Triggering of aftershocks of the Japan 2011 earthquake by Earth tidesTI Triggering of aftershocks of the Japan 2011 earthquake by Earth tides

摘要

The aftershock sequence of the devastating Japan earthquake of March 2011 is analysed for the presence of periodicities at the Earth tide periods. We use spectral analysis as well as a time-domain method, KORRECT, developed earlier to detect the presence of diurnal and semi-diurnal periodicities in the sequence of aftershocks (M >= 4). This suggests that large aftershocks in the fault zone of the Japan 2011 earthquake were strongly influenced by Earth tides.