Geochemical Journal, Vol. 26, pp.

73 to 83, 1992

Anomalous hot spring water changes:

Possible precursors of the 1989 volcanic
eruption off the east coast of the Izu Peninsula

TSUTOMU SATO, HIROSHI WAKITA, KENJI NOTSU

and GEORGE IGARASHI

Laboratory for Earthquake Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Tokyo,

Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113, Japan

(Received August 7, 1991; Accepted March 26, 1992)

Geochemical and hydrological observations have been carried out at two hot spring wells in Ito
City since July 1989. Anomalous changes in water level, temperature and chemical composition were ob
served during the 1989 seismic and volcanic events off the east coast of the Izu Peninsula: a water level
rise of more than 2 m, a temperature rise of about 1'C and an increase of the S024 / Cl ratio by about
5%. Coseismic changes in these parameters were observed for two nearby earthquakes that occurred dur
ing the observation period, on February 20, 1990 (M = 6.5), and on August 5, 1990 (M = 5.1), suppor
ting that these wells are very sensitive to earthquake occurrence. Relation between amplitude of
coseismic change, magnitude and hypocentral distance indicates that the anomalous changes observed
during the 1989 events were too large to be caused by the seismic events only. It is likely that magma
movements associated with the seismic and volcanic events had a close connection with the geochemical
and hydrological anomalies observed during the 1989 events. Major part of the significant anomalies in
cluding self-spouting observed in Ito City are interpreted to be possible precursors of the 1989 sub
marine volcanic eruption.

Oshima in 1986 and 1987, and Teishi Knoll in

INTRODUCTION
Seismic and volcanic activities in the Izu
region of Japan are known to be very frequent,
reflecting its peculiar tectonic setting. The region
is located at the northern end of the Philippine
Sea plate, which is subducting northwestward
beneath the Eurasian plate (Fig. 1). The Pacific
plate is also subducting beneath the Philippine
Sea and Eurasian plates, as is illustrated by the
hypocentral distribution of earthquakes (Ishida
and Hasemi, 1988).
Large earthquakes have frequently occurred
in the Izu region since 1974 (Ishida, 1987); ex
amples are listed in Table 1 and these epicenters
are shown in Fig. 1. Several volcanoes have
erupted in the region near the Izu Peninsula dur
ing the last decade: Miyakejima in 1983, Izu
1989.
Earthquake swarm activities have also been
significant since 1978 in the region near the east
coast of the Izu Peninsula (Japan
Meteorological Agency, 1989). A close relation
ship between the swarm activity and magma
movement was suggested based on the following
two observations (e.g. Mogi, 1989). First, the
swarm region was located at the northern end of
a volcano group, the Higashi-Izu Monogenetic
Volcano Group (Aramaki and Hamuro, 1977).
Secondly, an anomalous ground uplift has been
observed to the south-east of the swarm region
(Ishii, 1989). As to the causes of the uplift, Mogi
(1989) proposed an upward movement of
magma. Furthermore, Tada and Hashimoto
(1989) and Shimazaki (1989) suggested an in

73
 74 T. Sato et al.

• Eurasian
35.5 °N
4 plate

a°

18
CL
0

9 Philippine
Sea plate

Hatsushima
Island

e
Usami
35.0 °N Earthquake
6~, Swarms
EDY f-f
HRN Ito
Teishi Knoll
3

7
lzu
Peninsula
•
• 2
8
Izu-Oshima Island

0 20km 5
•

34.5 °N
139.0 °E 139.5 °E

Fig. 1. Tectonic configuration of the Izu region and locations of observation wells EDY and HRN. The 1989
earthquake swarm started on June 30 (hatched area), followed by the submarine volcanic eruption on July 13
(solid triangle). Solid squares and solid circles show the epicenters of earthquakes with M-2:6.0 that occurred
from 1974 to July 1989 (No. 1 to 5), of the largest shock during the 1989 events (No. 6) and of earthquakes with
M>_ 5.0 that occurred from July 1989 to December 1990 (No. 7 to 9).

trusive dike activity beneath the swarm region.

