The 3-D tectonic stress fields in and around Japan inverted from centroid moment tensor data of seismic events

1 We can regard the occurrence of earthquakes as the partial release of tectonic stress by sudden brittle rupture. In the framework of linear elasticity, any indigenous source including earthquake rupture is represented by a moment tensor. The moment tensor is mathematically equivalent to the volume integral of stress release over the whole elastic region surrounding the source, and so we can quantitatively relate the centroid moment tensor (CMT) of seismic events with an unknown tectonic stress field. On the basis of such an idea and Bayesian statistical inference theory, we developed an inversion method to estimate the 3-D pattern of tectonic stress from CMT data. Applying the CMT data inversion method to 12,500 seismic events in and around Japan, we obtained precise 3-D tectonic stress patterns that illuminate the present-day (Quaternary) complex tectonic motion of Japanese islands. The stress pattern of the Kuril-Japan-Nankai arc is basically E–W compression, but the direction of intermediate principal stress changes from N–S (reverse faulting type) in northeast Japan to vertical (strike-slip faulting type) in southwest Japan. On the other hand, the stress pattern of the Ryukyu and Izu-Bonin back-arc regions is basically trench perpendicular tension (normal faulting type). In addition to these basic stress patterns governed by mechanical interaction between the Eurasian, North American, Pacific, and Philippine Sea plates, we can recognize several characteristic local stress patterns corresponding to the horizontal motion of the Kuril fore-arc sliver, the collision of the Izu Peninsula with the mainland of Japan, and the opening of the Beppu-Shimabara rift zone.