J-DESC 1

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Japan Drilling Earth Science Consortium

NEWS

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Japan Drilling Earth Science Consortium Newsletter Vol. 1
Issue : September 30, 2006

2006

CONTENTS◦ Chairman’s Message

1◦ Section Chairmen’s Messages

2◦ Outline and Results of IODP Expedition 301— Report at 2nd Post Cruise Meeting◦ Nankai Trough Seismogenic Zone Experiment(NanTroSEIZE):
Acquisition of Great Earthquake Seismogenic
Materials and Site Monitoring◦ 1st Japan Continental Drilling Research Meeting
Held at Makuhari◦ 10 Years of ICDP
◦ ICDP Drilling Proposals approved for 2006

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◦ J-DESC’s Education & Outreach Activities
1st IODP Post-Expedition Lecture
IODP University & Science Museum Campaign
Booths showcasing IODP◦ FY 2006 Schedule of J-DESC Activities

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◦ What is J-DESC(Japan Drilling Earth Science Consortium)?
◦ Mailing list
◦ Our website

J-DESC Entering its Forth YearShunso Ishihara
Chairman, Japan Drilling Earth Science Consortium
Adviser to the National Institute of Advanced Industrial
Science and Technology

Already three years have passed since theinception of J-DESC and we are about to enter
our fourth year. In the previous fiscal year, earth
drilling has seen a lot of activity.
The best news was that the deep-sea
drilling vessel Chikyu was handed over to theJapan Agency for Marine-Earth Science andTechnology (JAMSTEC) last July, and sincethen trial operation has proceeded smoothly.
After piston coring last year, the vessel thisyear successfully completed drilling operations
and next year is scheduled to enter intofull operation. This is expected to assign anincreasingly important role to J-DESC as being
in charge of scientific planning.
With the establishment of the Kochi Institutefor Core Sample Research by JAMSTEC on
October 1, 2005, a full research system foranalyzing collected core samples is now inplace. In the future, J-DESC hopes to cooperatewith the Kochi Institute for Core Sample
Research and Kochi University in promoting
activities such as setting up core processing
schools nationwide. This year coincides withrefitting of the JOIDES Resolution, so there
will be no IODP research drilling cruise. We,
therefore, have scheduled a multitude of
meetings and workshops to devote plenty oftime and effort to working out plans for the
future. What is very special about these is thatsome of them are jointly sponsored by the
Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) andthe International Continental Scientific Drilling
Program (ICDP). J-DESC lends its support byassisting students wishing to attend withtravel expenses. In addition, the first IODP
Post-Exhibition Lecture was held under joint
sponsorship of the Ocean Research Institute of
the University of Tokyo and JAMSTEC, mainly

at the J-DESC IODP section, in May of this year,
where the results of research cruises conducted
up to now were taken up in lively discussions.
We have also heard that our efforts going into
research assistance to promote IODP’s scientificprograms are finally beginning to bear fruit.
To move on to continental drilling, J-DESC
published Japan’s National Science Plan entitled“Looking at the Earth Through a Fiberscope”,
which lays down the government’s policies
on scientific drilling, and a pamphlet giving ashort introduction to this plan. Besides earthscience issues continental drilling is directed
at finding the answers to problems related todisasters, resources, and the environment andso on. To make the contents of this plan widely
known and understood, we sponsored the“Continental Drilling and Society” symposium
last December. This May we also held thefirst meeting for exchange of informationon continental drilling research. In anotherdevelopment, two workshop projects proposedby the government were adopted by ICDP. As
both of these require cooperation with IODP,
we believe that scientific drilling transcending
the borders of land and sea as attempted by
J-DESC is gradually moving closer to realization.
We ask for your continued cooperation andsupport for J-DESC’s activities.

©JAMSTEC,IODP.MI©ICDPJapan’s deep-sea drilling vessel, the Chikyu,
will go into full operation for IODP from 2007.

The ICDP Unzen Scientific Drilling Projectcompleted in 2004. Vent drilling was
performed at the site of the 1990s eruptions.

