Abstract
The southern part of the Sendai Plain is located between the Futaba active fault zone and the Nagamachi-Rifu active fault zone. In the existing research, only 6.5km long of the active fault trace was estimated along the eastern foot of Medeshima Hills because the geomorphic surface of the Medeshima Hills is warping toward east. Besides the above, no other active fault trace had been clearly identified in this area. To reveal the subsurface structure, we conducted 5.3-km-long of seismic reflection survey across the southern part of the Sendai Plain, near the mouth of the Abukuma river, which is the northern extension of Futaba active fault zone. The result of seismic profile analyzed with a standard CMP method shows the existence of concealed active fault beneath the Sendai Plain and 30-40m of dislocations in seismic reflectors from Miocene to Quaternary layer. The activity of the concealed fault is estimated as a C-class (Long-term rate of faulting, 0.01-0.1mm/yr). The survey of relative gravity measurement at intervals of 200 m was also conducted, including the seismic reflection survey line. Steep gradient of the Bouguer gravity anomaly were observed in the vicinity of the concealed active fault that is revealed from the seismic reflection survey. Analysis with the 2-D density structure analysis demonstrates that steep gradient of Bouguer gravity anomaly was responsible for large deformation of pre-Miocene basement rocks by repeated faulting of the concealed active fault. In addition, to discuss a tectonic evolution of the Sendai Plain, we made topographic profiles, using 1m-DEM and 2m-DEM data across the plain. Topographies of these profiles show that discontinuity of 1.5-2.2m on both sides of the westernmost beach ridge in the southern part of the Sendai Plain. Active faulting of the concealed fault has possibly contributed to these topographic discontinuities.
