Magnetotelluric imaging of the Median Tectonic Line in western Shikoku, southwest Japan: Implications of the fault-related low-resistivity zone

•We conducted a magnetotelluric survey of the Median Tectonic Line (MTL) in Japan.•The MTL dips northward at 40 degrees and extends to a depth of 20 km.•The MTL has a wide low-resistivity zone along the fault plane.•The maximum porosity value of the MTL damaged zone is estimated to be 7.1%.

We carried out a magnetotelluric (MT) survey along a profile crossing the Median Tectonic Line (MTL) in western Shikoku, Japan. The MTL is a terrane boundary that formed during the Cretaceous between the Sanbagawa belt, consisting of high pressure/temperature (P/T) metamorphic rocks, and the Ryoke belt of granites and low P/T metamorphic rocks. The MT image shows a zone of remarkably low resistivity, dipping northward at 40°, at the surface coincides with the surface trace of the MTL. The low-resistivity zone probably corresponds to a fluid-filled damaged zone of porous media composed of clay minerals and cracked rocks, formed by repeated faulting of the MTL since Late Cretaceous time. The calculated maximum porosity of the damaged zone is 7.1%, which is clearly higher than that of the non-damaged crystalline rocks.