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J-DESC NEWS 2006
IODP Drilling Proposals and
J-DESC’s Approach
J-DESC’s IODP Section is engaged in evolving
activities for J-DESC as IODP Japan National
Office and activities to promote Japan’s
ocean drilling science through IODP. Thanks
to the efforts of successive members of theadministration and the AESTO Secretariat,
rules have been established regarding therecommendation of IODP SAS (Science Advisory
Structure) members for participation in various
committees and participation of onboard
researchers in IODP research expeditions. While
working on PR for IODP, our more obvious
activities currently being promoted include
organizing the IODP Post-Expedition Lecture,publication of our newsletter, and setting
up J-DESC booths at academic meetings inJapan and abroad. J-DESC is an assemblage

Noriyuki Suzuki
Chairman of IODP Section, J-DESC
Graduate School of Science, Hokkaido Universityof scientists. More than anything, we hope tomake efficient use of IODP and to contribute
through scientific results. Specifically speaking,scientific drilling proposals are our most basic
scientific activity and our contribution to IODP.
Drilling proposals from Japan are increasing
gradually these days, but as yet are too few.
IODP in Japan is still faced with a number ofissues that need to be solved, including thevarious problems associated with site surveys
absolutely necessary for drilling proposals, asystem to support those making such proposals,
the international exchanges necessary fordrawing up the proposal documents, anddeveloping and recruiting human resources for
active involvement in scientific ocean drilling.
In May 2006, AESTO for the first time publicly

Continental Scientific Drillingin Japan and J-DESC's Approach

invited applications from people to assist withpreparation of drilling proposals. We werealso happy to see one of our long-cherishedambitions come true with the adoption of“Dynamics of the Earth System” (Fiscal 2007 –2008) for award of time-limited grants-in-aid
for scientific research in fiscal 2007. From now
on, we will have to appeal IODP even stronger
to gain the understanding of society throughactivities focusing on scientific output. In
addition to the activities mentioned above, theadministration of the IODP Section is getting
ready to move on to the next stage by keeping
an eye out for opportunities such as setting up apermanent IODP session at academic meetings
in Japan, engaging in international exchanges
and holding international symposiums.

Tetsuro Urabe

Chairman of Continental Drilling Section, J-DESC
School of Science, University of Tokyo

Several years ago, when one after anotherof the government agencies which had been
involved in the execution of mission drilling
for resources exploration, etc. were turned into
independent administrative institutions, longterm planning had become difficult and manyof Japan’s continental drilling programs met
the bitter fate of being scaled back or canceled.
In the meantime, with the economic growthexperienced in countries such as China, Russia
and India, the demand for energy and mineral
resources rose dramatically and as prices
kept hovering at the high end, the time hadcome for Japan to review its resources policy.
The so-called “Skeleton Policy” (Basic policy
on improvement of economic and financial
administration and restructuring) announced
in July 2006 also deals in great depth withthe strategic development of resources andenergy policies, and there is growing publicconcern about the problem, going beyond theconventional resources related industry.
However, many of the engineering
geologists experienced in exploration andmining engineers who have taken part inmine development have reached retirement
age and even some of the companies
formerly engaged in mining do not have any
engineering geologists on their staff. The
situation at universities is the same: teaching
staff in the resources field, both at the physics
and engineering departments, have alreadybecome an endangered species. One feels likeasking the question as to what the stance ofearth science, where a pronounced shift toward
environmental problems is underway, will bein dealing with the resources problem in the
future. A certain resources related company isdemanding that mid-career staff be retrainedat foreign universities, but bringing up a new

