Japan is one of the most earthquake-prone countries in the world. Many earthquakes occur every year, and it is considered that a huge earthquake could occur in the Nankai Trough or directly under the Tokyo metropolitan area in the near future. However, despite the efforts of seismologists, useful forecasts of earthquakes have proved elusive.
The recently discovered phenomenon of slow earthquakes has attracted scientific attention because it may fundamentally change our understanding of earthquakes. During an earthquake, underground rock ruptures quickly, radiating strong seismic waves that shake the ground. During slow earthquakes, the underground rock also ruptures, but slowly, so the shaking is very weak, sufficiently weak that these earthquakes have been overlooked until this century, with the development of highly sensitive instrumentation for seismic detection. Research during the last two decades has discovered slow earthquakes in various regions worldwide and has established some of their characteristics. However, their relationship to the occurrence of huge earthquakes, a topic of paramount concern, is not well understood. Therefore, we have launched a research project to broaden and deepen our understanding of earthquakes ranging from slow earthquakes to fast (ordinary) earthquakes. This is a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research Project [Grant-in-Aid for Transformative Research Areas (A)] of MEXT, Japan, entitled “The Science of Slow-to-Fast Earthquakes”.
To enable these researchers from various fields to collaborate effectively, six planned research subgroups have been established in the research area (see below schematic figure). These are the A01 Physicochemical Processes Group, A02 Structural Anatomy Group, A03 International Comparison Group, B01 New Technology Observation Group, B02 Information Science Group, and B03 Modeling and Forecast Group. In addition, we are calling for publicly offered research proposals every two years. Approximately 100 researchers, and many students who will lead the next generation of scientists, will work within this five-year-long research project to understand both slow and fast earthquakes and better forecast their future occurrence.


  International Joint Workshop on Slow-to-Fast Earthquakes 2024
Date: 2024/9/17~19
Venu: B-CON Plaza (Beppu City, Oita prefecture)
Website: link


Background images are
・a famous hot spring in Beppu, "Chinoike"
・seismograms of Noto earthquake 2024
・turbidite in Nobeoka (field trip site)
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About Beppu


Reports of the 2023 workshop is here

Group photo in the 2023 workshop
  S-CG40 Science of slow-to-fast earthquakes 
Session information

We have a two-day oral session and 51 posters in JpGU 2024. 

Oral Session
5/28 Tue. AM1, AM2, PM1, PM2
5/29 Wed. AM1, AM2, PM1, PM2

Poster session
5/28 Tue. PM3

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