Surface rupture with maximum right-lateral displacement of 150cm and length of about 1 lkm was observed during the 1943 Tottori earthquake of Mw: 7.0, which struck the eastern Tottori prefecture, southwest Japan. We compiled all the previous reports and papers regarding the surface rupture associated with the earthquake as precise location maps (Appendix 1) and a data table (Appendix 2). We also showed the slip distribution along the surface rupture (Fig.3).
The trace of the 1943 surface rupture exhibited the large step and quite sinuous geometry compared with other strike-slip surface breaks. This observation probably means that the causative fault for Tottori earthquake is at the infant stage on its way of evolution based on the Wesnousky's fault evolution model (Wesnousky,1988). Most of the surface rupture during the earthquake occurred along the geomorphologically detectable active fault (Shikano-Yoshioka active fault system). Thus, we can recognize the possible surface faulting event around the epicentral area based on recent understanding of tectonic geomorpholgy. However, the length of the subsurface seismogenic fault is underestimated by the presently proposed method (Odagiri and Shimazaki,2000) and this sh ould lead to crucial underestimation of the seismic moment and also strong ground motions. The method to estimate the lengt h Df the seismogenic fault must be reestablished.