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Earth and Planetary Dynamics Lab
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A lab that takes on the mechanisms and prediction of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions through observation and simulation.
AboutAbout the lab
Understanding how earthquakes and volcanoes work, and linking that to prediction.
The Earth and Planetary Dynamics Lab aims to clarify the mechanisms of crustal activity such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions and to link them to scientific prediction.
The Japanese archipelago is a region where the Pacific Plate and the Philippine Sea Plate subduct, and giant earthquakes, inland earthquakes, and volcanoes characterize the region.
Students can approach research from various angles, including field observation, development of new observation technologies, and theory and numerical computation.
Faculty of the Earthquake and Volcano Research Center, Graduate School of Environmental Studies, provide supervision, and the center has networks for observing earthquakes and crustal deformation in the Chubu and Tokai regions.
Key terms
- Crustal deformation
- The gradual movement or distortion of the ground caused by plate motion or earthquakes
- Nankai Trough
- A submarine trough off the coast from Tokai to Kyushu where the Philippine Sea Plate subducts. Giant earthquakes occur at the plate boundary
- Slow slip
- A phenomenon in which a plate boundary slips slowly without producing strong shaking
NewsLab news
A doctoral student received the 21st Hotta Memorial Encouragement Award from the Japan Society of Marine Science and Engineering
Professor Sagiya was named an Earth, Planets and Space Excellent Reviewer 2025
Research by Lecturer Ichihara, "Successful observation of a remote volcanic island by shipboard operation of an unmanned helicopter," has been published
Lecturer Ichihara received the SGEPSS Paper Award from the Society of Geomagnetism and Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences
ResearchResearch themes
The lab aims to clarify the various crustal activities that occur near the Earth's surface, such as earthquake occurrence and volcanic eruptions, and to achieve scientific prediction. Its research is wide-ranging, from physical modeling based on observation and theory, data analysis, and numerical simulation to the development of new observation and analysis methods.
*Illustrative imageSimulating Crustal Activity in the Japanese Archipelago
The lab represents deformation caused by interactions between plates with physical models and runs large-scale numerical simulations based on them. It aims to understand various crustal activities, including the occurrence of large earthquakes, in a unified way.
*Illustrative imageSeafloor Crustal Deformation Observation in the Nankai Trough
The lab places observation stations on the seafloor in areas such as Kumano-nada and Suruga Bay, and goes out to sea by ship to directly and continuously measure seafloor movement accompanying plate motion near the Nankai Trough. Observations in Kumano-nada have shown that energy toward the next earthquake continues to accumulate.
*Illustrative imageDetecting Subsurface Changes with ACROSS
ACROSS is a device that continuously sends stable seismic waves into the ground and captures the returning signals with seismometers to study time changes in subsurface structure. Nagoya University developed it ahead of the rest of the world. The lab has installed it in the Tokai region, where slow slip is occurring, and is working to capture changes in plate coupling.
*Illustrative imageEarthquake and Crustal Deformation Observation in Tokai
The lab maintains earthquake and crustal deformation observation sites in the Tokai area and observes continuously. It observes Mt. Ontake intensively in particular because the volcano repeatedly produces small phreatic eruptions, and to its southeast and east, swarm earthquakes have continued since the 1984 Western Nagano Prefecture Earthquake.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Earth and Planetary Dynamics Lab consist of faculty, doctoral and master's students, research students, and undergraduate students carrying out graduation research.As of 2026
- ProfessorTakeshi Sagiya
- ProfessorToshiki Watanabe
- ProfessorToshiko Terakawa
- ProfessorKeiichi Tadokoro
- Associate ProfessorChihiro Hashimoto
- Associate ProfessorTakeo Ito
- Associate ProfessorYuta Maeda
- LecturerHiroshi Ichihara
- Assistant ProfessorKimiko Taguchi
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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: “001 Volcano eruption of Litli-Hrútur in Iceland in 2023 Photo by Giles Laurent” Giles Laurent / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Simulating Crustal Activity in the Japanese Archipelago: “Fault scarp a Quake Lake 19970627” Jstuby / CC0 (cropped)
- Seafloor Crustal Deformation Observation in the Nankai Trough: “Nankai trough topographic” Peka / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Detecting Subsurface Changes with ACROSS: “Seismometer-iceland” Heidi Soosalu / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Earthquake and Crustal Deformation Observation in Tokai: “Kiso Ontake” Atsushi Ueda / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Earth and Planetary Physics Lab): “Sizes of Solar System objects to scale” RedKire25 / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Geochronology Lab): “EPMA GTK Espoo” Kallerna / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Earth History (Nagoya University Museum) Lab): “Eurhinosaurus fossil located under the monumental staircase of the Gallery of Paleontology (French National Museum of Natural History, Paris)” Kintaro / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Global Water Cycle Science Division, Oceanography Lab): “Infrared satellite image from the Pacífic Ocean” GOES Satellites / Public domain (cropped)
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