Earthquake activity in the Torishima Rift and Sofu Seamount, and its relationship to the October 2023 tsunamis in Japan

Earthquake activity in the Torishima Rift and Sofu Seamount, and its relationship to the October 2023 tsunamis in Japan | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Earthquake activity in the Torishima Rift and Sofu Seamount, and its relationship to the October 2023 tsunamis in Japan Koichiro Obana, Aki Ito, Toshiya Fujiwara, Masayuki Obayashi, and 10 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5878982/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 28 Apr, 2025 Read the published version in Earth, Planets and Space → Version 1 posted 5 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract An increase in seismic activity was observed near the Izu-Torishima and Sofugan islands in the Izu-Ogasawara arc of Japan in early October 2023. Several M6-class earthquakes occurred from October 3 to 6, and tsunamis were recorded on October 5 and 6, associated with M6-class normal faulting earthquakes. On October 8, tsunamis were observed without any significant earthquakes but accompanied by distinct T-phase signals. Analyses of T-phases, tsunami waveforms, and bathymetry surveys suggested that the October 8 tsunamis were linked to the volcanic activity at the Sofu Seamount, located west of Sofugan Island. However, the precise location of the entire activity and its connection to the tsunamis on October 5 and 6 remain unclear. We conducted earthquake observations near the Sofu Seamount from November to December 2023 using ocean bottom seismographs (OBSs). These observations revealed that seismic activity extended approximately 50 km in the NNW direction, from the Sofu Seamount to the Torishima Rift, which is a back-arc rift located between the Izu-Torishima and Sofugan Islands. Although it is difficult to constrain the hypocenter depths owing to the limited number of OBSs and their large separations, earthquakes in the Torishima Rift were likely located at depths of 15–20 km or even shallower, at approximately 5 km. The tsunami observed at Hachijo-jima Island on October 5 can be attributed to the rupture of a normal fault in the Torishima Rift, as inferred from OBS observations. Shallow normal faults and intrusions reaching the seafloor were also imaged in the back-arc rift zone near the Torishima Rift. Moreover, the earthquake activity in early October showed a northward migration from the Sofu Seamount to the Torishima Rift, followed by a rapid decrease after the volcanic activity of the Sofu Seamount accompanied by tsunamis on October 8. The results suggest that the seismic activity accompanied by tsunamis in early October 2023 is likely related not only to the volcanic activity at the Sofu Seamount but also to the magmatic activity in the Torishima Rift. Full Text Supplementary Files 202310.Torishima.graphicalabstract.png Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 28 Apr, 2025 Read the published version in Earth, Planets and Space → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Minor Revision 15 Feb, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 07 Feb, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 06 Feb, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 31 Jan, 2025 First submitted to journal 21 Jan, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-5878982","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":412334500,"identity":"d4da368e-7aa0-4452-b4d1-5b6ce1729431","order_by":0,"name":"Koichiro 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