Engineering Geology 248 (2019) 80–88

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Engineering Geology
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/enggeo

A landslide induced by the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake adjacent to tectonic T

displacement - Generation mechanism and long-term monitoring
⁎
Issei Doia, , Toshitaka Kamaia, Ryokei Azumab, Gonghui Wanga
a
Disaster Prevention Research Institute, Kyoto University, Gokasho, Uji, Kyoto 611-0011, Japan
b
Faculty of Technology, Osaka Institute of Technology, 5-16-1, Omiya, Asahi, Osaka, Osaka, 535-8585, Japan

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The 2016 Kumamoto earthquake, which occurred in the central Kyushu region of Southwest Japan, caused
Earthquake-induced landslide numerous landslides. Mass movements from the events damaged many structures in the Minami-aso village
2016 Kumamoto earthquake residential areas. We conducted geological and geophysical surveys and monitoring of landslides in one of these
Tectonic displacement residential areas. It was found that the landslide occurred directly adjacent to the earthquake's main surface
Hydrothermally altered rhyolite
fault-ruptures. While the landslide slip surface formed within a layer of hydrothermally altered rhyolite at about
Long-term monitoring
15 m depth for the downslope side, the slip surface for the upslope side formed within intact tephra layers due to
the shallow dip of the rhyolite layer. Geophysical survey results show that fault ruptures in the tephra layers
along with the tectonic faulting induce a decrease in soil strength. It was inferred that the landslide head scarp
and upper slip surface formed inside this weak soil. Long-term monitoring of the landslide demonstrated that
deformation continued for at least four months after the main slide. Although the initial and the major slide was
activated by the earthquake, the landslide did not immediately stabilize and continued to pose risks after the
main event. Toward the mitigation for earthquake-induced landslides, post seismic monitoring as well as the
relationship between surface fault traces and landslide blocks should be taken into consideration.

1. Introduction
The 2016 Kumamoto earthquake occurred on Apr. 16, 2016 in the
central Kyushu region (Southwest Japan) with a moment magnitude of
6.8. This earthquake was a relatively shallow inland earthquake (12 km
deep) that caused considerable damage in and around central Kyushu.
The event caused 258 fatalities, injured 2796, and destroyed more than
197,000 buildings (Fire and Disaster Management Agency, 2018).
The faults that ruptured in the Kumamoto earthquake include the
Hinagu and Futagawa faults (Fig. 1). These faults were considered ac-
tive prior to the event. The Headquarters For Earthquake Research
Promotion (2013) estimated 3600–11,000 and 8100–26,000 year re-
currence intervals for the Hinagu and Futagawa faults, respectively.
Field investigations just after the Kumamoto earthquake found many
examples of surface fault-rupture with right lateral and normal dis-
placements (Shirahama et al., 2016; Kumahara et al., 2016) along the
Hinagu and Futagawa fault traces. These surface ruptures even pene-
trated a large caldera formed by a volcanic eruption at 90 ka BP
(Miyabuchi, 2009). The red dots and lines in Fig. 1 show the locations
of surface fault-ruptures along the Futagawa fault as noted by
Shirahama et al. (2016). These occurred beyond the previously inferred
eastern edge of the Futagawa fault (Research Group for Active Faults of
Japan, 1991; black lines beside red dots and lines in Fig. 1). The total
length of the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake rupture thus probably ex-
ceeds 20 km.
Strong motions due to earthquakes have caused numerous land-
slides in volcanic areas (e.g. Okusa and Anma, 1980; Keefer et al.,
2006). Among them, landslides within volcanic tephra layers were
often reported (e.g. Crosta et al., 2005; Chigira et al., 2012; Nakano and
Chigira, 2014; Nakamura et al., 2014). Some studies (e.g. Chigira et al.,
2012; Nakano and Chigira, 2014) suggested that a weathered pumice
layer resting, for example, above a stronger extrusive body can function
as a slip surface. These kinds of landslides sometimes acquire high
mobility and long run-outs (e.g. Wang et al., 2013). Therefore, under-
standing landslide initiation mechanisms in such materials is important
for such volcanic areas so that such information can be used to mitigate
the impact of the earthquakes.