THE 1989 SEISMIC AND VOLCANIC EVENTS
The 1989 swarm activities began at the end of
June. Associated with the activities, anomalous The earthquake swarms, which began on
changes in hot spring water were observed near June 30, 1989, became more active with time;
the swarm region. In order to detect further medium-sized earthquakes (M >_4.0) began on
anomalies and to examine the relation to tec July 4, and the largest shock (M = 5.5) occurred
tonic events in detail, we built two observation at 11:09 on July 9 (Fig. 1). Furthermore,
stations at the hot spring wells where the most volcanic tremors began on July 11 and resulted
significant changes were observed. In this paper, in submarine volcanic eruptions on July 13. A
we report some results of geochemical and new small cone, Teishi Knoll, was formed on the
hydrological observations during and after the sea floor in the north of the swarm region. After
1989 events. this, seismic and volcanic activities gradually
decreased; volcanic tremors disappeared on July

I
 Hot spring water changes 75

Table 1. List of earthquakes shown in Fig. I

Hypocenter
No. Region Date M distance (km)
Hypocentral*
lat. (°N) long. (°E) depth (km)
Before the 1989 events (M2:6.0)
1 off Izu Peninsula May 9, 1974 34.57 138.80 10 6.9 52
2 Izu-Oshima-kinkai Jan. 14, 1978 34.77 139.25 0 7.0 26
3 off the east coast of Central Izu-Peninsula June 29, 1980 34.92 139.23 10 6.7 17
4 near the boder of the Yamanashi Aug. 8, 1983 35.52 139.03 22 6.0 66
and Kanagawa Prefectures
5 near the Niijima Island Nov. 22, 1986 34.55 139.53 15 6.0 62
The largest earthquake during the 1989 events
6 off the east coast of the Izu Peninsula July 9, 1989 34.99 139.11 3 5.5 5
After the 1989 events (M? 5.0)
7 near the Izu-Oshima Island Oct. 14, 1989 34.82 139.50 21 5.7 46
8 near the Izu-Oshima Island Feb. 20, 1990 34.76 139.23 6 6.5 26
9 western part of Kanagawa Prefecture Aug. 5, 1990 35.21 139.10 14 5.1 31

Data from Japan Meteorological Agency.

*Distance from the HRN site (34.96°N, 139.09°E).

21 and earthquake swarms practically ceased by swarm region, located about 3 km away. In the
the end of September 1989 (Smithsonian Institu Ito area hot spring water suddenly spouted out
tion, 1989; Japan Meteorological Agency, 1989). prior to the volcanic eruption. For example, a
Marked crustal deformations had progressed large amount of water with a temperature of
in the area prior to the submarine volcanic erup 28'C discharged at a rate of about 200 1/min at
tion. Shimada et al. (1990) detected an exten EDY (Matsubara No. 136 well; Fig. 1), which
sional displacement of 14.5 cm over a distance of was found at about six o'clock on July 10.
about 10 km (between Ito City and Hatsushima Outflow of hot spring water from a pumping
Island) in the period between July 4 and 10 by a well also occurred at HRN (Oka No. 100 well).
fixed-point GPS (Global Positioning System) net These spouts, however, stopped before the
work. Simultaneously Tsuneishi (1991) reported volcanic eruption. Similar rises in water level
similar extensions in the same direction were found in many wells in the Ito area (Mogi et
measured by an automatic electronic' al., 1990). In contrast, drops in water level and
distancemeter. Comparing the geodetic data of flow rate were found in the Usami area. Notewor
June 7-30 with those of July 10-27, 1989, a thy was a drop in water level of an artesian well,
significant uplift of over 8 cm was confirmed in Usami No. 24, of more than 18 m prior to the
the central part of Ito City (Geographical Survey volcanic eruption (Kurokawa, 1990). Such
Institute, 1990). anomalous changes had not been observed for
During the 1989 events, various geochemical other large earthquakes that occurred in the area
and hydrological anomalies were observed at since 1974.
many places in and around the Izu Peninsula,
which are summarized by Notsu et al. (1991).
HOT SPRING WATER OBSERVATIONS
They classified the observed changes into two
types; one is coseismic-type changes caused by We began geochemical and hydrological
the medium-sized earthquakes and the other is monitoring of hot spring water at EDY and
non-coseismic-type changes which are likely to HRN sites soon after self-spouting was found on
be precursory changes of the volcanic eruption. July 10, 1989. Water at HRN has been sampled
Many of the latter type changes were observed in periodically for chemical analysis since July 13.
the Ito and Usami hot spring areas, closest to the Water level and temperature at EDY have con
 76 T. Sato et al.

