U.S.-Japan Cooperative Research: Japanese-American Seismic and Magnetic International Experiment

该奖项支持加州大学圣地亚哥分校斯克里普斯海洋学研究所的John Hildebrand教授和东京大学地震研究所的Junzo Kasahara教授之间为期两年的合作研究项目。该项目涉及在西太平洋马里亚纳、雅普和帕劳海沟一带的岛屿地点设置地震台站，并配合一项用地震和磁传感器长期测量西太平洋废弃电信电缆的方案。作为该项目的一部分，加州大学圣地亚哥分校的一名研究生将在东京大学进行研究。西太平洋洋深海沟是该地区洋壳大规模俯冲的结果。与俯冲有关的是沿海沟向陆地一侧的贝尼奥夫带的高水平地震活动的产生。利用全球地震台网对西太平洋俯冲带发生的大震级地震进行了广泛的研究，提供了发震带构造和特征的详细地图。较小震级的地震需要区域性地震台网进行研究。这一点在日本群岛上尤其成功，因为在日本群岛上，一个庞大的区域地震台站网络位于发震区上方。西太平洋的其他俯冲带区域可用于放置地震台站的岛屿较少，但这些地区对于获得西太平洋地震活动和构造行为的完整图像非常重要。

This award supports a two-year cooperative research project between Professor John Hildebrand, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, and Professor Junzo Kasahara, Earthquake Research Institute, University of Tokyo. The project involves placing seismic stations in island sites along the Mariana, Yap and Palau Trench regions of the western Pacific, in coordination with a program for long-term instrumenting abandoned telecommunications cables in the western Pacific with seismic and magnetic sensors. A graduate student from UC San Diego will conduct research at the University of Tokyo as part of this project. The oceanic deep-sea trenches of the western Pacific are the result of large-scale subduction of oceanic crust in this region. Associated with subduction is the generation of high levels of seismicity along dipping Benioff zones on the landward side of the oceanic trenches. The large magnitude earthquakes generated at western Pacific subduction zones has been extensively studies using the Global Seismic Network, providing a detailed mapping of the configuration and characteristics of the seismogenic zone. Smaller magnitude earthquakes require regional seismic networks for study. This has particularly been accomplished on the Japanese Islands where an exensive regional netowrk of seismic stations are positioned above the seismogenic zone. Other subduction zone regions of the western Pacific have fewer island sites available for placement of seismic stations, yet these areas are important to gain a complete picture of the seismicity and tectonic behavior of the western Pacific.