Other side effects of large earthquakes are increasing frequency of
non-earthquake triggered landslides and rock-falls as reported in var-
ious studies (e.g. Keefer et al., 2006; Tang et al., 2011). Some landslides
experienced increase in slip velocity, while others were reactivated,
accompanied with strong ground shaking (e.g. Kan et al., 2002; Dellow

⁎
Corresponding author at: Gokasho, Uji, Kyoto 611-0011, Japan.
E-mail address: doi.issei.5e@kyoto-u.ac.jp (I. Doi).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2018.11.012
Received 29 March 2018; Received in revised form 22 November 2018; Accepted 23 November 2018
Available online 24 November 2018
0013-7952/ © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
I. Doi et al.
Fig. 1. Map showing the study area and source faults of the 2016 Kumamoto
earthquake. Black lines denote fault traces estimated by the Research Group for
Active Faults of Japan (1991), while red lines and dots show the surface rup-
tures related to Futagawa fault as identified by Shirahama et al. (2016). The
upper-left and lower-right insets show the location of Kumamoto, Japan and an
enlarged version of the area within the study region (a dashed rectangle). The
contoured and filled stars mark the location of the local study area and the
mainshock epicenter, respectively. (For interpretation of the references to
colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this
article.)
et al., 2017). The post-earthquake behavior of a slope should therefore
be considered in earthquake-induced landslide mitigation assessments
and design, as this possibly represents a long-term threat for nearby
located infrastructures (Keefer et al., 2006).
2. Study area
2.1. The target landslide
The Kumamoto earthquake also generated numerous landslides,
which caused 10 fatalities (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure Transport
and Tourism, 2016). Minami-aso village is located along the south-
western flank of the Aso volcano and suffered from several major slides
(Geospatial Information Authority of Japan - GSI, 2016).
Our target landslide under study is situated in a residential area of
Minami-aso facing the Nigorigawa River (Figs. 1 and 2), 8 km away
from the current crater of Aso volcano. The overall size of the landslide
was 350 m in width and 150 m in length. This landslide is considered to
be induced by earthquake-induced strong motion, as no reports of the
landslide existed prior to the Kumamoto earthquake. The seismic in-
tensity and peak ground acceleration measured at the nearby seismic
station (3 km distant) was VI- and 9.27 m/s2, respectively. Such strong
ground motion and fissures caused shaking damage to houses and other
infrastructure in this area. Some of the houses suffered from dislocation
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Engineering Geology 248 (2019) 80–88
and/or nearly fell into the Nigorigawa River channel (Fig. 3a) as a re-
sult of the landslide movement.
2.2. Geological background
The inset of Fig. 2 shows the geological map (Ono and Watanabe,
1985) around the study area. Pyroxine biotite rhyolite lava flow (S)
from the source is located 900 m northeast of our study site (denoted by
a white triangle) and covers augite-hypersthene dacite (V) which is
widely distributed on the western flank of Aso volcano. This rhyolite
lava is called Takanoobane rhyolite lava at 51 ± 5 ka (Matsumoto
et al., 1991).
Most of Minami-aso village rests on black and brown tephra layers
over the basement of these lava flows (Miyabuchi, 2009). Pumice layers
which were erupted from 90 ka BP to the present are also situated be-
tween the tephra layers. The most common is a 29 ka old pumice known
as Kusasenrigahama (Kpfa; Miyabuchi, 2011), whose source was lo-
cated 5 km east of our study site. Sato et al. (2017) demonstrated that
many destructive landslides in Minami-aso village formed slip surfaces
within severely weathered, clay-rich Kpfa layers.
3. Landslide identification
3.1. Landslide mapping (fissures and blocks)
We investigated the distributions of newly formed fissures in order
to interpret landslide displacement associated with the 2016 Kumamoto
earthquake. Fig. 2 shows the location, type and morphology of fissures
mapped on Apr. 22, 2016, six days after the mainshock. The fissures are
mainly oriented in an East-West direction. Along the bank of the Ni-
gorigawa River, large open fissures are distributed due to sediment
destabilization and mass movement toward the river. The shapes of
these fissures show some degree of curvature and there are steps across
them. Characteristics of the studied fissures imply that the landslide is
formed of a series of slide blocks 30–120 m in width and 40–80 m in
length. The areas outlined by the blue dashed lines in Fig. 2 indicate the
locations of these features. Given the morphology and inferred move-
ment mechanisms of the landslide, we classify the landslide as a clay
and silt planar or rotational slide adopting the scheme of Hungr et al.
(2014).
