| Session Details | |
| Section | SE - Solid Earth Sciences |
| Session Title | Crustal Dynamics: Toward Comprehensive Understanding of Inland Deformation |
| Main Convener | Dr. Jun Muto (Tohoku University, Japan) |
| Co-convener(s) | Prof. Takeshi Sagiya (Nagoya University, Japan) Prof. Teng-fong Wong (The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR) |
| Session Description | The great 2011 Tohoku Oki Earthquake has shed light on comprehensive understanding of crustal dynamics. The detailed analysis of aftershock activity clarified the rotation of stress axes by the earthquake suggesting that the absolute level of crustal stress might be low. The anomaly in coseismic deformation beneath active volcanoes and strain accumulation zones likely reflected heterogeneity in physical properties of the island arc lithosphere. Those observations may provide a unique opportunity for us to constrain crustal dynamics such as illuminating the absolute values of crustal stresses, rock rheology of the lower crust and the upper mantle, partitioning rate of interseismic elastic and inelastic strains, and change in plate coupling through the megathrust cycle. In order to achieve answers for these problems, we welcome contributions from all disciplines: geophysical observations to constrain stress levels and deformation fields, geological and microstructural observations for natural fault rocks or drilling samples to infer crustal structures and mechanism operated in geologic time scales, laboratory experiments of rock deformation to seek deformation mechanisms, and geodynamic modeling to unify these observations. |