J-DESC Publications
The Japan Drilling Earth Science Consortium publishes proposals consolidating
the science, technology and organization necessary for promoting scientific drilling,a future outlook, science plans, etc. Please visit J-DESC’s website (www.j-desc.org),
where these publications are posted as PDF files.
Left : Strategy for IODP Science Activity in Japan– Science Plans towards Realizing Drilling Proposals (1) –Right : Looking at the Earth through a Fiberscope– Continental Drilling Science Plan –generation of scientists at Japanese universities
remains up in the air.
At the Continental Drilling Sectional Meeting,an appeal for scientific drilling as a way tosolving the problems faced by society, such as
the resources issue, was made by publication ofJapan’s National Science Plan, “Looking at the
Earth Through a Fiberscope”, and "Outline ofContinental Drilling Science Plan”, a pamphlet
explaining the contents of this plan. One of
the approaches we are currently debatingis opening up scientific research of existing
mission drilling programs. In the future, we
hope that you all will cooperate with us inaccelerating this kind of development so we
can improve the situation from our end bycreating opportunities for getting students
involved in drilling science.

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Outline and Results of IODP Expedition 301— Report at 2nd Post Cruise Meeting —©IODP

Shusaku Goto

Tetsuro Urabe

Ocean Research Institute of the University of Tokyo

Dept. of Geophysics, Div. of Earth and Planetary Sciences,
Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University/Currently AIST

Satoshi Nakagawa

Shoichi Kiyokawa

JAMSTEC

Faculty of Sciences, Kyushu University

Masumi Sakaguchi

Fumio Inagaki

Graduate School of Science, Kochi University
Currently Marine Works Japan

JAMSTEC Kochi Institute for Core Sample Research

Introduction
Exp. 301, the first expedition of the Integrated
Ocean Drilling Program (IODP), created in
October 2003, went to a site 250 km off
Washington State on the US West Coast from
June 27 to August 20, 2004 (Fig. 1). The purposeof this expedition was to conduct a numberof investigations from the JOIDES Resolution,
including the wider area hydrothermal
circulation, the hydrogeologic architecture of
the oceanic crust on the eastern flank of Juande Fuca Ridge, as well as the accompanyinghydrothermal alteration and geomicrobial
processes. For details of the expedition, pleaserefer to the IODP Proceedings CD-ROM (Vol.
301; Fisher et al. 2005).
The 2nd Post-Cruise Meeting of the expedition
was held at the University of Alaska Fairbanks
in early May 2006. The meeting was planned
to discuss the expedition results one to two
years after its completion, with each of theparticipants giving a brief summary of theirresearch of approx. 20 minutes. Here follows
a brief report of what Exp. 301 was intended
to clarify and what findings were obtained,
including the individual research papers. Dueto space limitations this newsletter covers only
the first half of these reports. For the complete
texts, please refer to the J-DESC website.

Low-temperature hydrothermal circulation
conceivably also occurs in ridge flanks in otherparts of the world, but the Juan de Fuca Ridge
survey is the most thorough to date.
It is well known that high-temperature (300
- 400 °C) hydrothermal vents such as blacksmokers are found on the mid-ocean ridgeaxis. Low-temperature hydrothermal flux atthe ridge flanks, on the other hand, has hardly
been investigated as it is distributed wide andfar across the seafloor and therefore difficult
to study. It has been calculated, however, thatthe hydrothermal circulation at the flanks
compared with that at the ridge axis (<million
years) is more than three times in terms of totalheat release and more than ten times in termsof material circulation volume, which is a very
important phenomenon (Mottl and Wheat,1994).
But the eastern flank of Juan de Fuca Ridge
has certain factors that differentiate it fromtypical ridge flanks. It is near the coast of
the North American continent and covered

Takuro Noguchi

Faculty of Science, University of the Ryukyus

Takeshi Tsuji

Ocean Research Institute of the University of Tokyo

with a thick layer of turbidite aged at most
3 million years. It is therefore believed that
this layer acts as an impermeable layer (caprock) forming a hydrothermal reservoir in theoceanic crust beneath. For this reason, thetemperature of the circulating flux is several
10 °C higher than in other ridge flanks of thesame age, and medium-temperature flux is
circulating in parallel to the expanded axis. In
addition, the temperature at the top surface
of both the higher and the lower regions of
the basaltic crust (base) is the same, leading
to the assumption that the hydrothermal flux
determines the temperature of the oceanic
crust (Davies et al., 1999).
Besides the members involved in recovering
the Cork (see J-DESC website), experts in
microbiology, petrology, geochemistry,
sedimentology, rock physics, logging, and otherfields were onboard for this drilling expedition.
Let us now take a look at the results obtained.
(Continued on the J-DESC website)

