Name : SHINOHARA,  Masanao
            Position : Associate Professor
            Division/Center : Earthquake Observation Center
            Research Area : Marine seismology
 
 

Research :

The surface region of the Earth consisting of crust and uppermost mantle is considered to be the most active within the Earth.
       Because the dynamics of the Earth's surface is closely related with our life, a clarification of the dynamics is important information for
       understanding our environment including our social activities. The rough outline of the dynamics of the Earth's surface has been
       understood by the plate tectonics theory suggested in the 1960s. The plate boundary such as ridges and trenches is one of the most
       active areas in the Earth's surface. However, the plate tectonics theory can not describe what happens at a trench caused by the
       subduction of an oceanic plate in detail. We must know what happens at the plate boundaries for a precise understanding of the
       dynamics of the Earth's surface.

       At the present time, there are almost all plate boundaries beneath the sea. To get detailed data in such areas, observations on the sea
       floor are needed. In addition, we adopt the seismological methods due to the high resolution of results. Since ocean bottom
       seismometers are available now, we can perform enough observations and/or experiments to get detailed data in the sea. However,
       because the marine observation is one of the frontier of observation technology, development of instruments is sometimes needed for
       a new observation. We have a great interest in the dynamics of a trench-arc-backarc system. For observations/experiments in these
       regions, observations spread over a marine area and land are necessary, because some arc areas exist as land. A few observations
       over marine area and land have been carried out, therefore we consider that observations in boundary between a sea and land are in a
       new field including development of a method of observations.

Publications :

Tsumura, N., H. Ikawa, T, Ikawa, M. Shinohara, T. Ito, K. Arita, T. Moriya, G. Kimura and T. Ikawa, Delamination-wedge structure beneath the Hidaka Collision Zone, Central Hokkaido, Japan inferred from seismic reflection profiling, Geophys. Res. Lett., 26, 8, 1057--1060, 1999.

Kodaira, S., N. Takahashi, J.-O. Park, K. Mochizuki, M. Shinohara and S. Kimura, Western Nankai Trough Seismogeneic Zone: Results from a wide-angle ocean bottom seismic survey, J. Geophys. Res., 105, B3, 5887--5905, 2000.