EDY HRN University of Tokyo by a telemeter system.

From a 490-m deep well at HRN, hot spring
Sa
Sampling
I
45
TT QT
-33
water (about 54°C) is constantly pumped up
G.L.
-
TL M p1 through a suction pipe at a rate of 2201 /min.
Since the length of the iron casing, about 300 m,
3m
1
is shorter than that of the well, pumped water
I I
W 1m
contains waters from several horizons. In addi
300m

TT (49m) 85 tion to the observation of chemical compositions

m 490m
1 of the water, water temperature and barometric
TT (80m)
pressure have continuously been monitored since
the end of November 1989. A thermistor ther
I- 1 -i _ mometer with a temperature resolution of
0.01'C was installed in the pipe, and the tempera
Fig. 2. Schematic diagrams of observation wells
ture data were recorded every hour. In order to
EDY and HRN, showing water level meter (W), ther
detect smaller temperature changes, a sensitive
mistor thermometer (TT), quartz thermometer (QT),
telemetering transmitter (TLM), pump (P) and grond sensor with the resolution of 0.001'C (Quartz
level (G.L.). thermometer Type 2804A, Hewlett Packard) was
substituted in June 1990.
When water was sampled at HRN, pH and
tinuously been monitored since July 21. temperature of the hot spring water were
Figure 2 shows schematic diagrams of the measured with a portable pH-meter (Type
two observation wells EDY and HRN. The EDY PH81, Yokogawa Electric Co.) and a mercury
well, about 85 m deep, is located in an thermometer, respectively. Chemical analysis of
underground storeroom of a building, about 3 m the water samples was carried out in the
below ground level. No data are available on the laboratory. After removal of insoluble
structure of the well such as the data of drilling, substances with a 0.45-pm syringe-mounted filter
the initial depth, the length of the casing pipe (Milipore), concentrations of B, Si, Mg 2+, Ca t+,
and the position of the strainer (perforated part). Sr2+ and Na+ were measured by an ICP-AES (in
A long time, about thirty years, has passed since ductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spec
the well was last used; in fact, the present owner trometer: Type SPS1200, Seiko Instrument Inc.),
of the building was not aware of the existence of Cl and SO4 by an ion chromatography (Type
the well until the unexpected 1989 self-spouting IC500, Yokogawa Electric Co.), and K+ by a
occurred. flame spectrometer (Type 170-50 A, Hitachi
After the anomalous self-spouting occurred Ltd.). Analytical uncertainties in the absolute
at EDY, the owner wanted to plug the well, but concentrations were 1.0% for Si, Mg", Cat+,
agreed to allow us to use it for monitoring of hot Sr2+ and Na+, and 1.5% for B, K+, C1 and
spring water; indeed such a sensitive well to S04-. Relative abundances of ions can be deter
crustal activities is very rare. The pipe head of mined more precisely, because difference in injec
the well EDY was extended to 1 m above the tion volumes of samples and standard solutions
floor level, and a water level sensor and two ther and instrumental fluctuations were cancelled
mometers were installed as shown in Fig. 2. The out; for example, errors in the S024 /C1 ratio
water level sensor, a pressure transducer (Type measurements were reduced to 0.5%.
FBA, Fuji Electric Co.), has a nominal resolu
tion of 1 mm of water level change. The ther
RESULTSAND DISCUSSION
mistor thermometers (Type D641, Technol
Seven Co.) have a nominal resolution of 0.01'C. Chemical composition of hot spring water
Data obtained every hour were transferred to the Table 2 lists the analytical results for hot

n
 Hot spring water changes 77

Table 2. Temporal variations in chemical compositions of hot spring water at the HRN well

