Fugendake, the main peak of Unzen Volcano of Kyushu Island in southwest Japan, started to erupt on November 17, 1990, after 198 years of dormancy, and lava extrusion has continued over three years since May 1991. Hypocenters of earthquakes which occurred before and during that eruption were precisely determined using P-wave arrival time data from five selected seismic stations near the focal region. The hypocenters in Chijiwa Bay are distributed in Chijiwa Caldera. Two linear arrangements of epicenters directed nearly from west to east emerged clearly in the western part of the Shimabara Peninsula, whose hypocentral depths became shallower toward the summit of Fugendake. The distribution of hypocenters is restricted by the fault systems which have been formed by the crustal movements of Unzen Graben. The stress which generates these earthquakes is dominated mainly by the north-south extension ; consistent with the regional tectonic stress. The directions of pressure axes are controlled by the magmatic pressure beneath the focal region. It is inferred from the hypocentral distribution and the orientations of pressure axes that the magma involved in the 1990-94 eruption is situated below an inclined boundary between seismic and aseismic regions in the western part of the Shimabara Peninsula. The magma ascent path is located at 13±2 km in depth beneath the western shore of the Shimabara Peninsula, becoming shollower eastward with an angle of elevation of 40〜50°.

抄録全体を表示