Project Details
Projekt
MAG-TRACK: Tracing Coseismic Slip and Fluid Flow through Magnetic Minerals in the Japan Trench – IODP Exp. 405 Sites C0019 and C0026
Applicant
Professorin Dr. Derya Gürer
Subject Area
Geology
Term
since 2025
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 566825418
Earthquakes induce slip along discrete fault planes, generating localized high temperatures for a short time due to frictional heating, also known as flash heating. This process leads to the alteration and formation of new minerals, including Fe-bearing magnetic minerals, which record past frictional heating. The peak temperature reached during this heating is crucial for estimating the energy dissipated by an earthquake. Principal slip zones produced by repeated earthquakes along fault zones carry these thermal signatures. Understanding the peak temperature from the largest earthquake on a fault provides insights into its seismic hazard. Magnetic property analysis is useful because the grain size of magnetic particles is linked to their formation temperature. In the case of the Tohoku-oki earthquake, where no local temperature sensors were available, magnetic minerals near fault slip surfaces recorded heating and replacement signatures that can be compared with in-situ temperature measurements obtained during JTRACK and JFAST expeditions. The magnetic analysis of natural fault rocks will be complemented with laboratory-simulated fault rocks to experimentally calibrate the conditions under which shallow earthquakes propagate in clay-rich prism sediments.
DFG Programme
Infrastructure Priority Programmes
International Connection
Japan, Netherlands
Cooperation Partners
Professor Dr. André Niemeijer; Dr. Hanaya Okuda