Concentration (ppm)
Sampling Temp.*
Date pH SO / Cl
(°C) B Si Mg 2+ Ca 2+ Sr2+ Na+ K+ Cl SO4
July 13, 1989 55.4 8.1 0.449 20.0 0.040 64.5 0.164 155 3.4 74.4 358 4.81
July 18, 1989 55.4 8.3 0.447 19.9 0.040 64.1 0.163 155 2.9 74.3 358 4.82
July 21, 1989 55.3 8.3 0.445 20.0 0.039 63.6 0.162 153 2.8 75.2 360 4.79
Aug. 3, 1989 55.3 8.3 0.451 20.4 0.039 63.5 0.161 153 2.8 73.9 348 4.71
Aug. 11, 1989 55.4 8.6 0.450 20.1 0.045 62.9 0.159 153 2.8 76.4 357 4.67
Aug. 29, 1989 55.0 8.7 0.445 19.9 0.038 61.7 0.158 152 2.8 76.3 354 4.64
Sep. 27, 1989 55.2 7.9 0.452 20.2 0.037 61.1 0.158 155 2.8 78.2 362 4.63
Oct. 11, 1989 55.0 8.0 0.445 20.0 0.036 60.9 0.158 153 2.7 75.6 347 4.59
Oct. 20, 1989 54.9 0.441 19.9 0.037 60.9 0.158 151 2.8 75.3 348 4.62
Nov. 28, 1989 54.6 0.445 19.9 0.037 61.6 0.159 151 2.7 76.0 348 4.58
Dec. 6, 1989 54.4 0.443 19.8 0.036 61.8 0.159 150 2.7 75.3 344 4.57
Dec. 20, 1989 54.5 0.443 19.7 0.036 61.0 0.154 148 2.7 76.1 348 4.57
Feb. 2, 1990 54.5 0.448 20.2 0.037 62.5 0.160 151 76.0 348 4.58
Feb. 14, 1990 54.5 8.3 0.445 19.9 0.038 63.0 0.159 152 74.8 345 4.61
Feb. 23, 1990 54.5 8.3 0.456 20.1 0.039 65.0 0.163 156 76.6 364 4.75
Mar. 19, 1990 54.8 8.4 0.448 20.1 0.039 62.3 0.157 152 75.4 349 4.63
Mar. 26, 1990 54.7 8.2 0.447 20.3 0.039 62.4 0.156 152 75.1 346 4.61
Apr. 10, 1990 55.0 8.3 0.452 20.3 0.039 62.1 0.157 152 75.8 348 4.59
Apr. 27. 1990 55.1 8.3 0.442 20.0 0.037 61.5 0.158 151 76.4 349 4.57
May 11, 1990 54.0 8.4 0.442 19.9 0.037 61.3 0.157 151 76.6 351 4.58
June 1, 1990 55.0 8.4 0.443 19.8 0.037 62.6 0.160 153 76.3 351 4.60
June 20, 1990 54.0 0.445 19.9 0.036 62.2 0.159 152 76.5 352 4.60
July 12, 1990 54.0 8.4 0.444 20.1 0.037 63.4 0.162 153 r 76.3 351 4.60
Aug. 6, 1990 54.0 8.3 0.452 19.8 0.037 63.3 0.159 149 74.3 348 4.68
Aug. 11, 1990 54.0 8.6 0.455 20.0 0.038 63.8 0.161 147 73.8 346 4.69
Sep. 10, 1990 54.9 8.3 0.443 19.4 0.036 61.6 0.156 149 74.8 343 4.59
Oct. 10, 1990 53.8 8.5 0.454 20.1 0.038 64.6 0.160 150 73.4 337 4.59
Nov. 13, 1990 53.8 8.3 0.465 19.9 0.037 64.3 0.158 149 72.9 336 4.61
Dec. 13, 1990 53.8 8.5 0.447 19.7 0.037 64.1 0.158 150 73.6 338 4.59

*The temperature was measured by a mercury thermometer

.