Larger-scale fissures occur beyond the landslide block with larger
radii (e.g., marked by ‘a’ in Fig. 2). These fissures exhibit tensile fea-
tures outlined by steps of about 1 m (Fig. 3c). The distribution of fis-
sures indicates a larger landslide block (outlined by a black dashed line
in Fig. 2) surrounding the one described above (blue dashed lines in
Fig. 2). This larger landslide is about 150 m in width and 100–130 m in
length.
Within the larger landslide, graben structures (gray solid areas in
Fig. 2) are located between the East-West trending fissures. Fig. 3b
shows an example of this along cross-section A-A′. Some of the fissures
show right-lateral displacement of 40 cm (Fig. 3d). The one side of the
graben contacts the scarp of the larger landslide block (Fig. 2).
Another graben structure occurred along a southerly area of the
road (between D-D′ in Fig. 2). The graben here exposes fissures with a
subtle right lateral displacement.
3.2. Cross-sections of the landslides
Outcrop observations along the Nigorigawa River provided in-
formation that allowed us to understand landslide occurrence. The slip
surface, consisting of altered, white-gray rhyolite (Fig. 4a), is exposed
beneath 15 m of black and brown tephra. The upper layer of the
rhyolite consists of clay and shows signs of severe weathering and hy-
drothermal alteration, also it appears to be water saturated. Meanwhile,
rhyolite rock beneath this weathered layer is not affected by hydro-
thermal alteration and was strong and appeared undisturbed. This
I. Doi et al.
Fig. 2. Map of the study area. Larger-scale fissures with larger radii were marked by ‘a’. The cross-sections P and A to D are shown in Figs. 5 and 6. Inset: the
geological map around the study area. S denotes the pyroxine biotite rhyolite and V the augite-hypersthene dacite lava flow. A white triangle and a rectangle contour
shows the source of the pyroxine biotite rhyolite lava flow and map area of the Fig. 2, respectively.
rhyolite rock is considered to be Takanoobane rhyolite lava, mentioned
in Section 2.2.
Our field study also identified the Kpfa layer (often orange in
colour), that was source to slip surfaces for many landslides in Minami-
aso village (Sato et al., 2017) at about 4 m depth beneath the ground
surface (Fig. 4b). However, we could recognize no slip in this layer for
our studied landslide.
The upper layer of the sliding block consists of sands and gravels
reaching about one-meter thickness (Fig. 4c). These likely represent
infill from construction of the residential area.
Fig. 5 shows a schematic cross-section of the landslide, combining
our outcrop observation results and five drillhole data (to the depth of
rhyolite rock) provided by the residents (which are not publicly avail-
able). The black and brown tephra layers overlay rhyolite pumice and
rock layers. A thin layer of Kpfa is situated inside of the tephra. All these
layers are sub-parallel, dipping slightly toward the Nigorigawa river on
the downside of the larger landslide block, while their dip is almost flat
for the upslope side. Also, they all present larger depth inside the
graben than outside, so we infer that the graben structure extends to the
depth of at least 20 m.
The body of the smaller landslide (shown by blue lines in Figs. 2 and
5) almost coincides with the fill material. It is inferred that the fill
material itself became unstable during the mainshock and suffered
large displacements (0.4 m with the dip angle 20 degree from the
horizontal).
3.3. Geophysical investigations
In order to determine the relationship between landslide mechanism
and geological structure, we conducted surface wave exploration in and
around the study area.
We used the MASW (Multi Analysis of Surface Waves) method
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Engineering Geology 248 (2019) 80–88
developed by Park et al. (1999) and Hayashi and Suzuki (2004). The
survey system manufactured by Oyo Corp. consists of a recording de-
vice and 24 geophones with 4.5 Hz natural frequency. All the geo-
phones are connected by a single cable to a station that simultaneously
records signals from 24 different sensors. The measurement device was
used along four cross-sections (A-A′, B-B′, C-C′, and D-D′) as shown in
Fig. 2. We recorded the signal of hammer impacts next to 1 m spaced
geophones by starting at one end of the cross-section and repeating
impacts at given intervals until reaching the other end.
Waveform records obtained were analyzed based on Hayashi and
Suzuki (2004). For a given point along the cross-sections, we collect the
pairs of the two sensors whose midpoint is located at the given point.
