Tiny Clay Layer Guided the 2011 Tōhoku Rupture Toward the Seafloor
Researchers drilling at the Japan Trench uncovered a roughly 100-foot pelagic clay layer that formed a narrow, ultra-weak fault guiding the megathrust rupture to near the seafloor, explaining the unprecedented shallow slip and enormous tsunami of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake; the finding, published in Science, suggests similar weak-clay layers could influence ruptures in other subduction zones.
