2001 Volume 107 Issue 11 Pages 711-721
The conjugate fault method has been widely used in paleostress studies in Japan besed on mesoscale faults. But this method has theoretical problems, so the results using the method should be re-evaluated. To this end, the conjugate fault method and the multiple inverse method are compared using fault-slip data which we collected in the Niitsu Hill, central Japan. Paleostresses determined by the latter method are tensional stress in the northern part and compressive stress in the southern part. In the Kanadzu area of the northern part, two stresses of different ages were separated, and one of them is consistent with the conjugate fault method's paleostress solution. This means that the conjugate fault method is useful in such areas where conjugate faulting was dominant. However, the multiple inverse method gives another solution which is not found by the conjugate fault method.
