Tectonomagnetic study in the eastern part of Hokkaido, NE Japan (II): Magnetic fields related with the 2003 Tokachi-oki earthquake and the 2004 Kushiro-oki earthquake

Abstract

Abstract We examined short-term geomagnetic changes related with the 2003 Tokachi-oki earthquake (M 8.0) and the 2004 Kushiro-oki earthquake (M 7.1) in Hokkaido, Japan. However, we could not find the precursory and co-seismic signals above several nT at a magnetic station whose epicentral distances were about 120 km and 50 km, respectively. Model calculations showed that co-seismic piezomagnetic fields did not amount to 1 nT at the station in both cases when we assumed the relevant fault parameters, in-situ Curie temperature depth, subsurface magnetic structure and stress sensitivity of rocks. Therefore, it may be reasonable that we could not detect the piezomagnetic signals at the station. We also made model calculations to forecast the piezomagnetic amplitudes caused by M 7.9 and M 8.5 earthquakes which have been expected to occur along the southern Kurile trench in the future. The model calculations reveal the piezomagnetic fields up to about −4 nT and −7 nT are expected in the eastern part of the Hokkaido island for the M 7.9 and M 8.5 earthquakes respectively, encouraging magnetic observations hereafter.