).Redsquares,gravitystations;pinkline,MTsurveyprole;red
dashedline,estimatedfaultofthe1938Kutcharoearthquake( M6.0;Tanakadate,1938).
-

H.ICHIHARA et al.:RESISTIVITYANDDENSITYSTRUCTUREOFTHE1938KUTCHAROEARTHQUAKE

(a)

-20
 347

(b) unit A-2 unit A-1

TS-3 TS-6 TS-1 (2430 kg/m3) (1660 kg/m3)
0
1
BougerAnmalyG()
2 unit B (2090 kg/m3)
3 unit C (2620 kg/m3)
4
5 km
5

Fig.3.(a)BougueranomalyalongproleAAinFig.2.Circles,observedgravityanomalyatastationwithin3.0kmoftheprole;solidline,
calculatedgravityanomalyofthenal2Ddensitymodel.(b)Thenal2DdensitymodelalongproleAA.Invertedtriangles,boreholesite
locations;invertedsolidtriangles,surfacegeologicalboundaries;R,rupturezonelocationofthe1938Kutcharoearthquake.

indicatedbythechanginglakelevelseemstocontradictthat
oftherupturedisplacement.Nevertheless,noquaternary
faultactivitieshavebeenidentiedaroundthestudyarea.
Thismaybeduetothethicknessofthepyroclasticows
hDep(kmt)
porosityaswellasthesalinityandinterconnectivityofthe
uid(e.g.,Archie,1942).Inaddition,resistivityimaging
isparticularlysensitivetoclayminerals,suchasmontmo
rillonite,producedbyalterationbecausetheysignicantly

andtuffscreatedbyvolcaniceventsthatburyevidenceof
faultactivity.
TheactivityaroundtheKutcharocalderaisdividedinto
threestages:theprecaldera,calderaforming,andpost
calderastages(HiroseandNakagawa,1995).Thepre
calderastageactivity(1.80.87Ma)formedsommalavas
betweentherimsoftheKutcharocaldera(HiroseandNak
agawa,1995).Inthecalderaformingstage(0.34Ma
31ka),numerouseruptionscausedpyroclasticowsthat
formedtheKutcharocaldera(e.g.,Katsui,1962;Koshimizu
andIkushima,1989).Postcalderaactivityformedthe
Mt.Atosanupurivolcanoandthelavadomesdenotedin
Fig.1(c),andthisvolcanohasshownrecentactivity.Hy
drothermalactivityhasalsobeenidentied,especiallyon
theeasternsideoftheKutcharocaldera(Fig.1(b)).
Yokoyama(1958)reportedaclearnegativeBouguer
anomalyintheKutcharocaldera,inwhichthegravitywas
about40mGalloweratthecentreofthecalderathanat
therim.Thisimpliesasignicantdensityanomalyaround
theKutcharocaldera.Detailedinvestigationsbydensity
modellingcouldidentifythegeometryofthegeological
boundary,whichmayberelatedtofaultactivity.Therefore,
wemodelledthedensitystructureusingdenselydistributed
gravitydata.Surfacegeologyandboreholedatawereused
asconstraintstoobtainarobustdensitymodel.
Wealsoconductedaudiofrequencymagnetotelluric
(AMT)surveysandmodelledtheelectricalresistivitydis
tribution.Imagingoftheresistivitydistributioniseffec
tiveforestimatinguiddistributionbecauseitdependson
reduceresistivityofthehostrock(e.g.,Takakura,1995),
anddetectingsuchclaymineralssupportsthepresenceof
hydrothermalactivity(e.g.,Nurhasan et al.,2006).Thus,
resistivityimaginghelpsidentifyuiddistributioninvol
canicareas,whichmayberelatedtotheoccurrenceof
earthquakes,suchastheearthquakeswarmsintheLong
Valleycaldera.Inaddition,resistivityreectsgeological
heterogeneity(e.g.,ParkandWernicke,2003),sowealso
interpretedtheresistivitystructuretoidentifythegeological
structure.
Additionally,weperformedatwodimensional(2D)
directcurrent(DC)electricresistivitysurveywithinthe
rupturedzoneofthe1938fault,whichdetectsverticaldis
placementfromfaultactivitywhenresistiveorconductive
layersaredistributedbeneathfaultzones(e.g.,Suzuki et al.,
2000).Withthisapproach,thehistoricalactivityalongthe
1938fault,whichisnotknown,canpossiblybeclaried.
2. Density Structure
2.1 Bouguer anomaly
WecalculatedtheBougueranomalyaroundtheKutcharo
calderausinggravitydatareportedbyYokoyama(1958),
theJapanGeothermalEnergyDevelopmentCentre(1980),
Ichihara et al.(2006),YamamotoandIshikawa(2004)
andHasegawa et al.(2006).Weassumedthattheden
sityfortheBouguerandtheterraincorrectionswere
2400kg/m3becauseYamamotoandIshikawa(2004)esti
mateda2400130kg/m3optimumsurcialdensitybased
onamethoddevelopedbyMurata(1993)usingAkaikes