70
spring water sampled at HRN. The water is
characterized by enrichment in Na+, Ca2+, S04 A B
60 • ' HRN
and Cl ions. These characteristic features of Ito U
hot spring have previously been pointed out by 50
0
0 00
b tD*(9 0
0

Fukutomi (1937) and Mashiko and Kanroji C oo Ig o"0 0

(1965). Q 40 b so
Figure 3 shows the relation between tempera •• •'0

ture and S024 / Cl ratio of hot spring waters in 30 •

the area based on the data obtained by the e
Geological Survey of Japan (Hirukawa et al., 20

1977). The relation indicates that hot spring 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

waters are classified into two types, A (solid S042-/CI

circles) and B (open circles), based on the value
of the S04' / Cl ratio. The S024 / Cl ratios of
type A waters are as low as 0.1-2, and the temper
atures range from 35' to 55'C, while type B
waters have high S024 / Cl ratios of 2-6 and the
temperatures are 45°-55°C.
Fig. 3. Relationship between water temperature
(°C) and S04 /Cl ratio of hot spring water in Ito
City. Hot spring water can be classifiedinto TypesA
(solid circles) and B (open circles). The original data
were obtained by Geological Survey of Japan
(Hirukawa et al., 1977). Water of HRN is shown as a
solid square.

F
 78 T. Sato et al.

0 0 40 Type A

o oozLO 41 0 Type B

3 ~C
EDY

Ito City
0
.
C
A9 I
O N
i
0
N c

0
N

h
r o 9 7 os
C~
NOO
OO'
°
00
0 0 500 1000 m

0
~p

Fig. 4. Spatial distribution of the SO 4 / C! ratios of hot spring water in Ito City. Solid and open circlesshow
the type A and B waters, respectively. The dashed line is the boundary between the two waters.

Most of the hot spring waters distributed mation which can be seen in the southern area
along the eastern coast of the Izu Peninsula are (1150,000 geologic map "Ito" provided by
considered to be mixtures of sea water and Geological Survey of Japan). Type B water may
meteoric water from the stable isotopic ratio and correspond to the meteoric water related. to
major chemical components (Matsubaya et al., Green Tuff formation.
1973). The lowest S04' / Cl ratio of type A The boundary between the type A and type B
water is equivalent to that of sea water of about waters may be located between EDY and HRN,
0.14. Type A water is distributed close to the. as shown by the dashed line in Fig. 4. Since the
ocean coast (Fig. 4). Accordingly, type A water depths of the wells in the area vary over the wide
is considered to be strongly related to sea water. range of 50-600 m, the boundary between type
On the other hand, type B water is A and type B on the ground surface can be
distributed in the southern part of the Ito area. drawn only approximately. The hot spring
Sakai and Matsubaya (1977) suggested that the waters near the boundary region are composed
meteoric water, another end member of the hot of both types of water with various mixing
spring water mixing, is related to Green Tuff for ratios. Changes in tectonic stress may change the

o
 Hot spring water changes 79

a)
4.9
4,M5.5
M6.5
4.8
C3
1 M5.1
ZN 4.7

t iii
4.6 Volcanic
Eruption ,,
4.5

b)
54.2

U I M6.5
54.1 j M5.1
0 d.
E a)
f Volcanic Eruption
a~ M5.5
54.0
_~

0 c) 1 Self-spouting

E
-100

M5.1
-200 j M6.5 j
Volcanic Eruption M5
D .5

-300

d)
200

vE 150

E
100

c 50

0
6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

1989 1990
Fig. 5. Temporal variations in observed parameters: a) SO4 / Cl ratio (HRN) , b) temperature of hot spring
(HRN), c) water level (EDY) and d) precipitations obtained at Ajiro. The data of c) are shown as the running
averages of the 25 hours' data to minimize .the tidal fluctuations. The precipitation data were provided by Japan
Meteorological Agency.

