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Nakatani Lab
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The lab explores how earthquakes begin through experiments on rock friction and fracture.
AboutAbout the lab
Exploring how earthquakes start from rocks rubbing together.
The Nakatani Lab studies the mechanisms by which earthquakes occur through experiments and theory on rock friction and fracture.
It investigates, from both physical and chemical perspectives, how friction changes over time when faults rub against each other.
The lab deploys detectors that capture tiny fractures deep underground in South African mines, and has found fracture activity concentrated on faults and changes in that activity before large earthquakes.
Another line of research uses statistics to test how reliable phenomena regarded as earthquake precursors actually are.
Key terms
- Time-dependent effects of friction
- The property by which the strength of friction changes depending on how long fault surfaces have been in contact.
- Precursory slip
- A phenomenon in which part of a fault is thought to begin slipping slowly before a large earthquake. Also called preslip.
- Rock mass
- A solid, continuous layer of rock underground.
ResearchResearch themes
The lab studies the time-dependent effects of fault friction as a key to explaining the diversity of ways earthquakes occur. In addition to laboratory rock experiments and theory, it conducts in-situ observation underground in mines and statistical evaluation of phenomena regarded as earthquake precursors.
*Illustrative imageExperiments and Theory on Time-Dependent Effects of Friction
The lab investigates the physical and chemical mechanisms behind the time-dependent effects of friction that are relevant to earthquake phenomena, using experiments and theory. It is developing a non-destructive method to monitor the internal state of frictional interfaces, with the aim of applying it to detect where precursory slip before an earthquake is occurring.
*Illustrative imageEarthquake Observation in South African Mines
The lab observes seismic activity with detectors that capture centimeter-scale fractures, placed several kilometers underground in South African mines. It has found fracture activity strongly concentrated on fault planes, changes in that activity before large earthquakes, and the formation of zones where fractures concentrate in the rock mass ahead of the mining face.
*Illustrative imageStatistical Evaluation of Earthquake Precursors
The lab statistically evaluates how reliable phenomena such as precursory slip (preslip) and electromagnetic phenomena are as precursors of earthquakes.
MembersFaculty
- ProfessorMasao NakataniPublications ↗
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Fault slickenside (Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee-North Carolina, USA) 1” James St. John / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Experiments and Theory on Time-Dependent Effects of Friction: “Fault gouge (San Andreas Fault Zone, Mecca Hills, Riverside County, California, USA) )” James St. John / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Earthquake Observation in South African Mines: “Mponeng-goudmyn, Merafong City-pm, Wesrand-dm, a” JMK / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Statistical Evaluation of Earthquake Precursors: “Seismogram at Weston Observatory” Z22 / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Araya Lab): “Interferenz-michelson” FL0 / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Kato Lab): “Japan earthquake map” Jackopoid / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Mochizuki Lab (Marine Seismology)): “Test des sismomètres OBS (Ocean Bottom Seismometer) en bassin d'essais (Ifremer )” Olivier Dugornay (Ifremer) / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Shinohara Lab (Marine Seismology Group / Seafloor Seismic and Crustal Deformation Observation)): “Ocean Bottom Seismometer made by ERI, U-Tokyo” Theodore Xu / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
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