348 H.ICHIHARA et al.:RESISTIVITYANDDENSITYSTRUCTUREOFTHE1938KUTCHAROEARTHQUAKE

Table1.SummaryofthelithologyandpetrophysicalpropertiesoftheboreholesdrilledbyNEDO(1985).Thedensityvalueistheaverageofmeasured
coresamplesfromfourboreholesdrilledinthecaldera.The Pwavevelocity(V p)andresistivityarefromthevelocityfoundbyelectricallogging
(100cmnormal)atboreholeTS3.Theresistivityrangeisbasedonstandarddeviationsinlogarithmsoftheresistivity.Calculationswerebasedon
theaverageof V panddensitylistedintheleftcolumns,and0.25wasassumedforPoissonsratio.
U Alteredandesite Miocene
nit Density
Unit C Lithology and Age
(kg/m3)
pyroclastic
Pumiceand
UnitA1 rocks Quaternary 1660320
Pyroclastic
UnitA2 deposits Quaternary 2400130
Andesiticlavas Pliocene
UnitB 2090280
Tuffand Quaternary
volcanicbreccias Middle
2620120
Vp
2.74
(km/s)
2.00 3.88
BayesianInformationCriterion(ABIC).
TheBougueranomalyshowedasteepgradientaround
the1938estimatedfault(Fig.2).Atthenortheastside
ofthefault,theestimatedanomalywas60mGallower
thanthatatthesouthwestside,andthegravitygradient
exceeded10mGal/kmneartheestimatedfault.Thiscon
siderablegravityvariationindicatedalargedensitycontrast
oradeeplyextendingdensityboundary.Inaddition,the
strikeofthegravitycontourswasparalleltothestrikeofthe
1938estimatedfault.Theseresultsimpliedarelationship
betweenthefaultplaneanddensityheterogeneitycaused
bythecalderaformation.
2.2 Two-dimensional density modelling
Using2Dforwardprocessing(Talwani et al.,1959),we
modelledthedensitystructurealongtheAAproleto
identifythedensitydistributionaroundtherupturedzones
(Fig.2),whichcrosstheestimatedfaultofthe1938earth
quake.TheobservedBougueranomalieswithin3kmfrom
theprolearepresentedinFig.3(a).
Basedonsamplesfromthreeboreholesdrilledtoadepth
greaterthan1kmbytheNewEnergyandIndustrialTech
nologyDevelopmentOrganization(NEDO,1985),thege
ologyoftheKutcharocalderawascategorisedintounits
A1,A2,B,andCinthemodel(Table1).Thegeome
tryoftheboundariesbetweeneachunitwasestimatedin
themodelbyassumingaxeddensitywithineachunit(Ta
ble1).ThreeboreholesdrilledbyNEDOneartheprole
(TS1,TS3andTS6)providedinformationonthedepth
oftheunitboundaries.TheboundarydepthsforunitA1/B
were545,697,and507minboreholesTS3,TS6,andTS
1,respectively.TheboundarydepthsforunitB/Cwere742
and1366minboreholesTS3andTS6,respectively.Unit
A2(Atosamupurisommalava)wasbetweendepthsof416
and610minboreholeTS1.Theseboundarydepthsand
thesurfacegeologicalboundary(MatsunamiandYahata,
1989;Fig.3(b))wereusedasamodelconstraint.
Featuresofthenaldensitymodel(Fig.3(b))andtheir
validityareasfollows:
1)TheboundarydepthbetweenunitsA1andBdidnot
varysignicantlyaroundtherupturezonesofthe1938
earthquake,whichisvalidatedbytheboreholedata
(545,697,and507minboreholesTS3,TS6,and
TS1,respectively).
2)TheboundarydepthbetweenunitsBandCchanged
sharplyaroundboreholeTS6;itwasover3500m
H.ICHIHARA et al.:RESISTIVITYANDDENSITYSTRUCTUREOFTHE1938KUTCHAROEARTHQUAKE
1100 Hz
0.3
km
0 1
Youngs Resistivity
14.1 1883
module(GPa) (ohmm)
6.1 32.6 68370 290980
deepatthenortheastsideandapproximately900mat
thesouthwestsideoftherupturezone.BoreholeTS3
limitedthesharpchangeindepth.Ifthedepthofthe
boundarybetweenunitsBandCchangesgradually,
thentheboundarydepthsbetweenA1/BandB/Cmust
signicantlyexceedtheconstraintdepthsofboreholes
TS3andTS6.
3) ThebottomdepthofunitBwasestimatedtobe
3500m,buttworeasonssuggestthatthetruedepth
wasprobablydeeper.First,thedensitycontrastbe
tweenunitsCandB(530kg/m3)shoulddecreasewith
depthbecauseunsolidatedsediment(unitB),butnot
solidatedrock(unitC),iscompactedwithdepth.A
smallerdensitycontrastrequiresadeeperboundary
betweenunitsBandC.Second,althoughBouguer
anomaliesclearlyimpliedathreedimensional(3D)
structure,weassumeda2Dstructureinthismod
elling(Fig.2).The2Danalysisassumedthatden
sityanomalies(unitsA1,A2,andB)aredistributed
innitelyalongthestrikezone;however,ifthelow
densityareahasalimiteddistributionalongthestrike,
thebottomdepthofunitBshouldbedeeperthan
shownbythe2Dmodel.Thedeeperboundaryindi
catesthatthegradientoftheunitB/Cboundaryunder
therupturedzoneissteeperthanthatindicatedbythe
naldensitymodel.
4) Becausethedensitymodelsthatfollowedthecon
straintsexplainedin1)and2)didnotcompletelyt
theobservedgravitydata,thecalculatedgravitywas
slightlylowerthantheobservedgravityaroundbore
holeTS6(Fig.3(a)).Thisinconsistencymaybealle
viatedwhenthecompactionofunitsAandBisfurther
investigatedora3Dmodelisdeveloped.
5) Noboreholedatawereavailablefortheunitbound
ariesatthenortheastofboreholeTS1,sothedepths
werenotdetermined.
3. Resistivity Structure Derived from Magnetotel-
luric Observations
3.1 Magnetotelluric survey and data processing
AMTsurveyswereconductedacrosstherupturezoneof
the1938earthquakefaultat10sitesinMayandNovem
ber2006(Fig.1(c)).AtimeseriesoftheMTdatawere
recordedusingtheMTU2000systemmanufacturedby
PhoenixGeophysics,Ltd.(Toronto,ON,Canada).The
electriceldsweremeasuredatallsitesusingorthogo
349
9.4 Hz
75
60
45
0.3
km 30
2 0 1 2
15
97 Hz
 1.02 Hz 0.3 10

