日本地熱学会誌 J.Geotherm.

第 33 巻 第 2 号(2011) Res.Soc.Japan
87～92 頁 短 報 Vol.33.No.2(2011)
P. 87～P. 92

Exploration of Non-volcanic Hydrothermal Systems in Fukuoka Prefecture,

Japan, by Gravity Surveys

Yasuhiro FUJIMITSU✻ and Jun NISHIJIMA✻

(Presented 2 July at RE2010, Received 30 November 2010, Accepted 23 February 2011)

Abstract
We have conducted gravity surveys at some areas in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. One of the purposes of the
surveys is to reveal underground structure of non-volcanic hydrothermal systems. As the result of the gravity surveys
at Yokote-Ijiri area in Fukuoka City, we concluded that one of the basement differences where some hot springs
concentrate is a part of Kego Fault, and there is a permeable zone, which is like a fracture zone created by the past
activities of the fault and acts as a path of hot spring water from the deeper side of the granitic body. And the survey
result in Oto Town indicates an underground structure of the half graben, which is concerned with Tagawa Fault, with
a strike of a north-south direction. It was concluded that Tagawa Fault is a likely target for the future hot spring well
by comparison between the results of this gravity survey and the previous geological research. And the directional
drilling should be adopted for the drilling of the future hot spring well because the dip of Tagawa Fault seems to be
nearly perpendicular.

Keywords: hot springs, non-volcanic hydrothermal system, gravity survey, underground structure, fault

1. Introduction
We have conducted gravity surveys at some areas in
Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. One of the purposes of the
surveys is to reveal underground structure of non-volcanic
hydrothermal systems. Here we show two results of the
surveys at Yokote-Ijiri area, a hot springs area in Fukuoka
City, and in Oto Town as the application of the result of
Yokote-Ijiri area (Fig. 1).
2. Gravity surveys in Fukuoka City
There are some low-to-moderate temperature hot
springs in Fukuoka City. Especially, the temperatures of
some hot springs in Yokote-Ijiri area, southern part of
aaaa
✻
Department of Earth Resources Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Kyushu University, 744 Motooka, Nishi-ku, Fukuoka 819-0395 Japan
ⒸThe Geothermal Research Society of Japan, 2011
Fukuoka City (Fig. 2), are relatively high (40 - 50 °C) as
compared with any other hot springs in the city although no
particular heat source is expected (Karakida et al., 1994).
We have measured gravity values at 1994 points as of
the end of March 2010 using Scintrex CG-3, CG-3M and
CG-5 gravimeters. The measurement point interval was set
as about several tens to hundreds meters; especially the
stations were arranged more densely along Kego Fault, one
of the active faults in Fukuoka Prefecture (Fig. 3). The
measurement values were processed with a series of
correction (height, drift, tidal, the free-air, the Bouguer and
terrain) to obtain a Bouguer anomaly map. We determined
aa

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 Fig. 1 (a) Location of Fukuoka Prefecture in Japan, (b)
Locations of Fukuoka City and Oto Town in
Fukuoka Prefecture. A rectangle in Fukuoka City
Fig. 3 Measurement stations of the gravity survey in
indicates Yokote-Ijiri area.
Fukuoka City area. A rectangle indicates
Yokote-Ijiri area.
the Bouguer density of 2.47 g/cm3 for this area and used
our original computer program (Nishijima, 2009) for the
terrain correction.
Fig. 4 indicates the residual Bouguer anomaly map of
the Fukuoka City area that consists of not only our 1994
gravity data but also 57 data of other institutions
aaaaaaaa

Fig. 4 Residual Bouguer anomaly map of the Fukuoka City

area (Bouguer density: 2.47 g/cm3). A dashed line
indicates the location of Kego Fault shown by
Shimoyama et al. (2005).

(Geological Survey of Japan, 2000). In this map, the

Fig. 2 Locations of the faults (dashed lines) in the Fukuoka
gravitational basement, which has a high density and
City area (Karakida et al., 1994) and Yokote-Ijiri
affects to the Bouguer anomaly, is thought as Paleozoic
area (a rectangle, the area of Fig. 5).

