Geochemical Signature of Deep Fluids Triggering Earthquake Swarm in the Noto Peninsula, Central Japan

Abstract

Abstract On New Year's Day 2024, a magnitude 7.6 event struck the Noto Peninsula in central Japan. Prior to this event, an intense earthquake swarm had persisted beneath the northeastern peninsula for more than five years. Geophysical evidence provides insight into the upwelling of deep fluids from the uppermost mantle that triggers the seismic swarm activity. The noble gases and their isotopes have been used as geochemical indicators to determine the origin of the fluids associated with the swarms and their upwelling. Gas samples collected from boreholes around the seismic source region are characterized by anomalously high 3He/4He ratios (∼3.9 RAcor), indicating infiltration of mantle fluids from the subcrustal lithosphere. Using a steady‐state advection model, we calculated mantle helium fluxes of 1.1–2.4 × 10−15 mol cm−2 a−1, similar to those estimated for other representative fault zones, such as the San Andreas and North Anatolian faults.

Keywords

• M 7.6 earthquake
• Noto Peninsula
• earthquake swarms
• helium isotopes
• mantle fluid