Characteristics of the eastern flank ofJuan de Fuca Ridge
Juan de Fuca, where this experiment
was conducted, is said to have an ocean
located below the seafloor. In 1996, drilling
expedition ODP Leg 168 targeted this area.
The temperature and chemical compositionof hot water sampled in one of the boreholes
and of the hot water gushing out from Baby
Bare, nearby exposed parts of basement
rock, were confirmed to be identical basedon measurements taken by the DSV Alvin.
It is, therefore, assumed that there is a highpermeability horizon in the sediment-covered
uppermost layer of the basaltic oceanic crust, inwhich medium temperature water (60 - 70 °C)
circulates (Wheat and Mottl, 2000).
This expedition for the first time used
several boreholes to observe the movementof water in the crust over a distance in theorder of kilometers. The Cork installed on aprevious expedition was not working properly
and was therefore recovered and replacedwith two improved models. Interestingly, it
is presumed that this hot water supplies theenergy source for chemical synthesis in thebasement microbiosphere (Cowen et al., 2003).

60°
N

40°

20°

0°

IODP Expedition 301
20°
S 180°W 160°

140°

120°

100°

80°

Fig. 1 Site Map of IODP Expedition 301 (courtesy of IODP-USIO)J-DESC NEWS 2006
Nankai Trough Seismogenic Zone
Experiment (NanTroSEIZE):
Acquisition of Great Earthquake
Seismogenic Materials and Site Monitoring

Masataka Kinoshita

JAMSTEC
Institute for Research on
Earth Evolution

Great subduction earthquakes occur
repeatedly in the Nankai Trough due tosubduction of the Philippine plate. Morethan 60 years have passed since the 1944
Tonankai earthquake (M8), but according to
the Headquarters for Earthquake Research
Promotion (2001), the probability of another
Tonankai earthquake occurring within the next
30 years is extremely high at 50% . Researchersin Japan and other countries are engaged inobservations, experiments and analyses tothrow light on the mechanism that generates
and propagates subduction earthquakes.
A seismic structure survey conducted byPark et al. (2002) showed that seismic faults
occur not only at plate boundary faults but
also at splay faults. Analyses of the 1944
earthquake/tsunami records made it possible
to infer which fault moved and to what extent(e.g., Ichinose et al., 2003, Baba and Cummins,
2005). These findings added a new dimension
to the issue of spatial distribution in lockedzones (asperities) and their activity patterns.
Furthermore, the presence of seafloor scarp
and cold seep communities along the base of
the scarp has been shown to be indicators offault activity (Ashi et al., 2002). The fault slip
behavior is being approached from the rockmechanics angle by conducting various tests
such as fracture and friction experiments basedon past seismic fault and continental seismic
fault drillings.
However, a unified fault slip theory covering
the entire series from earthquake source
nucleation to rupture propagation has not
yet been established, and the deformation
mechanism observable on a time scale fromseconds to years has not yet been clarified.
This is because the conditions and mechanicalproperties of deep fault scarps are not yet
known, although the fault rheology model
relies on the fault surface and the properties ofmaterials in the surroundings.

