Fault and geodynamics Research Group, Department of Earth Science

My research interests involve mechanisms of intermediate-deep earthquakes (focal depth: 60-300 km) and deep-focus earthquakes (focal depth: 410-660 km) in the deep subduction zone. Due to the high-pressure and temperature environment of the Earth’s interior, the rocks are assumed to be deformed not by brittle fracture but by ductile flow. Nevertheless, the deep subduction zone has many earthquakes. Many previous studies have proposed various models, but the consensus is not obtained. Therefore, I conduct rock deformation experiments using Griggs-type defomation apparatus to simulate the deep interior of the Earth. Furthermore, I also conduct numerical experiments using the Phase Field method to simulate the difficult condition (slow strain rate and large grain size) of the Earth’s interior to duplicate in the experiments.