path of hot spring water in the region,
results in changes in the mixing ratio.
Observed changes with time
During the observation period, changes in
the concentration of most ions were small. Never
theless, some decreases which could be related to
tectonic events were observed in S024-, Na+ and
Mgt+. In particular, chemical changes related to
tectonic events become more obvious when we
take the S024 / Cl ratio (Table 2). In the follow
which ing discussion, the S024 / Cl ratio is taken as a
representative of the chemical composition
changes in hot spring water at HRN.
Figure 5 shows the temporal variations in the
S04 / Cl ratio and water temperature observed
at HRN and in the water level observed at EDY
during the period from July 1989 to December
1990. The temperature data were plotted only
for the period after the continuous measurement
was started. During the previous period the
water temperature was measured only by a mer

W
m
 80 T. Sato et al.

cury thermometer at the times of water
for chemical analysis.
Tidal fluctuations were observed in the water
level data at EDY with an amplitude of about 30
cm, but not observed in the temperature data at
HRN. After the 1989 events, the SO4 / Cl ratio
decreased by about 5%. The water temperature
also fell by about 1°C gradually, from 55.4°C
after the eruption to 54.5'C at the end of 1989.
Similarly the water level at EDY fell by about 2
m. It should be noted that the decreasing pat
terns of the three different parameters resemble
one another. Even though the S024 / Cl ratio
measurements were intermittently done, the
trend is more or less similar to that of the water
level change on a continuous basis.
The decreasing rates of the parameters in the
autumn of 1989 became smaller with time. It ap
peared that the enhanced levels of the SO' / CY
ratio, water temperature and water level gradual
ly approached normal levels. The decreasing
trends can be interpreted to be caused by a proc
ess of relaxation of the accumulated stress in the
region. The process would also have lowered
pore pressure in the aquifers. During the subse
quent calm period, two large changes associated
with earthquakes are notable.
Coseismic changes and possible precursors of
volcanic eruption
Coseismic hot spring water changes are ob
served at some sensitive observation wells. In
this study two coseismic signals were detected as
shown in Fig. 5. One is for the M6.5 earthquake
that occurred near the Izu-Oshima Island (No. 8
in Table 1), and the other is for the M5.1 earth
quake in the western part of Kanagawa Prefec
sampling ture (No. 9). The epicenters are shown in Fig. 1.
A rise of 3% in the SO4-/C1 ratio was ob
served at HRN just after the M6.5 earthquake.
Similar changes in water temperature (HRN)
and water level (EDY) were also recorded with
the amplitudes of about +0.05°C and +40 cm
respectively (Table 3), which were large enough
to be distinguished from the background fluctua
tions due to meteorological and tidal changes.
The amplitudes of coseismic changes for the
M5.1 earthquake were +3% (SO 4 / Cl ratio),
+0.05'C (water temperature) and + 60 cm
(water level). The observed coseismic changes
can be interpreted to be caused by enhancement
of pore pressure in the aquifers due to changes in
tectonic stress.
Earthquakes causing geochemical anomalies
have empirically been discussed in terms of
magnitude and distance (e.g., Kawabe, 1987;
Igarashi and Wakita, 1990). Figure 6 shows the
magnitude-hypocentral distance diagram for
earthquakes with M::_ 2.0 and D:5 100 km during
our observation period. Coseismic anomalies
were observed at HRN and EDY only for the ear
thquakes shown by solid circles. The solid line is
an extended line indicating a threshold relation
for appearance of groundwater radon anomaly
(Igarashi and Wakita, 1990). The strainmeter
observations of coseismic strain steps analyzed
by Wideman and Major (1967) are also plotted
as dashed lines. A threshold relation for the
coseismic anomalies observed at HRN and EDY
seems to be consistent with the solid and dashed
(10-8) lines.
On July 9, 1989, an M5.5 earthquake occur
red only 5 km away. Several hours later, self
spouting occurred at EDY. Since we had not

Table 3. Amplitude of observed changes associated with seismic and volcanic events

HRN
EDY
Event Date Water level Water temperature
(cm) SO4 /Cl
(°C)

