Waveform inversion for slip distribution of the 2006 Java tsunami earthquake by using 2.5D finite-difference Green's function

We first incorporate the large effect of near-source heterogeneity on teleseismic body waveforms in the inversion of the slip distribution of the 2006 Java tsunami earthquake. We incorporate the effect by computing the response of an assumed 2.5D model structure of the Java trench by a 2.5D finite-difference method. Based on a simulation of inversion, we suggest that intense smearing is possible when we apply 1D Green's functions in the analysis, and that it may obscure the slip pattern. In the inversion of real data, we confirm macroscopic features, such as a long duration (similar to 165 s) and a slow rupture velocity (similar to 1.25 km/s). The region of the initial rupture is found to be isolated from the eastern broad region in which we further identify a heterogeneous slip distribution. Most of these regions are likely to be at the sedimentary plate interface where the accreted sediment and the subducting plate are in contact. In particular, the nearly isolated feature of a shallow slip region suggests a possible faulting in the shallowest part of the sedimentary plate interface without being strongly enforced by the rupture propagated from the deeper part of the fault. Such heterogeneity suggests a highly variable frictional behavior at the sedimentary plate interface.