km

0.3

km 0
0 1 2 0 1 2

-10

nm(Deigr)
Fig.4.PhasetensorellipsesandParkinsonsinductionvectors(1100,97,9.4,and1.03Hz).Colourscalesoftheouterellipse, minskewangles;grey
scalesoftheinnerellipse,phasetensorskewangles;redarrows,inductionvectors;reddots,hydrothermalactivity.AMTandwidebandMTdata
(Ichihara et al.,2006)wereusedfortheanalysesof1100,97,9.4Hz,and1.03Hz,respectively.

(a) (b)
Observed Observed
A20 55a A20 55a
10a /20a 30a 40a 45a 50a 60a A30 70a 80a 90a 10a /20a 30a 40a 45a 50a 60a A30 70a 80a 90a

3 3

Deg(prhas)ntowkl
2 2

1 1

0 0
-4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5
Distance (km) Distance (km)
Calculated Calculated

5 4 5
Distance (km) Distance (km)

Resistivity (Log10 ohm-m) Phase (degree)

1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 20 30 40 50 60 70

Fig.5.PseudosectionsoftheobservedandcalculatedapparentresistivityandimpedancephasefortheMTinversion.Blackdots,datausedforthe
Logy(Frequnc10Hz)
equFrncy(Log10Hz)

inversionprocedure.

naldipoleswithPbPbCl2electrodesattachedatbothends. impedancetensorsinthefrequencydomainthroughacas
Themagneticeldsatallsitesweremeasuredusingthree cadedecimationtechnique(WightandBostick,1980).The
orthogonalinductioncoils.Widebandmagnetotelluricdata frequencyoftheconvertedimpedancefortheAMTdata
werealsoacquiredatstations40aand90ausinginduction rangedfrom3300to0.35Hz.Highqualitydatawereob
coilsorientedforwidebandsensing. tainedatmostsites,butthelowerfrequencybandforthe
TherecordedAMTtimeseriesdatawereconvertedinto
Lencyog(u 10Hz)

AMTimpedance(<2Hz)wasnotwellidentied,espe
goL(cyneu 10Hz)

350 H.ICHIHARA et al.:RESISTIVITYANDDENSITYSTRUCTUREOFTHE1938KUTCHAROEARTHQUAKE

ciallyforsites10a,30a,55a,70a,and80a.Inaddition,we = X1Y,
didnotobtainimpedanceslowerthan10Hzatsite60a.The
impedancesinthesocalleddeadbands(50001000Hz) where Xand Yaretherealandimaginarycomponents
oftheimpedancetensor(Z),respectively.Asignicant
werealsonotwelldeterminedatsomesites.WidebandMT
advantageisthatphasetensorisnotaffectedbygalvanic
dataatsites40aand90a(Fig.1(c)),andA20andA30(Ichi
distortion.Aphasetensoriswrittenintheform
hara et al.,2006)wereconvertedintoimpedancetensorsbe
tween320and0.00055Hzthroughthesameprocessused
fortheAMTdata.Highqualitydatawereobtainedatall
sitesandformostfrequencybands.
3.2 Estimation of the 2-D strike azimuth and
dimen-
sionality of the MT data
Themagnetotelluricphasetensors(Caldwell et al.,
2004)andParkinsonsinductionvectorswerecalculated
toverifytwodimensionalityandtodeterminethe2Daz
imuthfortheinversion.Phasetensorisanimportanttool
torecognisethedimensionalityofthesubsurfacestructure.
Thephasetensorisdenedas

