

QDCrustal Deformations Associated with the
1986 Fissure Eruption of Izu-Oshima Volcano, Japan,
and Their Tectonic Significance
MANABU HASHIMOTO and TAKASHI
TADA
Geographical Survey Institute, Kitazato 1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305, Japan
Physics of Earth Planetery Interiors, Vol.60,
P.324-338,1990.

We have investigated
crustal deformations associated with the
1986 eruption of lzu-Oshima volcano, Japan,
which was accompanied by an intensive fissure
eruption. Two fissure crater chains, with
NW-SE trend were created in the northem part
of the caldera and on its northwestern flank.
Their trend is consistent with the direction
of compressive stress in this region. Depression
of > 30 cm in the central zone including
the caldera, and in the northwestern and
southeastem parts in the island. was detected
by precise leveling. On the other hand, uplifts
up to 20 cm in the northeastern and southwestern
parts were observed. Tide observations revealed
that the Okada tide station, the leveling
datum in lzu-Oshima, may have subsided by
5 cm after the eruption. An ~1 m opening
of fissure craters was detected by distance
measurements of the baselines which cross
fissure craters. Horizontal displacements
obtained by reoccupation of control points
showed a symmetrical pattern which was consistent
with the opening of fissure craters. Anomalous
strain changes were also observed in the
surrounding regions-contractions were observed
in the Boso and the Miura peninsula, northeast
of lzu-Oshima, and extensions in the lzu
peninsula.
To interpret these crustal deformations, a model which consists of a nearly vertical
tensile fault and a deflation source is presented. The tensile fault lies parallel
to the fissures and is divided into two parts according to depth. The deeper
part of the tensile fault is 12 km long, 10 km wide, and has 2 km burial depth
and 2.7 m opening displacement. The shallower part, which may represent the fissure
craters, is 4 km long, 2 km wide, and the amount of opening is estimated to be
1 m. However, the deflation source may be located at a depth of 10 km beneath
the northwestem flank of the caldera and depression just above the source is
estimated to be 30 cm. A deflation source is required to explain the subsidence
at the Okada tide station and the extension in the lzu peninsula. This model
suggests that the eruption might have released tensile stresses in and around
the lzu region which result from bending of the subducting Philippine Sea plate.
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