Successfully photographed fault cliffs formed by multiple activities of an active fault that caused the 2024 Noto Peninsula earthquake on the seafloor in the northern coastal area of the Noto Peninsula.

Associate Professor Robert Jenkins from Faculty of Geosciences and Civil Engineering, Institute of Science and Engineering, Kanazawa University, Professor Nobuo Suzuki from Institute of Nature and Environmental Technology, in collaboration with a research group led by Associate Professor Ryo Tateishi and Professor Shin'ichi Sano of the Department of Urban Design, Faculty of Academic Research, University of Toyama, have successfully captured direct video footage of fault scarps formed by activity on the offshore active fault responsible for the 2024 Noto Peninsula earthquake.

The footage revealed that this active fault has experienced repeated movements over its history. It also showed that the seafloor topography formed by fault displacement varies greatly — from distinct fault scarps to gentle flexure cliffs — even at relatively short distances.

This is expected to provide information that will contribute to the identification of offshore active faults, the evaluation of their activities, and the evaluation of the effects on tsunamis of topographic changes caused by the movement of offshore active faults.

Associate Professor Robert Jenkins, who specializes in paleontology/geobiology, and Professor Nobuo Suzuki, who specializes in environmental biology, contributed to the development of this research plan.

Please note that this study was supported by the FY2025 Kanazawa University Institute of Nature and Environmental Technology Collaborative Research.

Click here to see the press release【Japanese only】

Researcher's Information: Jenkins, Robert and Suzuki, Nobuo