The First D/V Chikyu IODP Operations: Successful Logging and Coring During NanTroSEIZE Stage 1 Expeditions

• Main Authors: Moe Kyaw Thu, Daniel Curewitz, Shin’ichi Kuramoto, Hideki Masago
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus Publications 2008-07-01
• Series: Scientific Drilling
• Subjects: NanTroSEIZE Stage 1
• Online Access: http://www.iodp.org/images/stories/downloads/sd6_08.pdf#page=38

The Nankai Trough Seismogenic Zone Experiment (NanTroSEIZE) is a multi-expedition IODP drilling project aimed at drilling, coring, logging, and instrumenting the seismogenic zone of an active subduction margin , in a region thought to generate megathrust earthquakes of magnitude >8.0 on the moment-magnitude scale (Tobin and Kinoshita, 2006). The Nankai Trough, offshore of the Kii Peninsula, Honshu, Japan (Fig. 1) was chosen as the location for thisproject based on a number of scientific drilling proposals to IODP. These reviewed existing drilling data in the region, the long-term historical and recent record of great earthquakes, the social and societal relevance of the area, and the accessibility of the seismogenic zone to present drilling technology. The first stage of this multi-stage project was intended to accomplish a broad characterization of the shallow geology, geophysics, physical properties, heat flow, and fluid flow in a transect across the downgoing Philippine Sea Plate, the toe of the Nankai accretionary prism, the megasplay fault zone region on the continental slope, and the Kumano Basin that lies between the accretionary prism and the KiiPeninsula, on the continental shelf (Fig. 2).