“Ultrasound” of seafloor reveals structure of “tsunami factory”

Cross section illustration of the structure of the crust below the Nankai Trough. Locations of seismometers and drill hole locations are also indicated. Image courtesy of Greg Moore

Geology & Geophysics professor Gregory Moore and geoscientists from the Japan Agency for Marine Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) and the University of Texas at Austin collected 3-D seismic data revealing the structure of a region of the Pacific seafloor off Japan that has generated devastating tsunami. The results, published in the journal Science, address a long standing mystery as to why not all seafloor earthquakes trigger tsunami.
Read more about it in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, the UH News online, and download the SOEST press release (PDF).