Collecting cross-correlations among two such sensors per a shot, allows
us to estimate dispersion curves (phase velocity according to a fre-
quency) of surface waves at the given point. Then, inversion methods
applied to the dispersion curves provide vertical S-wave velocity
structures. We then finally obtain two-dimensional S-wave velocity
structures by doing these calculations for each point along the cross-
section.
Fig. 6 shows the estimated two-dimensional S-wave velocity struc-
ture for the cross-sections (A)–(D) shown in Fig. 2. The 60–150 m/s
estimate for S-wave velocity is relatively slow, indicating the presence
of the soft tephra layer. We could image the velocity structure to the
depth of only 6 m with enough resolution, although the exploration
depth for MASW method is usually equivalent to the sensor array size
(e.g. Carnevale et al., 2005), which was 23 m in our case. This low S-
wave velocity estimate probably also limited the exploration depth
(about 6 m) as the attenuation of seismic waves in the soft tephra layer
constrained the penetration depth.
Low-velocity zones occur 3–6 m deep at 60–90 m, 35–55 m, and
25–45 m along the horizontal axis of cross-sections (A), (B), and (C),
respectively. We also detected a low-velocity zone from 25 to 40 m
I. Doi et al.
Fig. 3. Photos in the residential area. (a) Collapsed houses along the Nigorigawa River. (b) Fissures indicating tensile stress with steps of about 1 m. (c) A depression
zone sandwiched between fissures with right-lateral displacement. The photo was taken along the cross-section A-A'. (d) Detail of fissures exhibiting right-lateral
displacement.
along the cross-section (D) at 2–6 m depths. The horizontal locations
correspond to the graben structure on the ground surface. These low-
velocity zones horizontally spread at the shallower depth. In cross-
sections (A)–(C), the scarps of the larger landslide block (inverted tri-
angles in Fig. 6) are located in these low-velocity zones at depths of
0–2 m.
4. Landslide mechanism
4.1. Spatial relationship between the landslide block and tectonic
displacement
As mentioned in Section 3.2, the graben structure with right-lateral
displacement on the ground surface is considered to extend to the depth
at least 20 m along the cross-section A-A′. Spatial relationship between
the low-velocity regions estimated by MASW method and the graben on
the ground surface is common along the cross-sections A-A′, B-B, and C-
C′, as mentioned above. This suggests that such structures might extend
to a depth of at least 20 m, trending E-W direction through the re-
sidential area. Along with these local surface grabens, Shirahama et al.
(2016) described surface expression of the surface fault ruptures as
linear features with right lateral displacement extending a few
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Engineering Geology 248 (2019) 80–88
kilometers in the E-W direction (shown by a red line in Fig. 1).
Therefore, it could be considered that the larger landslide formed ad-
jacent to the surface fault ruptures associated with tectonic displace-
ment of the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake, as landslide displacement
vectors are at right angles (toward the main stream) to the displacement
vectors measured across the faults (Fig. 2).
In general, ground motion near the fault rupture differs from that at
a larger distance. The so-called “near-field term” (Aki and Richards,
1980) is dominant within a radius of a few times of the seismic wave-
length (a few km in our case) and produces a significant, permanent
displacement, while “far-field term” term, which is dominant at a larger
distance, generates vibration but causes no permanent ground dis-
placement. Fourier transform of a step function has larger amplitude in
the lower frequency. Therefore, “near-field term” which includes a step
function originating from permanent displacement associated with fault
rupture, exhibits longer period components. Such large amplitude
shaking of low frequency was contained in the seismic waveform re-
cords adjacent to the Futagawa fault trace about 10 km south of our
study site (Iwata and Asano, 2017).
I. Doi et al.
Fig. 4. Photos taken along the stream valley. (a) Hydrothermally altered
rhyolite horizon within the slip surface. The left panel shows the rhyolite in an
unaltered state. (b) Kpfa in the black/brown tephra (shown by the area sand-
wiched by orange dashed lines). (c) Sand and gravel infill. (For interpretation of
the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web
version of this article.)
4.2. Slip surface
As mentioned in Section 3.2, the slip surface of the larger landslide
is mostly located in the hydrothermally altered rhyolite layer at the
outcrop along the Nigorigawa river, while it formed in the tephra layer
on the upslope side.