Figs.5and6,respectively.Theinversioncodeestimatesthe
modelbasedontheABICleastsquaresmethodandcom
prehensivelyevaluatestherootmeansquare(RMS)mis
tbetweentheobservedandcalculatedimpedance,the
modelsmoothnessandstaticshifts.Impedancesinlower
frequencybands(<1Hz)werenotusedfortheinversion
forthefollowingreasons.First,thelowfrequencydata
atallofthewidebandMTsiteswereaffectedbyalarge
phasetensorskewangleexceeding10andanomalousoff
diagonalphasesexceeding90(Ichihara et al.,2006).Sec
ond,aNESWazimuthoftheregionalstrikeofeastern
Hokkaidodistrict(Satoh et al.,2001)isnotconsistentwith
0 the3DconductoramongtheinversionsusingTM,TE,and
max
= RT ( ) R( + ),
0 min
wheremax,minand arecoordinateinvariantsand R( )
isarotationmatrix.Thephasetensorellipseisthegraph
icalexpressionofthephasetensorinwhichthemajoraxis
(max)andminoraxis(min)oftheellipsedepicttheprinci
palaxesandthetensorvalues.Theorientationofthemajor
axisisspeciedbytheangle .Inthe2Dcase,the versionsusingonlytheTEmodeortheTM +TEmodes
majoraxisofthephasetensorisalignedparallelorperpen
diculartothestrikeoftheregionalresistivitydistribution.
Thephasetensorskewangle, ,measuresasymmetryof
thephaseresponse.Forthedetailedexplanations,seeCald
well et al.(2004).
Theazimuthsof maxinthephasetensorellipseswere
mostlydirectedtothesameazimuthastheMTprole
(N55ES55W)oritsperpendicularazimuth(Fig.4).Be
causemaxandminvariedwithintheprole,the2Dstrike
azimuthseemedtobeorientedN35WS35E.Basedon
theabovetwopossibilities,theinductionvectors(Parkin
sonsvectors)supporttheN35WS35Eazimuthasthe2
Dstrike(Fig.4).Therefore,N35WS35Ewasadopted
asthestrikesofthe2Dinversions.However,theinduc
tionvectorsnearthe1938earthquakerupturezoneoriented
towardthenorthat11009.4Hz(Fig.4).Thesefeatures
indicatetheexistenceofa3Dconductorinthenorthern
partofthe1938earthquakefaultzone.Theunsaltedwater
ofLakeKutcharowasexcludedasacandidateforthe3D
conductor.
3.3 Two-dimensional inversion of the MT data
Aftertheimpedanceswererotatedintotheestimated2
Dazimuth,theapparentresistivityandphaseinthefre
quencybandbetween3300and1Hzwereinvertedusing
the2DinversioncodedevelopedbyOgawaandUchida
(1996).Pseudosectionsofthedatausingtheinversion
andsoundingcurvesofsites40aand55aaredescribedin
H.ICHIHARA et al.:RESISTIVITYANDDENSITYSTRUCTUREOFTHE1938KUTCHAROEARTHQUAKE
(a)
Site 40a
obs
cal
2.5
2 2
1.5
60
45
30
15 4 3
strikeofourprole.
WeusedonlytheTMmodeimpedancesfortheinver
sionforthefollowingreasons.Highphasesaround100Hz
atsites40a55aalsoindicatedaconductoraroundthisarea
(Fig.5).However,inductionvectorsorientedtothenorth
westbetween1100and9.4Hz(Fig.4)impliedthatthecon
ductorhada3Dgeometry.Ledo et al.(2002)andSiripun
varaporn et al.(2005)testedthe2Dinversionforasec
tioninwhichasynthetic3Dstructureconductorwasdis
tributedinandoutofthesurveyline,similartothesitua
tioninthisstudy.Whenthe3Dconductorisoutofthe
prole,Siripunvaraporn et al.(2005)showedaphantomof
TM +TEmodeimpedances.However,Ledo et al.(2002)
showedthatthephantomisnotclearintheTM +TEmode
inversioncomparedtotheTMmodeinversion.Thus,TM
+TEmodedataseemedtobeappropriateinoursituation.
Whenthe3Dconductorisintheprole,Siripunvaraporn
et al.(2005)showedthatinversionsusingonlyTMmode
impedancesidentiedanappropriatestructure,whereasin
producedastrongphantomconductorbeneaththetrue3
Dconductor.Ledo et al.(2002)alsoindicatedthatthe
TMmodewassuperiortotheTM +TEdata.Therefore,
whetherthe3Dconductorisinorofftheproledetermines
theappropriatemode.BecauseresistivitylogginginTS3
showedaconductorintheprolebetweenadepthof500
700m(NEDO,1985;Fig.1(c)),theconductorseemedto
bedistributedintheprole.Therefore,theTMmodewas
preferablefortheinversion.
Theinversionwasstartedfroma100ohmmhomoge
neoushalfspacemodel.A5%erroroorintheapparent
resistivityandphasewasapplied.Theobservedimpedances
weremostlyexplainedbytheinversionprocedure(Fig.5).
TheRMSmistintheinitialmodel(16.92)wasreducedto
2.50inthenaliteration.Theinvertedresistivitysection
(Fig.7)showedthefollowingfeatures:
1)Aconductivebodywasimagedundertheruptured
zone(C1,1030ohmm).TheC1conductorwas
requiredtoexplainlargephasesover60thatwere
observedaround100Hzatsites40a55a.
2)TheC2conductor(320ohmm)wasdistributed
aroundthenortheasternedgeoftheprole,wherehy
drothermalactivitieshavebeenobserved(Fig.1(b)).
Lowapparentresistivityatsite90a(Fig.5)clearlyin
dicatedtheC2conductor.
3)Aresistiveareawasimagedbelow1000matthe
southwestsideofthe1938Kutcharoearthquakerup
351
(b) Site 50a
3
test s2 obs test s3
test s1-2 cal test s3-4
test c1 2.5 test c1
1.5
75
60
45
2
1frequency [Hz]
0 1
uency
freq
30 [Hz]
4 3 2 0

Fig.6.Observedandcalculatedsoundingcurvesfortheapparentresistivityandphaseofsites40aand55a.Dotswitherrorbars,observedapparent
resistivityandphaseofTMmode;blacksolidline,invertedmodel;colouredlines,hypotheticalmodel.

S55 W N55 E
A20 R

evsirotyg1[l0hm-]

evsirotyg1[l0hm-]
20a 40a 90a
10a 30a 80a 4.0
0
R2 3.5
C1 3.0
-1
2.5

-2 R1 S-1 S-2 S-3 S-4

C2 2.0
1.5
phdaseg[]

phdaseg[]
1.0
-3
-4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 0.5
10 10 10 10
Distance
10
(km) 10 10 10 10 10

Fig.7.Inverted2DresistivityimagealongtheMTprolecrossingtherupturezoneofthe1938Kutcharoearthquake( M6.0).Redrectangle,location
oftheDCelectricalsurveyinFig.8;R,locationofa1938Kutcharoearthquake( M6.0)rupturezone.

turezone(R1,5001000ohmm).Highapparentre 3.4 A sensitivity test of the inverted resistivity struc-

sistivityandlowphasebetween1and10Hzatsites tures
10a,20a/A20,A30and40arequiredtheR1. ThenalinvertedresistivitymodelfromtheMTdata
45a 50a 55a 60a A30 70a
4)Theresistivezone(R2)wasdetectedfromthesurface showedaconductivebodyundertherupturezone(C1,20

toadepthof200300mattheeasternpartofthepro
le.R2obviouslycorrespondedtounitA2consisting
ofandesiticlavas.
Dekpthm()
vsReLityog(10hm-)
50ohmm;Fig.7).Thesensitivitytestconrmedtheexis
tenceoftheC1conductor.Basedonthenalmodel,C1is
hypothesisedtohavebeenconvertedto100ohmm(Fig.7).

