Land Equivalent to 600 Soccer Fields Emerges as 100 km of Coastline Rises in Noto Earthquake

Research Team: "One of the Longest Uplifts in the World"

According to a recent study, the powerful earthquake that struck Japan's Noto Peninsula in January 2024, resulting in hundreds of deaths, caused a phenomenon known as "coastal uplift," where the shoreline rose along approximately 100 kilometers of the peninsula's northern region. This is considered one of the longest recorded coastal uplifts caused by a single earthquake anywhere in the world.

On March 16, Kyodo News reported that a joint research team, including Hiroshima University, published their findings in an international academic journal. The team compared aerial photographs from Japan's Geospatial Information Authority with field observations taken immediately after the earthquake. They also conducted a detailed survey at 510 coastal locations, measuring the height differences between dead and living seaweed to determine the extent of the uplift.

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The investigation revealed that the newly formed land area resulting from the Noto Peninsula earthquake covered approximately 4.4 square kilometers, equivalent to about 600 soccer fields. This scale rivals the largest land formation on record in Japan, which was observed after the 1804 Kisakata Earthquake (magnitude 7.0–7.1) in Akita Prefecture.

The uplift phenomenon was especially widespread along a roughly 100-kilometer stretch of coastline from Shikamachi in Ishikawa Prefecture to Suzu City. Near Saruyama Misaki in Wajima City, a record uplift of up to 5.21 meters was measured, while around Kurasaki in Suzu City, the uplift reached 2.64 meters.

The research team highlighted that a more significant rise in the strata was observed the closer the area was to active submarine faults, based on a detailed analysis of the underwater topography and geological data. They concluded that the unusually extensive uplift occurred because the active faults run parallel to the coastline.

Professor Hideaki Goto of Hiroshima University, who led the study, commented, "By analyzing uplift phenomena and underwater topography in other coastal regions, there is potential to identify yet-undiscovered active faults."

Meanwhile, on January 1, 2024, a magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture, central Honshu, Japan. The death toll from the Noto earthquake, including disaster-related deaths, stands at 691. Disaster-related deaths refer not only to direct casualties from building collapses and fires caused by the earthquake but also to cases in which people died from illnesses or worsening pre-existing conditions during evacuation.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.