We assume that this hydro-alternated zone corresponds to a part of
the rhyolite pumice layer in the drillhole data. Porous rhyolite pumice
has microfractures that ground water can pass through and thus is more
weathered (e.g. Matsukura et al., 2002). Recent studies report that
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Engineering Geology 248 (2019) 80–88
Fig. 5. P-P′ geological cross-section of the landslides. Gray: black/brown te-
phra, light green: rhyolite pumice layer, dark green: rhyolite rock, and orange:
Kpfa. Blue and black dashed lines denote the landslide blocks. The solid in-
verted triangle marks the location of scarp of the landslide shown by a black
dashed line, while open inverted triangles denote the horizontal location of the
drillholes over 24 m deep. Two numbers are marked for the horizontal dis-
placement (in cm) and dip angle from the horizon (in degree) for the lower
sediments across the fissures. (For interpretation of the references to colour in
this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
many volcanic tephra landslides develop slip surfaces in weathered
pumice layers with rich clay (e.g. Chigira et al., 2012; Nakano and
Chigira, 2014; Sato et al., 2017). From this, we infer that the weathered
rhyolite pumice layer itself forms the main slip surface of the Nigor-
igawa landslide. Deep-seated landslides with the geology of rhyolite or
rhyolite tuff are observed in central Japan (e.g. Jizuki-yama landslide
(Nagano Construction Office, 1988) and Shimizu-yama landslide
(Mochizuki, 1974)). They were triggered by rainfall in recent years but
possibly by earthquake in the past, though we could not find such
historic records.
As shown in Fig. 5, the studied rhyolite pumice layer is situated at a
depth of about 10–15 m beneath the landslide scarp. Therefore, land-
slide rupture should have occurred through the intact tephra layers at
the upslope side. Here, we would like to propose the impact of the
tectonic surface ruptures for defining the head-scarp graben of land-
slide. Due to tectonic faulting, one side of the graben contacts the scarp
of the larger landslide block. When the mainshock occurred, fault
ruptures in the tephra layers along with the graben structure led to a
decrease of soil strength, which is also reflected by the low velocity
zones found from the geophysical surveys within the grabens. We
propose that the landslide head scarp formed within these low-velocity
zones. We thus consider that the slip surface of the larger landslide
developed in the weathered rhyolite pumice layer as well at the weakest
point of the contact to the intact tephra layers near the head-scarp
grabens.
4.3. Stability of the landslide block
In order to confirm the estimated slip surface for the large landslide,
we performed a rough estimate of slope stability. Jibson (2011) ana-
lyzed the method for assessing the stability of slopes during earthquakes
by modeling the landslide as a rigid block that slides on an inclined
plane during the dominant period of the seismic waves. Given the
average S-wave velocity and the thickness for the landslide body to be
I. Doi et al.
Fig. 6. Results of the geophysical exploration along the cross-sections (a) A-A′, (b) B-B′, (c) C-C′, and (d) D-D′. Inverted triangles mark the locations of scarps of the
landslide shown by a black dashed line in Fig. 2.
120 m/s and 15 m, respectively (see Sections 3.3 and 4.2), the funda-
mental site period (Ts) is calculated to be 0.5 s. The dominant period of
seismic motions recorded at the nearby seismic station (3 km distant,
the same one mentioned in Section 2.1) was 2–5 s. Considering the
effect of near-field term mentioned in Section 4.1, we infer that the
mean period of the earthquake motion (Tm) at the study site could be
the same or longer, Thus, Ts/Tm is estimated to be the order of 0.1. This
ensures that we could consider the landslide body as a rigid body.
Because we could not obtain enough samples from the studied
landslide due to the counter measurement works against the landslide,
we used the parameters for slope stability analysis by referring to the
results of tests on the volcanic tephra taken from other landslide sites.
According to the landslide sites and test methods, we assumed three
cases for the stability analysis (as shown in Table 1). The first one was
the volcanic tephra layers from a landslide induced by the 2011 Tohoku
earthquake in Japan (Nakamura et al., 2014). The second one was Kpfa
layer sampled from nearby landslides induced by the 2016 Kumamoto
earthquake. The third case was based on the results of tests on the
weathered pumice (Kpfa), which was also sampled from a landslide
nearby.
Applying the Fellenius method to the section line P-P′ for the stu-
died landslide, we calculated the factor of safety for each case. Though
slip surface material was wet, we did not take the effect of the ground
water into account, because it is inferred that the great permeability of
the volcanic tephra and the pumice (not weathered) (in the order of
~10−5 m/s, according to Akashi et al., 2017) disenabled the formation
of ground water table. In a static condition, factors of safety for the
Table 1
Parameters used for slope stability analysis.