ResistivityloggingatTS3,drillednearsite40a,mea
suredaresistivityof40300ohmminunitA(0545m
ofdepth),1050ohmminunitB(545742m)and100
500ohmminunitC(>742m;Fig.8).Theinvertedre
sistivityimagewasconsistentwiththeverticalresistivity
variationsmeasuredinboreholeTS3(Fig.8).Thus,the
invertedimageseemedtobereliablearoundboreholeTS3.
Theresponsesprovidedbythehypotheticalmodelweresig
nicantlyinconsistentwiththatofthenalmodelandthe
observed100Hzatsites40a55a(Fig.6).TheRMSerror
ofthehypotheticalmodelincreasedfrom2.50to4.84inthe
nalmodel.
ThepositionoftheboundarybetweenR1andthemoder
ateresistivityzonewasalsoimportanttothecalderastruc
tureandthe1938earthquake,butthelocationistenuous
becausetheC1conductorcoveredthisarea.Thus,we
testedthesensitivityofthelocationwithfourhypothetical
models.First,theS2regionofthenalresistivitymodel

352 H.ICHIHARA et al.:RESISTIVITYANDDENSITYSTRUCTUREOFTHE1938KUTCHAROEARTHQUAKE

(a) (b)
Resistivity (ohm-m) Density (kg/m3)
0 200 400 600 1000 2000 3000
800

200 1000

400

600
 600

200

800

400 0 0

1000

Fig.8.MeasuredandmodelledresistivitiesanddensitiesalongboreholeTS3(NEDO,1985).ThelocationoftheboreholeisshowninFig.2.(a)
Dottedlines,logged(25cmnormal)resistivityfromthe2Dinversion;solidlines,estimatedresistivity.(b)Dots,coresamplewetdensity;solidline,
estimateddensity(Table1). UnitA-1

(Fig.7)waslledwith50ohmm.Theresponseproduced nearsite50a(Fig.1(c)).Then,DCelectricalresistivi
hm)(peDt

hpe(mtD)
bythishypotheticalmodelwasalmostthesameasthenal tiesweremeasuredfrom748combinationsoftransmitting
modelatallsites(responseatsite40aisdrawnwithablue
andreceivingdipolesinWennerandEltranarraysbyus
dashedlineinFig.6(a)).Thesecondmodelindicatedthat ingelectricalresistivityimaginginstrumentsmanufactured
aregionbetweenS1andS2waslledwith50ohmm. byChibaElectronicsCo.Interelectrodespacing(a)varied
nBUti

Themodelresponseshowedsignicantlyhigherphasesof from10to160m.ThesensitivezoneoftheWennerar
around10Hzandlowerapparentresistivity(<3Hz)com raywasconcentratedatthedipolecentresbutwasnarrow
alongthehorizontaldirection.Incontrast,theEltranar
paredtothenalmodelandtheobserveddata(abluedotted
lineinFig.6(a)).Theseresultsindicatethathighresistivity
rayhadarelativelyhighsensitivityatthehorizontallywide
wasrequiredatS1butpossiblynotatS2.Forthethird areabuthadreversedsensitivityattheoutsideofthedipole
UnitC

hypotheticalmodel,theS3regioninFig.7waslledwithsystem.Botharrayshadweakersensitivityatareasdeeper
300ohmm.Theseresponsesexplainedthesharpphaseun than a.Pseudosectionsoftheobservedapparentresistivi
dulationsofaround10Hzatsites50aand55acompared tiesareshowninFig.9.Theobservedapparentresistivity
tothenalmodel(bluedashedlineinFig.6(b)).The datawereinvertedtoa2Dresistivityimageusingthenu
impedancesattheothersiteswerealmostthesameasthe mericalinversioncodedevelopedbyUchida(1991).The
nalmodel.Finally,theS3andS4regionswerelled inversionstartedfromthe100ohmmhomogeneoushalf
with300ohmm.Theresultsdifferedsignicantlyfrom spacemodel.Anexcellenttoftheobserveddataandthe
theobserveddataandthethirdhypotheticalmodel.Tests calculatedpseudosectionswasnoted(Fig.9).TheRMS
threeandfourindicatedsharpresistivitychangesbetween mistwasreducedfrom46.6to1.34inthenaliteration.
S3andS4,butthesmoothnessconstraintdidnotallow Severalfeatureswererecognisedintheinvertedre
convergenceintoasharpstructure.Consequently,thelocasistivitysectionunderthe1938earthquakerupturezone
tionoftheR1marginwasaroundS2,S3,andS4,and (Fig.10).Onewasadeep(>100m)highresistivitybody
thesharperresistivityboundarymayhavebeendistributed (R3, <1000ohmm)foundatthesouthwestsideoftherup
attheR1margin. turezone.BecauseR3wasnotfoundinthenortheastside
oftherupturezone,athicknessoftheR3resistivebody
4. DC Electrical Survey Around the Rupturedgreaterthan30mindicatesthatmorethan30mofvertical
Zone movementoccurredalongthe1938earthquakefault.Past
Torevealthedetailedresistivitystructurearoundthe activityalongthisplanemayhavebeensupportedbyan
1938earthquakerupturezone,weperformeda2DDC approximately10mverticaloffset,distributedaround50
electricalresistivitysurveyinNovember2006.Welaida mdepth,betweentherelativelylowresistivityanomalies
490mtransectasanAMTsurveylinewith50electrodes ofC3andC4.The10moffsetisnotprecisebecausethe

