Large heterogeneous structure beneath the Atotsugawa Fault, central Japan, revealed by seismic refraction and reflection experiments

•The seismic structure at the Atotsugawa Fault, Japan, was obtained by an exploration.•Low velocity zone beneath Atotsugawa fault was found.•Weak zone in the lower crust is important for the formation process of faults.

A high-strain-rate zone termed the Niigata Kobe Tectonic Zone is located in central Japan and contains an active right-lateral fault called the Atotsugawa Fault. We present the results of an explosive-source seismic experiment that focused on identifying the formation mechanisms of the fault. The experiment used seven explosive sources and 1108 seismic stations, and was undertaken during October 2007 in the area of the Atotsugawa Fault. The seismic stations were set up on a survey line with a length of ~ 170 km, oriented orthogonal to the strike of the fault. The linear array was used to identify the seismic structure of the fault zone and the deeper parts of the crust in the study area, yielding fine details of the seismic structure of the crust along the profile line, including lateral variations in P-wave velocity and the configuration of layers in the crust. A relatively low P-wave velocity reflective zone was detected beneath the fault at depths of 15-25 km. This zone also has extremely low S-wave velocities, directly underlies three active faults, and contains three low-resistivity zones that underlie these faults. These reflective and low-resistivity zones are thought to represent fluid within the crust, and the data obtained during this study are consistent with a weak zone model for the formation of the active faults in the study area. This suggests that the reflective layer represents a weak zone in the lower crust that is responsible for the concentration of deformation within the upper crust. The presence of abundant fluids beneath the Atotsugawa Fault could also reduce the strength of the lower crust, again focusing deformation related to the regional stress regime in areas that overlie these fluid-containing zones. The results suggest that the reflective layer was an important factor in the formation of the Atotsugawa Fault.