Cohesion (kN/m2) Friction angle (deg) Density (kg/m3)
Volcanic tephraa 15 18 1500
Kpfa 5 40 1500
Weathered Kpfa ~0 35 1500
a
referred to Nakamura et al. (2014).
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Engineering Geology 248 (2019) 80–88
large landslide are ranging 5 to 9. By using the static factor of the safety
(Fs), Jibson (2011) proposed a simplest form for the calculation of
critical acceleration (ac), which is written as
ac = (Fs − 1)∗ g ∗ sin α (1)
where g is the acceleration of gravity, and α is the angle of inclination of
the sliding surface. By using Eq. (1), the critical accelerations are cal-
culated as 4–11 m/s2. This implies that the landslide is stable in a static
condition and becomes unstable only when it experiences strong
ground motion. It is noted that the order of these calculated critical
acceleration shows good consistent with the accelerations observed at
the seismic station one 3 km far from the landslide site (Section 2.1).
We also examined the effect of the infill on the instability. We found
that if the infill on top of the landslide block did not exist, the factor of
safety in a static condition would have a reduction by 1% at most, and
the critical acceleration would also show a reduction by 1% at most.
Therefore, we inferred that the infill had played very small, if any, role
on the instability of the larger landslide block.
5. Monitoring landslide deformation after the earthquake
5.1. Observation
To understand earthquake-induced landslide behavior in response
to rainfall and aftershocks, we monitored slope deformation with an
accelerometer and an inclinometer for four months after the mainshock
occurred. We used a CXL17LF3 accelerometer (Sumitomo Sumisei
Sangyo Co., Ltd. in Japan) and a GIC-10WD inclinometer (Geotech
Service Co. Ltd. in Japan). These instruments use MEMS (Micro Electro
Mechanical Systems) sensors with minimal temperature sensitivity and
were combined within a water- and pressure-proof probe measuring
48 mm in diameter and 40 cm in height (Doi et al., 2017).
The probe was installed in a small borehole (50 mm diameter and
35 cm depth) outside the southern edge of the smaller landslide (shown
by the red star in Fig. 2). Horizontal pressure of sediment stabilized the
probe almost immediately after installation. The probe acquired data
continuously with a 30 s sampling interval for inclination and a 0.01 s
I. Doi et al. Engineering Geology 248 (2019) 80–88

Fig. 7. Results of inclination monitoring. (a) Measured inclination values relative to those observed on Jul. 11, 2016. Black and green lines denote N-S and E-W
components. A pink dashed line shows the time of largest ground motion observed. (b) Temperature (red lines) and precipitation (blue bars) data from the Minami-
aso JMA station. Panels (c) and (d) show details of Jul. 25 to 29 inclination (a) and meteorological measurements (b), respectively. (For interpretation of the
references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

interval for acceleration from Jul. 11 to Oct. 13, 2016 (problems of environmental factors appear to have influenced observations. Manu-
power supply interrupted recordings from Aug. 16 to Sep. 7, 2016). facturer specification for the inclinometer reports a temperature de-
pendency of no more than 0.1 degree per one degree in temperature
change. Given the 20 cm burial depth of the sensor, we interpret B-type
5.2. Inclination change and aftershock observation results
shifts as reflecting temperature dependency of the sensor and not the
actual inclination of the ground surface.
Fig. 7 shows inclination observations. The data were averaged over
C-type shifts occurred within two hours of local rainfall as measured
one hour time intervals to reduce random noise and were plotted in the
by the nearby JMA station (Fig 7c and d). We consider it unlikely that
center of the corresponding time window. Results can be separated into
infiltration reached the depth of the deforming areas. Therefore, C-type
three categories: gradual changes over a few days (referred to as A-type
shift was interpreted to reflect shallow deformation possibly due to soft
shifts), daily periodic changes (B-type shifts), and rapid changes with a
and viscous tephra soil around the sensor, not the landslide behavior
reverse trend to A-type shifts (C-type shifts).
itself. Saturation of the soil would render it plastic and may have moved
The ground surface inclinations of A-type shifts trend in a north-
the sensor probe back to its original position.
westerly direction. The largest A-type shifts occurred in July and
The aftershock with the largest acceleration observed at our study
August while few A-type shifts were detected in September and
site during the observation period occurred at 14:32 on Sept. 13, 2016.