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Sangun metamorphic rocks and Cretaceous plutonic rocks A granitic body, which is a basement layer of this area,
(Sawara Granite, etc.) (Karakida et al., 1994). And Fig. 4 is distributed mainly in the eastern half and consolidated
also indicates a clear low Bouguer anomaly extension that and unconsolidated sediments are distributed in the western
has a strike of NW-SE and coincides with the location of half of Oto Town (Fig. 6) (Geological Survey of Japan, 1993).
Kego Fault confirmed by a trenching survey (Shimoyama
et al., 2005).
As a result of a three-dimensional analysis by using
the prism model to estimate the distribution of the
basement depth (Cordell and Henderson, 1968), we
detected two continuous large differences in level of the
basement of Yokote-Ijiri area (Fig. 5). These differences
have a strike of NW-SE and form a crank-shaped long ditch
in the basement. Because of the continuity of the low
Bouguer anomaly caused by Kego Fault, we concluded that
one of the basement differences where the hot springs
concentrate is a part of Kego Fault, and there is a
permeable zone, which was observed in one of the hot
spring wells (Matsushita et al., 1971) and is like a fracture
zone created by the past activities of the fault and acts as a
path of hot spring water from the deeper side of the granitic
body, which is the basement rock of the Fukuoka City area.

3. Gravity surveys in Oto Town

Fig. 6 Geological map of Oto Town (after Geological Survey
Oto Town is one of the municipal governments in
of Japan, 1993). A black dashed line indicates the
Fukuoka Prefecture, and is located about 50 km east of border of Oto Town and a red rectangle shows the area
Fukuoka City (Fig. 1). The town expects a hot spring well of Fig. 8.
in the town in the future. We conducted gravity survey in
this town in order to reveal underground structure of the
survey area for the future hot spring well.

Fig. 7 Sketch of the outcrops of Tagawa Fault in Oto town

(Sakai and Watanabe, 1986). The sketch d) is an
Fig. 5 Basement depth distribution in Yokote-Ijiri area by the
outcrop by which five measurement stations were
3-D analysis of Cordell and Henderson (1968).
placed (see Fig. 8).

