Evidence of viscoelastic deformation following the 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake revealed from seafloor geodetic observation

The GPS/acoustic seafloor positioning has detected significant postseismic movements after the 2011 Tohoku‐Oki earthquake (M9.0), just above the source region off the Pacific coast of eastern Japan. In contrast to the coastal Global Navigation Satellite Systems sites where trenchward‐upward movements were reported, the offshore sites above the main rupture zone in the northern part of the source region exhibit landward displacements of tens of centimeters with significant subsidence from almost 3 years of repeated observations. At the sites above around the edge of the main rupture zone, smaller amount of trench‐normal movements was found. Although the terrestrial movements were reasonably interpreted by afterslip beneath the coastal area, these offshore results are rather consistent with effects predicted from viscoelastic relaxation in the upper mantle, providing definitive evidence of its occurrence. On the other hand, the results in the southern part of the source region imply superposition of effects from viscoelastic relaxation and afterslip. Key Points Postseismic seafloor movements after the Tohoku‐oki earthquake are detectedSeafloor above the main rupture zone moves landward, opposite to coastal areaLandward movements are dominantly affected by viscoelastic relaxation