H.ICHIHARA et al.:RESISTIVITYANDDENSITYSTRUCTUREOFTHE1938KUTCHAROEARTHQUAKE 353

0 0

50 50

100 100

150 OBS (Wenner) 150 OBS (Eltran)

0 100 200 300 400 500 0 100 200 300 400 500
Distance (m) Distance (m)

0 0

50 50

100 100

150 CAL (Wenner) 150 CAL (Eltran)

0 100 200 300 400 500 0 100 200 300 400 500
Distance (m) Distance (m)
Resistivity (log10 ohm-m)
 2.0 2.2 2.4 2.6 2.8 3.0 3.2 3.4

Fig.9.PseudosectionsoftheobservedandcalculatedapparentresistivityphasefortheDCelectricalsurvey.

A ruptured zone of
R4 the 1938 earthquake
3.5
0
eEctrodlspma)(

oElecdtrspa(m)
3
C3
50 C4
2.5

100 R3
2

0 100 200 300 400 500

Distance (m)

lectrodspa(m)E
oElecdtrspa(m)

Fig.10.DCresistivityimagearoundthefaultzoneofthe1938Kutcharoearthquake(6.0).Arupturezonecreatedbytheearthquakewasreportednear
the170mpoint(Tsuya,1938).

(a) (b)
topographic the 1938 Kutcharo earthquake (M 6.0)
TS-6
A20 TS-3 R TS-1 caldera wall
20a 90a Hydrothermal activities
10a 30a 45a 50a 60a A30 70a 80a
0
R2 conductor (C1)
C1
-1 1
conductor
C2
-2 R1 2 (C2)

-3 3 Basement rocks
-4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5

vsReoityg(l10hm-)
Distance (km) Resistivity (Log10 ohm-m)
4 transportation
of aqueous fluid
hDep(mt)

1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0

??
5
Magma
Intrusion
6

-4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5
Distance (km)

Fig.11.(a)Comparisonofthedensityandresistivitystructure.TheimagecreatedbytheblackmeshmarksdenotesthenaldensitymodelinFig.3.
ThecolourimagedescribestheresistivitystructureinFig.6projectedtoproleAAinFig.2.(b)AsimultaneousimageoftheKutcharocaldera
andtheestimatedfaultofthe1938Kutcharoearthquake( M6.0)alongthesameproleasshownin(a).

354 H.ICHIHARA et al.:RESISTIVITYANDDENSITYSTRUCTUREOFTHE1938KUTCHAROEARTHQUAKE

blocksizeoftheresistivitymodelwas10m;however,itis thelowermostlayeramongtheoutcroppingsoftheNeo
hDep(kmt)

thoughttobeadequatelylargecomparedtotheverticaldis genebasementrocksintheTeshikagaarea(Matsunami
placementcausedbythe1938earthquake(0.8m;Tsuya, andYahata,1989).NEDO(1985)andKoshimizuand
1938).ThelackofR3onthenortheastsideandtheoffset Kim(1986)suggestedthatthessionandtrackagesof
betweenC3andC4mayindicatesubsidenceatthenorth theIkurushibeformationare13.1and7.98.2Ma,respec
hDep(kmt)

