ESTIMATION OF SOURCE PARAMETERS AND STRONG GROUND MOTIONS DURING THE 1855 ANSEI-EDO EARTHQUAKE BY THE EMPIRICAL GREEN'S FUNCTION METHOD

Abstract

The 1855 Ansei-Edo earthquake caused severe damage to Tokyo (Edo) metropolitan area. The damage was the next to that in the 1923 Kanto earthquake. In this study, source parameters of the 1855 Ansei-Edo earthquake were estimated by obtaining a good match between the simulated strong ground motions by the empirical Green's function method and the macroseismic data (isoseismal map). The hypocenter of the earthquake is most plausible near the border of Chiba and Ibaraki prefectures at a depth of 68km, near the upper surface of the Pacific plate. The magnitude of 7.4 is the best estimate for interpreting the macroseismic data.