October.
This magnitude 3.3 event occurred to the WSW at an epicentral dis-
Fig. 7 shows that B-type shifts correlated strongly with air tem-
tance of 7.8 km and 9.3 km depth. Miniami-aso village experienced a
perature variation as measured by a nearby JMA (Japan Meteorological
seismic intensity of II. Fig. 8 shows the observed acceleration and ve-
Agency) station (called Minami-aso, located 10 km from the study site).
locity waveforms bandpass filtered at 0.33–8 Hz in order to reduce the
Data show phase differences of less than one hour (Fig 7c and d). Even
long-period noise from integration and short-period mechanical noise
given the relatively low temperature dependence of the MEMS sensor,

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I. Doi et al.
Fig. 8. The acceleration (upper panel) and velocity (lower panel) waveforms
recorded at the study site for the Sept. 13 aftershock earthquake.
from the MEMS sensor. The peak ground acceleration and velocity were
0.4 m/s2 and 0.01 m/s, respectively. The second largest acceleration
recorded was about one tenth of this value.
5.3. Influence of rainfall and aftershocks on the landslide block
As discussed in Section 5.2, only A-type shifts appear to have re-
corded changes in ground surface inclination due to the landslide block
deformation. Sensors specifically recorded a shift in ground surface
inclination in a northwesterly direction that occurred over time periods
of more than a few days. C-type shift seemed to cancel the original
landslide-induced deformation, which was still evident in spite of the
interference of C-type shifts. The gradual deformation of the landslide is
consistent to the observation results of the distances between two
neighboring wooden plates supported by the sediments inside and
outside the larger landslide block (Miura, per. comm.).
Comparison of A-type shifts with rainfall data and the timing of the
largest aftershock (a vertical pink, dashed line in Fig. 7a) indicates that
the inclination of the landslide block was not affected by particular
events but shifted continuously in spite of these factors. The total in-
clination change from July to the middle of August was about 0.23
degree or 0.006 degree per a day, with one period of 0.002 degree per
87
Engineering Geology 248 (2019) 80–88
day change from September to the middle of October. This indicates
that deformation due to landslide movement stabilized with passing
time after the mainshock. The fill material in a residential area affected
by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake behaved in a similar fashion: the in-
clination continued to increase for about one year after the mainshock
and then gradually stopped changing (Kamai, 2013). Both cases de-
monstrate that in such conditions, the risk associated with landslides
activated by earthquakes persist for six months to a year after the main
event. Considering that the inclination did not respond to particular
rainfall events, a possible cause for this change is gravitational de-
formation of the sediments destabilized by the mainshock (Kamai,
2013) as well as the strength regain rather than hydrological effect.
6. Conclusions
We used geological and geophysical methods to understand the
generation mechanism of a landslide which occurred in a residential
area during the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake. Surveys showed that this
landslide slip surface formed in a highly weathered rhyolite pumice
layer. The landslide was unique in that it formed adjacent to the
earthquake's lineaments of surface rupture. The rupture of intact soil
due to tectonic faulting may separate the landslide moving body from
the immobile one, determining the size of the landslide. Long-term
monitoring of the landslide behavior revealed that the landslide was in
an unstable state for at least half year after the mainshock and con-
tinued to deform. Because there were no major aftershocks of seismic
intensity larger than II, their effect on the landslide could not be de-
termined.
Acknowledgements
M. Honda, a member of the residential community in the study area,
kindly allowed us to install monitoring equipment on her property.
Osaka Institute of Technology undergraduates S. Hasebe, T. Hamanaka,
and T. Morimoto assisted with the geophysical survey. We are grateful
for discussion with Dr. S. Goto at Yamanashi University. Comments
from two anonymous reviewers helped us to greatly improve the
manuscript. We thank JMA for providing hypocenter catalogs and the
metrological data, Kumamoto prefecture for providing earthquake
waveform data and the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan for
providing relevant maps. General Mapping Tool (Wessel and Smith,
1991) was used for drawing some of the figurers in this manuscript.
This work was supported by collaborative research program (28U-
06 and 29A-04) of the Disaster Prevention Research Institute, Kyoto
University, by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 17H04734, and by the
Association for Disaster Prevention Research, Japan.
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