The March 11th, 2011, M 9.0 earthquake offshore Honshu island (Japan): a synthesis of the Tohoku-Oki INGV Team research activities

Abstract

On March 11th, 2011 (at 05:46:23 UTC) a megaearthquake (M 9.0) occurred near the NE coast of Honshu island ( Japan), originated near the subduction plate boundary between the Pacific and the North America plates. The epicenter has been located at about 130 km East of Sendai city, at a depth of about 32 km. This seismic event has been followed by a devastating tsunami. The location, the geometric parameters, the focal mechanism, are in agreement with the occurrence of the earthquake along the subduction plate boundary. The initial seismological analysis indicated that a surface of about 300 km x 150 km over the fault moved upwards of 30-40 m. The Tohoku-Oki INGV Team has made available a wide and multisciplinary expertise to investigate the different scientific issues concerning the earthquake. Indeed from Seismology to Geomorphology, from Remote Sensing to GPS, from Tsunami to Source Modeling the INGV Team has completed a wide range of analysis, obtaining relevant outcomes that are summarized in this work.