Local earthquakes Recorded at Syowa Station, Antarctica

Abstract

The Japanese Antarctic Station Syowa (69°S, 39°E) is located at the edge of the East Antarctic Shield area. Seismic observations at Syowa Station were started in 1959. Phase readings of earthquakes have published by the National Institute of Polar Research as one of the JARE Data Report once a year since 1968. Eight local earthquakes were detected empirically on short-period seismographs at Syowa Station in 1990-1996. The seismicity during that period was very low compared with that in 1987-1989 when local earthquake locations were determined by the tripartite seismic array. An intraplate earthquake occurred about 400km north-east of Syowa Station on September 25,1996 of magnitude 4.6. This earthquake was the biggest one and the first which locates within 500km of Syowa Station during the last four decades.