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A geological boundary between the granitic body and the
Tertiary layer forms Tagawa Fault that has an NS strike. A
previous research by Fukuoka Prefecture indicated that
Tagawa Fault is a normal fault and molds an eastern edge
of a half graben (Fukuoka Prefecture, 1971). On the other
hand, Sakai and Watanabe conducted a geological
reconnaissance (Fig. 7) and concluded that a dip of Tagawa
Fault is nearly perpendicular (80° - 90° E) and there is a
possibility of a reverse fault (Sakai and Watanabe, 1986).
We conducted a series of gravity survey in Oto Town
by using three gravimeters (Scintrex CG-3, CG-3M and
CG-5) in FY 2008 and 2009 with a reference station of a
second-order benchmark (No. 1168) in the town, which
aaaa
Fig. 8 Location of the measurement stations and a residual
Bouguer anomaly map of the Oto Town area (Bouguer
density: 2.50 g/cm3). Five stations in an ellipse were
placed along a road on which an outcrop of Tagawa
Fault had been found (Sakai and Watanabe, 1986) (see
Fig. 7).
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had been established by the Geographical Survey Institute
of Japan. We set 81 measurement stations in the survey area
(Fig. 8). Especially, five stations of them were placed along
a road on which an outcrop of Tagawa Fault had been
found (Fig. 7) (Sakai and Watanabe, 1986) to compare the
results between the geological reconnaissance and the
gravity survey.
After the same corrections as the survey in Fukuoka
City, a Bouguer anomaly map was obtained (Fig. 8). A low
anomaly band that extends from north to south appears in
the center of Figure 8, and the low anomaly at the southern
part is greater than that at the northern part of the
investigation area. The contours at the eastern side of the
band are denser than those at the western side. These
aaaaaa
Fig. 9 Depth distribution of the basement layer in Oto Town
by the 3-D analysis of Cordell and Henderson (1968).
A red line indicates the location of Tagawa Fault at the
ground surface shown in Fig. 7 a).
features seem to indicate that this underground structure is
a half graben.
According to the result of the 3-D analysis (Cordell
and Henderson, 1968), the underground structure of the
half graben, which is concerned with Tagawa Fault, with a
strike of a north-south direction is expressed (Fig. 9). In Fig.
9, the location of the fault confirmed by the geological
survey (Sakai and Watanabe, 1986) (a red line) matches the
depth gap of the basement layer estimated by this gravity
survey. Therefore, although only a few outcrops of the fault
were shown in this area (Sakai and Watanabe, 1986), the
northward extension of the depth gap of the basement layer
suggests the location of Tagawa Fault. And development of
a fracture zone with Tagawa Fault was confirmed at the
outcrops (Sakai and Watanabe, 1986). Therefore, Tagawa
Fault is a likely target for the future hot spring well. And
the directional drilling should be adopted for the drilling of
the future hot spring well because the dip of Tagawa Fault
seems to be nearly perpendicular.
4. Conclusions
We have conducted gravity surveys at some areas in
Fukuoka Prefecture in order to reveal underground
structure of non-volcanic hydrothermal systems.
As the result of the gravity surveys at Yokote-Ijiri area
in Fukuoka City, we detected two continuous large
differences in level of the basement. These differences have
a strike of NW-SE and form a crank-shaped long ditch in
the basement. We concluded that one of the basement
differences where the hot springs concentrate is a part of
Kego Fault, and there is a permeable zone, which is like a
fracture zone created by the past activities of the fault and
acts as a path of hot spring water from the deeper side of
the granitic body.
The survey result in Oto Town indicates an
underground structure of the half graben, which is
concerned with Tagawa Fault, with a strike of a north-south
direction. It was concluded that Tagawa Fault is a likely
target for the future hot spring well by comparison between
the results of this gravity survey and the previous
geological research.
Acknowledgments
This study has been supported by Prof. Sachio Ehara
and the students of the Laboratory of Geothermics,
Department of Earth Resources Engineering, Kyushu
University. The survey in Fukuoka City was financially
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supported by KAKENHI (Grant-in-Aid for Scientific
Research by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science)
Exploratory Research (No. 15360476). We are grateful to
Mr. Hideaki Matsumoto and Mr. Koji Urano, who are
officials of Oto Town and were the coordinators of the
survey in Oto Town.
This work is the revision and extension of the paper in
RE2010 International Conference in Yokohama with the
paper number O-Ge-5-2. The opportunity is gratefully
acknowledged.
References
Cordell, L. and Henderson, R. G. (1968) Iterative three-dimensional
solution of gravity anomaly data using a digital computer.
Geophysics, 33, 596-601.
Fukuoka Prefecture (1971) Subsurface geological map 1:50,000
Gotoji. General Survey of Land Classification in Development
Area around Suo-nada, Fukuoka Prefecture.**
Geological Survey of Japan (1993) Geological map 1:200,000
Fukuoka. Geological Maps of Japan, N1-52-10, Geological
Survey of Japan.**
Geological Survey of Japan (2000) Gravity CD-ROM of Japan.
Digital Geoscience Map, P-2, Geological Survey of Japan.*
Karakida, Y., Tomita, S., Shimoyama, S. and Chijiwa, K. (1994)
Geology of the Fukuoka district. Quadrangle Series, Scale
1:50000, Fukuoka (14)-51, Geological Survey of Japan, 192p.*
Matsushita, H., Miki, T. and Yamashita, A. (1971) An overturned
structure observed in the southern part of Fukuoka city. The
Science Reports of the Shimabara Volcano Observatory, the
Faculty of Science, Kyushu University, 7, 1-8.*
Nishijima, J. (2009) A terrain correction program using 50m mesh
digital elevation data. Geothermal and Volcanological Research
Report of Kyushu University, 18, 35-38.*
Sakai, H. and Watanabe, M. (1986) Outcrops of Kokura-Tagawa
fault and cataclasite. Active Fault Research, 2, 77-82.**
Shimoyama, S., Iso, N., Matsuda, T., Ichihara, T., Chida, N.,
Okamura, M., Mogi, T., Suzuki, S., Ochiai, H., Nagasawa, S.,
Imanishi, H., Kawabata, F., Yakabe, H., Ooteki, M. and
Matsuura, K. (2005) Trenching study at Yakuin site across the
Kego fault, Fukuoka City, West Japan. Active Fault Research,
25, 117-128.*
*
: in Japanese with English abstract, **: in Japanese
 短 報

重力探査による福岡県内の非火山性熱水系の探査

藤光康宏・西島 潤

（2010 年 7 月 1 日 RE2010 にて発表，2010 年 11 月 16 日受

付，2011 年 2 月 24 日受理）

概 要
福岡県内の数箇所において，非火山性熱水系の地下構造の
解明を目的の一つとする重力探査が実施されている。福岡市
南区の横手・井尻地区における探査では，温泉井が集中して
いる北西－南東走向の基盤岩急傾斜部が警固断層の一部で
あり，過去の断層活動で形成された高透水性の破砕帯が，基
盤岩である花崗岩体の深部から上昇する温泉水の流路とな
っていると結論された。また，田川郡大任町における探査で
は，南北走向の田川断層に伴う半地溝状の地下構造が示され，
過去の地質調査の結果と考え合わせると，将来の温泉掘削の
際には田川断層の破砕帯が有望な対象となると考えられた。
しかしながら田川断層の傾斜はほぼ垂直であると予想され
るため，温泉井の掘削には傾斜掘りを適用するのが良いと思
われる。

キーワード：温泉，非火山性熱水系，重力探査，地下構造，
断層

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