eastsideasaresultofrepeatedearthquakeactivity.These tively.Theresistivityloggingshowedhighresistivity(290
offsetsareconsistentwiththeverticaldisplacementofthe 980ohmm;Table1)inunitC.Theinvertedresistivityfrom
1938earthquakesurfaceruptures.However,thechanges theAMTsurveyalongboreholeTS3revealedhighresistiv
inlakelevelafterthe1938earthquakeindicatesubsidence ityconsistentwiththeloggeddata(Fig.8),indicatingthat
alongoronthesouthwestsideandupheavalatthenorth theresistivezone(R1)correspondedtounitC.Inaddition,
eastsideoftherupturedzone(Kato,1940;Fig.1(c)).De thespatialdistributionoftheresistivezone(R1)andunit
tailedsurveys,suchasafaulttrench,arerequiredtoclarify Cisconsistent(Fig.11(a)).Therefore,wecanassumethat
thefaultmovements. thebasementrockoftheIkurushibeorolderformationsis
Aresistivezone(R4)wasalsoidentiedimmediatelybe distributedonthesouthwesternsideofthe1938faultzone.
lowthesurfaceneartheMaruyamadomeatthesouthwest Theareabetween500and1000mundersite10ashowsrel
sideoftheprole.BecausetheareaaroundtheMaruyama ativelylowresistivity.Thisconductivezonemayindicate
lavadomehasahigherelevation,R4wasprobablyassoci anolderformationunderlyingtheIkurushibeformationor
atedwithMaruyamalava. sedimentswithintheIkurushibeformation(Matsunamiand
Yahata,1989),whichgenerallyshowslowresistivitycom
5. Discussion paredtoandesites(NEDO,1985).
5.1 Interpretation of resistivity and density Thewelllog(TS3)drilledbyNEDO(1985)provided
structures informationonthelithology,density,andresistivityofthe
site(Fig.8).Basedonthisboreholedataandotherrefer
ences,thecalculateddensityandresistivitymodelscanbe
interpretedasfollows.
ThenalinvertedresistivitymodelfromtheMTdata
showedaconductivebodyundertherupturezone(C1,
2050ohmm;Fig.7).Thesensitivitytestconrmedthe
existenceoftheC1conductor.TheC1resistivity(10
30ohmm)wasconsistentwiththeloggingresistivityof
boreholesTS3andTS6.Acomparisonoftheresistivity
betweenthenalmodelandtheTS3loggingdataisshown
inFig.8.Montmorilloniteswereidentiedincoresam
plesobtainedneartheC1conductor(NEDO,1985).Be
causemontmorillonitesignicantlyreducestheresistivity
ofhostrock(e.g.,Takakura,1995),C1isinterpretedas
amontmorilloniterichzoneandimplieshydrothermalac
tivityundertherupturezonebecausetheyarecommonly
producedbyhydrothermalalteration.TheC1conductor
seemstobedistributedtowardthenorthwestoftheprole,
butnotthesouthwestsidebecausetheinductionvectors
pointednorthat1100,97,and9.4HznearC1(Fig.4).Sig
nicanthydrothermalactivityhasbeenrecognisedaround
Mt.Atosanupuriaswellasalongthe1938estimatedfault
(Fig.1(b,c)andFig.4),implyingthattheC1conductor
alongthe1938faultwasproducedbyhydrothermalalter
ation.Themarginofthedepressionzonemayhavebeena
pathforwaterthatsubsequentlyinducedtheC1hydrother
malalteration.
Themagmaintrusionhasbeenestimatedtobeabout
6kmdeepat2kmnorthofsite90a(Fig.11(b);Geographi
calSurveyInstitute,2006).Inaddition,hydrothermalareas
andanactivevolcano(Mt.Atosanupuri)aredistributedat
thesurfaceofthemagmaintrudedzone(Fig.1(b)),sug
gestingthattheC2conductorwasproducedinassociation
withtheseactivities.
UnitC(Ikurushibeformation)consistsmainlyofan
desiteandtuffbreccias,mostofwhicharealteredinthe
coresamples.TheIkurushibeformationisassumedtobe
H.ICHIHARA et al.:RESISTIVITYANDDENSITYSTRUCTUREOFTHE1938KUTCHAROEARTHQUAKE
accumulatingintheeasternHokkaidoarea(Hashimotoand
Tada,1988)generatedbytheobliquesubductionofthePa
cicplatealongtheKuriletrench.AsTable1shows,ge
ologicaldifferencesbetweenthecalderall(unitsAand
B)andbasementrock(unitC)createaclearelasticbound
ary(Youngsmodulus).Generally,thelocalelastichetero
geneityintheregionalstresseldinducesalocalisedac
cumulationofstressresultinginfaultruptures.Manyin
landearthquakeswereexplainedbythistheory(e.g.Iioand
Kobayashi,2002;Ichihara et al.,2008).The1938earth
quakewasareleaseofaccumulatedregionalstressaround
anareaofstrongelasticheterogeneityduetothecaldera
structure;however,thenorthwestsoutheastazimuthof
thecontractiveaxisisnearlyparalleltothestrikeazimuth
ofthe1938fault.Thus,thesmallshearstressisbelievedto
haveinducedfaultslip.
Thethirdpossibilityisthatuidinjectionfromassoci
atedmagmaactivityinducedorenhancedthe1938earth
quake.Fluidinjectioncandirectlycausefaultruptureas
discussedbyJulian(1983).Heindicatedthatadykeintru
sionalongorneartheverticalfaultplaneoftheLongVal
leycalderacausedseveral M6earthquakes.Thishypoth
esisisbasedonmechanismsthatcannotbeexplainedbya
doublecouplemechanism,butcanbeexplainedbyacom
ThelowBougueranomalyintheKutcharocalderacan
beexplainedbythethicksediment(unitsA1,B;Fig.3).
Thelowtomoderateresistivityzone(10200ohmm),in
cludingtheC2conductornortheastofR1,corresponded
tounitsA1andBthatwereinferredasthesedimentll
coveredKutcharocaldera(Fig.11(a)).Basedonthehy
potheticaltestingdiscussedin3.4,theR1marginwasmost
likelylocatedbetweenS2andS4,andasharperresistivity
boundarymayhavebeendistributedtherethanindicatedby
theinvertedresistivitymodel.Thesefeaturesareconsistent
withthesteepinclinezoneofthedensityboundarybetween
unitsBandC,andindicatethattheresistivityanddensity
distributionsimagethegeologicalboundaryofpastcaldera
activities.
5.2 The relationship between the 1938 Kutcharo earth-
quake and the Kutcharo caldera
ThedetailedresistivityimageproducedbytheDCelec