1989 earthquake swarm (MME=5.5) June 30 +200 +1 +5%

with volcanic eruption on July 13 - Sep. 1989

earthquake (M=6.5) Feb. 20, 1990 +40 +0.05 +3%

earthquake (M=5.1) Aug. 5, 1990 +60 +0.05 +3%
 Hot spring water changes 81

/ 16, phenomena were precursors of the volcanic erup

8 /
/ tion of July 13.
7 16,
/j 2•
/ Crustal deformation during the 1989 events
-D .6 108
D *6
/ 8
7
5 4/
Duringg the active period in seismicity from
5 July 4 to 9, marked crustal deformations were
rn /
cz / 0 also observed around the volcanic eruption point
2 4 00 g
(e.g., Shimada et al., 1990; Geographical Survey
0 0 0 0 ~$~
3 00 0 90o00 00 Institute, 1990; Tsuneishi, 1991). The observed
46m00
OM0~0 000
2
O crustal deformations are interpreted to be caused
by fracture opening accompanied by upward
1 movements of magma. Based on the crustal
1 10 100
movement data, Okada and Yamamoto (1991)
Hypocentral distance (km)
and Tada and Hashimoto (1991) proposed a
Fig. 6. Relation between magnitude and hypocen
model of dike intrusion with a NW-SE direction
tral distance for earthquakes with D:5 100 km and
M>_ 2.0 that occurred during the observation period beneath the eruption point.
from July 1989 to December 1990 (circles). Solid and The changes in hot spring water observed in
open circles show earthquakes causing and not caus July 1989 are inferred to be caused by crustal
ing coseismic anomalies at both HRN and EDY. deformations due to the magma intrusion. The
Large earthquakes with M>_ 6.0 that have occurred
intrusion is considered to have pushed the crust
since 1974 are also shown by solid squares. The
numbers correspond to those in Table 1. Solid line is away to the Ito area and to develop small frac
an extended line showing a threshold relation for ap tures at the Usami area. Effects due to ac
pearance of groundwater radon anomaly (Igarashi cumulated tectonic stress may have increased the
and Wakita, 1990). Dashed lines show magnitude
pore pressure of the aquifer in the Ito area, while
distance relations for observed strain-step amplitudes
the fracturing may have lowered the pore
of 10_6 10-7 and 10-8 by Wideman and Major (1967).
pressure in the Usami area. This may have
resulted in the rises and drops in water level or
flow rate observed in the Ito and Usami areas, re
started the continuous observations of hot spr spectively.
ing water at that time, we cannot describe the About one hour before the finding of the
changes associated with this earthquake in self-spouting at EDY, the main occurrence of
detail. In fact, it is not certain whether the self characteristic low frequency earthquakes started
spouting was a coseismic phenomenon or not . beneath the eruption point (Obara and
Significant anomalies including self-spouting Fukuyama, 1990). The low frequency earth
as observed after the M5.5 earthquake were not quakes were presumed to be phenomena caused
seen at the times of the past large earthquakes by magma residing at very shallow depths (Ma
(No. 1 5 in Fig. 6). Figure 6, however, indicates tsumura et al., 1991). The activity of the shallow
that the Nos. 2 and 3 earthquakes were large magma may further have increased the pore
enough to cause coseismic changes as large as pressure of the aquifer in the Ito area, which
that associated with the M5.5 earthquake (No . 6). enhance water level (EDY) and flow rate (HRN)
If the M5.5 earthquake was responsible for the resulted in the self-spouting. The increased pore
significant anomalies, similar phenomena should pressure also acted to change the mixing ratio of
have been seen at the times of the past two earth hot spring water (HRN).
quakes, which was not the case. Thus some
special event should be needed to explain the
CONCLUSIONS
significant anomalies including self-spouting .
This leads to the possibility that the observed Associated with 1989 seismic and volcanic
 82
events, anomalous rises in the S024 / C1 ratio,
temperature and water level of hot springs were
observed in the Ito area. These changes are infer
red to be caused by increases of pore pressure in
the aquifers, which originated from crustal defor
mations due to uprising magma. Major parts of
the observed anomalies are interpreted to be
possible precursors of the 1989 submarine
volcanic eruption. Continuous and careful obser
vation of hot spring water will be useful to
increase knowledge on seismic and volcanic ac
tivities. This study will also contribute to predic
ting volcanic eruptions.
Acknowledgments-We thank Mr. F. Saito
F. Tanabe for allowing us to use their wells
observations.
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