From June 26, 2000, an intensive earthquake swarm started under Miyake-jima Island, 180 km south off Japan. This swarm was closely related to the eruption of Miyake-jima Island, probably dominated by underground magmatic activity. The swarm spread toward the northwestern ocean region from Miyake-jima Island, in which a huge number of earthquakes (over 100, 000) including five large events of M>6.0 were detected over about two months. This earthquake swarm was the most active since we started seismic observations in the 1970's.
Although there are some telemetered observation stations on the Izu volcanic islands, no offshore instruments were operated in the area of this earthquake swarm. To understand both the spatial and temporal changes of this activity, we conducted a series of ocean bottom seismometer observations. According to the variation in the seismic activity with time, we changed the array configuration of OBSs six times. Furthermore, real-time seismic observations were undertaken using a buoy-telemetering OBS system.
Combining the OBS data with those of the island stations, very precise earthquake locations were determined. The epicenter distribution obtained strongly indicates a northwest-southeastern lineament. The vertical cross-section of the events shows two characteristic trends. Deeper (7- 13km) events are forming a very thin (2-km thick) plane, while shallower ones (< 7 km) show a much thicker distribution. These distribution patterns will provide important constraints on the physical mechanism for understaning magma migration.