tricsurveydatasuggestscumulativefaultactivityinthe
Quaternaryalongthe1938rupturezones(Fig.10).The
densitymodelconstrainedbyboreholesTS3,TS6,and
TS1showedasteeplydippingboundarybetweenunits
BandCbeneaththisarea(Fig.3).Theresistivitysec
tionobtainedfromtheMTdataalsosupportsthisbound
ary(Figs.7,11(a)).Ingeneral,manyinlandearthquakes
aretheresultofanabruptslipwithinlargediscontinuous
zones.Therefore,thisclearspatialcorrespondencebetween
themaindepressionboundaryoftheKutcharocalderaand
the1938faultindicatesthatanabruptslipalongthecaldera
margincausedthe1938earthquake.
Normalfaultingwiththecollapseofthecaldera,there
leaseofregionalstressduetoacrustalheterogeneityand
uidintrusionarethreepossiblemechanismsforthe1938
earthquake.Therstpossibilityisunlikelybecausede
pression(outersides)andupheaval(innersides)ofthe
calderaoccurredafterthe1938earthquakeandwerebased
onchangesinthelakewaterlevel(Tsuya,1938;Kato,
1940;Fig.1(c)).Inaddition,the1938earthquakecaused
leftlateralstrikeslipdisplacement.
Thesecondpossibilitymaybeappropriatebecauselarge
contractivestrain(about8ppmduring18831994)hasbeen
355
pensatedlinearvectordipolemechanisminducedbydyke
intrusion.SavageandCockerham(1984)obtainedacor
respondingsourcemodelfromgeodeticsurveys.Nospe
cicseismicandgeodeticstudieshavebeenconductedin
theTeshikagaarea;however,magmaintrusionrelatingto
the1938earthquakeissupportedbythefollowingpoints.
First,thedepressionboundarybeneaththerupturezonecan
easilybecomeapathwayofintrusion.Second,theC1con
ductor,whichindicateshydrothermalactivitybeneaththe
depressionboundary,suggeststhepresenceofmagmaac
tivity.
Fluidinjectioncanalsoenhancedoublecoupleearth
quakes.Highpressureuidinjectionintothefaultplane
oftheSanAndreasFaultreducedshearfracturestrength
andallowedfaultslipinthesmallshearstressenvironment
(e.g.,Rice,1992;Sasai,1997).Thehighpressureuid
alongthedepressionboundaryofthe1938faultisconsis
tentwiththisnotionbecausetheC1montmorilloniterich
zonecouldbehaveasanimpermeablecapforthesupplied
uidstransportedthroughthe1938faultplane(Nurhasan
et al.,2006).Thus,the1938earthquakemayhaveresulted
fromasimilarmechanismasdescribedfortheSanAndreas
Fault.Consequently,themechanismfortheearthquake
aroundtheKutcharocalderacanbeexplainedbytheuid
intrusionhypothesis.Thismechanismandstressaccumu
lationduetocrustalheterogeneitydonotconict,andthus
couldhaveactedsynergisticallytoinducethe1938earth
quake.Adenseseismicityandgeodeticnetworkaround
thecalderaisexpectedtocontributetotheunderstandingof
thecomplexrelationshipbetweenuidbehaviourandearth
quakeoccurrence.
6. Conclusion
Densityandresistivitystructureswereinvestigated
aroundtheseismogeniczoneofthe1938Kutcharoearth
quake( M6.0)toidentifytherelationshipsbetweenthe
356 H.ICHIHARA et al.:RESISTIVITYANDDENSITYSTRUCTUREOFTHE1938KUTCHAROEARTHQUAKE
Ichihara,H.,T.Mogi,Y.Yamaya,H.Kamiyama,andY.Ogawa,Crust
structureatTeshikagaregion,easternHokaido,demonstratedbywide
bandmagnetoteluricandgravitysurveys, Geophys. Bull. Hokkaido
Uni-
earthquakeandthecalderastructure.Thenalden
sitymodelrevealedahighlyinclinedgeologicalbound
arycorrespondingtoamaindepressionzonemargininthe
Kutcharocalderathatwasunderneaththeestimatedfault.
Thebottomofthecalderawasinferredtobeover3.5km
deep.Theresistivitystructure,derivedfromAMTsurveys,
supportedthegeologicalboundaryatthedepressionbound
ary.Adetailedresistivitysection,revealedbyaDCelectric
survey,showeddiscontinuitiesundertherupturezone,indi
catingcumulativeverticaldisplacementgeneratedbyfault
activity.Thediscontinuityseemedtoextendtothedepres
sionboundary.Therefore,the1938earthquakeprobablyre
sultedfromfaultactivityalongthemaindepressionmargin
oftheKutcharocaldera.Weproposethatthe1938earth
quakemayhavebeencausedbythecollapseofthecaldera
asaresultofnormalfaulting,thereleaseofregionalstress
enhancedbyacrustalheterogeneity,orfaultrupturerelated
touidintrusion.Therstpossibilitywasexcludedbecause
thedepressionandupheavalobservedafterthe1938earth
quakewasinconsistentwiththecollapseofthecaldera.The
secondpossibilityalsoseemsunlikelybecausethemaxi
mumprincipalstressaxisandinferredfaultstrikeareal
mostparallel.Thelastpossibilitysuggeststhatuidin
trusioninducedacompensatedlinearvectordipolemech
anismintothedyke.Thishighpressureintrusionintothe
faultreducedfracturestrengthandallowedfaultslipdueto
smallshearstress.However,littleevidenceexiststosupport
thesemechanisms.Thus,stationaryseismicandgeodetic
observationsareneededaroundtheKutcharocaldera.
Acknowledgments.WethankProf.YasuoOgawaoftheTokyo
InstituteofTechnologyandProf.MasaakiMishinaofTohokuUni
versityforprovidingmanyoftheinstrumentsusedintheMTsur
vey.Wealsothanklandownersinthestudyregionforallowingus
toestablishobservationsitesontheirland.Theeditor,Dr.Akira
Takada,andtworeviewers,Prof.YoichiSasaiandanotheranony
mousreviewer,helpedustoimprovethemanuscript.Helpfuldis
cussionswithProf.TakeshiHashimoto,Prof.YasunoriNishida,
Dr.RyoHonda,Dr.HiroakiKamiyamaandProf.HiroakiTaka
hashiofHokkaidoUniversityhelpedimprovethecontentofthis
paper.GMTsoftware(WesselandSmith,1998)wasusedtodraw
someofthegures.
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H.Ichihara(email:hichi@eri.utokyo.ac.jp),T.Mogi,H.Hase,T.
Watanabe,andY.Yamaya