抄録
Four trenches (Trenches A-D) were explored across the Yasutomi fault (a strand of the Yamasaki fault system) to date recent past faultings. Trench A was 3 m deep and 28 m long across the fault (Upper in Fig. 3 and Fig. 4), and the additional excavation was made down to 5 m deep (Fig. 5) from the western wall of trench A. The sizes of other tenches are similar to that of trench A. Since this site was being developed after this trenching for the building lot of a factory, many pieces of important geological evidence were gradually exposed with progress of the construction. This enabled us to make a further detailed geological and geomorphological study of the Yasutomi fault. The results are summarized as follows :
1) Yasutomi fault, which has been considered to be predominantly left-slip active one estimated from tectonic morphologies, was geologically confirmed that this had dislocated with predominantly lateral-slip component at least since a few tens of thousand years.
2) Widely sheared zones appeared along the north side of the active trace do not accompany any tectonic features. Therefore, this straightly trending depressional zone is to be recognized as a fault-line valley. A new fault was originated along the southern rim of pre-existed weak zone probably since the late Quaternary.
3) The valley-filling deposits are disturbed at the lower part of the trench but not at the upper part this suggests that the fault has not moved since the deposition of the upper horizon although small earthquakes have been reported to occur frequently around the fault. Sense and amount of vertical offset, drugged structure and other fault features vary laterally along this, as common in high angle strike-slip fault.
4) The latest displacement occurred between late 7 th and 12 th Centuries, probably associated with the 868 Harima Earthquake (M=7.1). Two more faultings were also inferred from C-14 dates of disturbed and undisturbed strata within a deformed zone of the fault, although they are less reliable. The recurrence interval of earthquakes as large as the 868 event is estimated to be at least 1000 or possibly a few thousand years along this strand of the Yamasaki fault system.
