Development of splay faults in the Nankai Accretionary prism

We have investigated the cause of splay fault developing in the eastern Nankai accretionary prism by means of finite element method (FEM). Simulation models are based on the geological cross-sections produced by Le Pichon et al. (1996) and Park et al. (2002). Using these cross-sections, we have investigated development pattern of the splay faults with changing displacement condition of megathrust and the inserted two types of thin layer (fully coupled and decoupled condition) in plate boundary. Results of our model are displayed in two form; the distribution of failure element and the displacement vector. Results indicate a little effect of the inserted thin layer. Splay faults are developed at high angle in all the simulated model.