Skip to main content

Kurile arc subduction zone: View of great earthquake generation and disaster mitigation of related phenomena

Earth, Planets and Space welcomes submissions to the special issue on 'Kurile arc subduction zone: View of great earthquake generation and disaster mitigation of related phenomena'.

Various great earthquakes have historically occurred along the Kurile subduction zones. Geological studies including pre-historical tsunami researches also revealed that M9 class earthquakes occurred in this subduction zone. Various geophysical studies, including crustal deformation, gravity, seismic activity, crustal structure studies, or volcanic activities after the earthquake, were vigorously conducted to understand subduction processes along the Kurile arc. Not only those earthquake sciences, but also researches on disaster mitigation from those earthquake and tsunamis became important and were conducted by various disciplines. Now is the time to combine those interdisciplinary researches for better understanding of great earthquake generation processes and for mitigating disaster from those earthquakes and tsunamis. 

This special issue covers all disciplines concerning earthquake generation process along the Kurile subduction zone and disaster mitigation of related phenomena, including:

・Geological evidences for great earthquakes and tsunamis.
・Crustal deformation or gravity variation.
・Seismic activities.
・Structures in the subduction zone.
・Volcanic activities after great earthquakes
・Integrated modeling of earthquake generation
・Strong motions from great earthquakes
・Tsunami or strong motion early warning

Edited by Yuichiro Tanioka, Masanobu Shishikura, Naoki Uchida, Aditya Riadi Gusman, Takuya Nishimura


  1. We make trial binary forecasts for the Kurile–Japan subduction zone for the period 1988–2014 by hypothesizing that seismic quiescence (i.e., the absence of earthquakes of M ≥ 5 for a minimum period of Tq) is a pr...

    Authors: Kei Katsumata and Masao Nakatani
    Citation: Earth, Planets and Space 2021 73:100
  2. Distinct later phases of waves with rich high-frequency (> 8 Hz) components were observed for intraslab earthquakes that occurred at intermediate depths, particularly at depths exceeding 100 km, in the northea...

    Authors: Takahiro Shiina, Kei Katsumata, Kiyoshi Yomogida and Aitaro Kato
    Citation: Earth, Planets and Space 2021 73:33
  3. The tectonic stress field was investigated in and around the aftershock area of the Hokkaido Eastern Iburi earthquake (MJMA = 6.7) occurred on 6 September 2018. We deployed 26 temporary seismic stations in the af...

    Authors: Yuki Susukida, Kei Katsumata, Masayoshi Ichiyanagi, Mako Ohzono, Hiroshi Aoyama, Ryo Tanaka, Masamitsu Takada, Teruhiro Yamaguchi, Kazumi Okada, Hiroaki Takahashi, Shin’ichi Sakai, Satoshi Matsumoto, Tomomi Okada, Toru Matsuzawa, Hiroki Miyamachi, Shuichiro Hirano…
    Citation: Earth, Planets and Space 2021 73:1
  4. Postseismic Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) time series followed by megathrust earthquakes can be interpreted as a result of afterslip on the plate interface, especially in its early phase. Afterslip...

    Authors: Masayuki Kano, Shin’ichi Miyazaki, Yoichi Ishikawa and Kazuro Hirahara
    Citation: Earth, Planets and Space 2020 72:159
  5. We determined focal mechanism solutions of microearthquakes and examined the stress field in the low-seismicity region from southern Hokkaido to eastern Aomori, NE Japan. The stress fields determined in this s...

    Authors: Sumire Maeda, Toru Matsuzawa, Tomomi Okada, Hiroshi Katao, Takeyoshi Yoshida, Masahiro Kosuga and Makoto Otsubo
    Citation: Earth, Planets and Space 2020 72:117
  6. The southwestern Kuril trench is seismically active due to the subduction of the Pacific plate. Great earthquakes in this zone have frequently induced fatal disasters. Seismic monitoring and hypocenter catalog...

    Authors: Masayoshi Ichiyanagi, Valentin Mikhaylov, Dmitry Kostylev, Yuri Levin and Hiroaki Takahashi
    Citation: Earth, Planets and Space 2020 72:86