A huge volume of igneous rock, mountain size, Located 3-12 miles off the coast of southern Japan could act as a “magnet” for earthquakes, a study warns. of the Nankai sinking zone in the near future, according to the scientific team.
The rock, known as Kumano Pluton, is located in the Nankai sinking zone, an area where the tectonic plate of the Philippine Sea descends to the Eurasian plate where the Japanese coast is located.
While it was first discovered in 2006, until now the exact size and impact of the rock remained a mystery.
In the new study, researchers from the University of Texas at Austin “ran” 20 years of seismic data through a supercomputer to create the first complete image of the rock.
The team found that the rock diverted tectonic energy to points along its sides – exactly where several of the area’s largest earthquakes came from.
Huge earthquakes larger than 8 Richter occurred along the sides of Kumano Pluton, in 1944 and 1946.
The study was conducted by geophysicist Shuichi Kodaira of the Japan Geological Survey of Science and Technology and his colleagues. “We can not predict exactly when, where or how large future earthquakes will be, but by combining our model with monitoring data, we can begin to calculate near-future processes,” said Dr. Kodaira.
“This will provide very important data for Japanese citizens to prepare for the next major earthquake,” he added.
In their study, the team used the University of Texas LoneStar5 supercomputer – one of the most powerful supercomputers in the world – to combine millions of independent seismic records in a single high-definition model of the Nankai precipitation zone.
The 3D reconstruction of Kumano Pluton revealed that the Earth’s crust bends under its own weight and swells slightly above it.
The team also found that Kumano Pluton diverts groundwater to the wider sinking zone, allowing them to reach the upper mantle. This in turn changes the tectonic forces that can cause earthquakes, according to researchers.
The findings are an important testament to the potential of so-called “big data” to revolutionize seismology, experts say.
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