地殻変動研究の立場からみた地震・地球動力学研究の最近の発展

抄録

Recent researches on crustal deformation are briefly reviewed in relation to earthquake studies and other geophysical researches. Main topics discussed in this article are as follows;
(1) Based on the elasticity theory of dislocation, simple analytical expressions and computational tools were developed to estimate static source parameters from the surface deformation data. Starting from this simple source model, further developments were made in chiefly three courses of studies: (a) introduction of inversion technique to directly derive source parameters from geodetic data, (b) introduction of quasi-static viscoelastic process to interpret post-seismic relaxation process, (c) examinations on stress redistribution due to an earthquake and the interaction of active faults.
(2) Seismic cycles are discussed with special focus on the coastal deformation in the southwest Japan. From time intervals of a cycle and seismic uplift data, the time-predictable model was proposed. The mechanism of accumulation of remnant deformation in the seismic cycle is still open to question in spite of various proposed mechanisms.
(3) Developments of space techniques were briefly reviewed; they are Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI), Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) and Global Positioning System (GPS). Recent results from these new techniques may have capabilities to provide sufficient data to discuss not only overall plate motions but also detailed intraplate deformations. These techniques are opening a new era for the crustal deformation researches.