Fractures and Subsidiary Faults Developed in the Active Strike‐Slip Nojima Fault Zone, Japan, and Tectonic Implications

The Nojima Fault Zone, on which the 1995 Mw 6.9 Kobe (Japan) earthquake occurred, is characterized by pulverized cataclastic rocks with numerous fractures and subsidiary faults. The fractures and subsidiary faults were observed in trench walls and using borehole televiewer (BHTV) images from boreholes NFD‐1 (~1,000‐m depth) and AFD‐1 (~700‐m depth), which were drilled through the Nojima Fault and its branch, the Asano Fault, respectively. Measurements show that the orientations of fractures and subsidiary faults in the two boreholes are concentrated at N10–70°E, averaging N40°E. In contrast, the orientations of fractures and subsidiary faults in the walls of a trench across the main surface trace of the Asano Fault are constrained to N0–40°E, averaging N20°E, parallel to the general trend of the Asano Fault but different with that observed in the deep holes at the Ogura site. Structural analysis shows that the fractures and subsidiary faults are mainly concentrated in Riedel Y and R shears of the right‐lateral strike‐slip Nojima Fault and its branch Asano Fault. Our findings demonstrate that the fractures and subsidiary faults within the Nojima Fault Zone were formed by dextral strike‐slip shearing under the current ENE‐WSW to E‐W compressive regional tectonic stress field, related to ongoing subduction of the Pacific and Philippine Sea plates beneath the Japanese Islands. Key Points This paper reports the distribution patterns of fractures developed in the Nojima Fault (NF) that triggered the 1995 Mw 6.9 Kobe earthquake 1)Fractures and subsidiary faults are mainly concentrated in the Riedel Y‐ and R‐shears of the NF and its branch Asano Fault. Fractures were formed by dextral strike‐slip shearing under the ENE‐WSW compressive regional tectonic stress