fluid flow behavior and other unresolved issues
by drilling into the plate boundary fault system
spanning the upper limit of the seismogenic
zone at this subductions zone, which has
produced the massive earthquake/tsunami
off the Kii Peninsula, sample and carry out site
monitoring. Specifically, the project deals withobtaining samples of seismogenic materials andplacing instruments for long-term monitoring(a) in the sediment at the trough bottom which
will be carried into the seismogenic zone in the
future due to plate tectonics, (b) at splay faults(3.5 km from the seafloor) extending from theplate boundary to the seafloor, and (c) at plateboundary faults at a maximum depth of 6 km.
The IODP NanTroSEIZE proposal was drawn
up in an international effort between 2001
and 2003. As the project will involve several
expeditions by several drilling vessels, it was
ranked as a Complex Drilling Project (CDP) anddivided into an umbrella proposal constituting
the main framework and several subject
oriented drilling proposals. The project was
adopted after undergoing official screening by
the IODP Science Advisory Structure between
2004 and 2005. IODP subsequently set up the
Project Team Management for implementing
NanTroSEIZE.
N a n Tr o S E I Z E i s s c h e d u l e d t o s t a r t i n
September 2007. In Stage 1, preceding theseismogenic riser drillings in 2008, five nonriser drilling expeditions will be conducted by
the Chikyu and US drilling vessels to drill up toThis is where the objectivesof the IODP Nankai TroughSeismogenic Experiment(NanTroSEIZE) lie. Its goal is toclarify the sliding characteristics
of faults, deformation processes,

NanTroSEIZE concept. Cross section showing thereflection profile off Kumano according to Park et al.
(2002). The red spot indicates the asperity above theearthquake fault.

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Chikyua maximum depth of 1,400 m at six sites fromthe bottom of the trough to Kumano basin.
The co-chiefs for the five expeditions havealready been decided, while we are currently
accepting applications from potential onboard
researchers (deadline October 15, 2006). For
details on the NanTroSEIZE project, please visit
www.nantroseize.com).
Literature

L o n g - Te r m E v a l u a t i o n o f N a n k a i Tr o u g hEarthquake, Headquarters for Earthquake Research
Promotion http://www.jishin.go.jp/main/chousa/
01sep_nankai/index.htm、2001.
Juichiro Ashi, Shinichi Kuramoto, Sumito Morita,
Jun Kadomina and others, Structure and cold seepof the Nankai accretionary prism off Kumano,
JAMSTEC Journal of Deep Sea Research 20, 1-8,
2002.
Baba, T. and Cummins, P.R., 2005. Contiguous
rupture areas of two Nankai Trough earthquakes
revealed by high-resolution tsunami waveform
inversion. Geophys. Res. Lett., 32(8): L08305. doi:
10.1029/2004GL022320
Ichinose, G.A., Thio, H.K., Somerville, P.G., Sato,T. and Ishii, T., 2003. Rupture process of the 1944
Tonankai earthquake (Ms 8.1) from the inversion ofteleseismic and regional seismograms. J. Geophys.
Res., 108 (B10) : 2497. doi 10.1029/2003JB002393
Park, J.-O., Tsuru, T., Kodaira, S., Cummins, P.R.,
and Kaneda, Y., 2002. Splay fault branching along
the Nankai subduction zone. Science, 297(5584):
1157–1160. doi: 10.1126/science.10741111

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1st Japan Continental DrillingResearch Meeting Heldat Makuhari

Kentaro Omura

Secretary of Continental Drilling Section, J-DESC
National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention

On May 16 (Tuesday), 2006, the First Japan
Continental Drilling Research Meeting was held
as part of Japan Geoscience Union Meeting
2006 at the Makuhari Messe International
Convention Complex.
To start with, Mr. Urabe, Chairman of J-DESC
Continental Drilling Section, talked in detailabout the import of the meeting, that is,bringing the research schedule accompanying
drilling from the conceptual stage to theplanning stage, and explained that it was an
open-agenda meeting aimed at exchanging
useful information. Next, the following subjects
were broached and taken up in a question andanswer session.
1) Drilling and research on volcanic islands(Earthquake Research Institute: Setsuya
Nakada)2) Drilling integrated groundwater monitoring
wells for Tonankai/Nankai earthquake
prediction (AIST: Naoji Koizumi)3) Establishing geological references and boringplan for the Kanto plane (AIST: Kiyohide
Mizuno)4) Continental drilling research at NIED (NIED:
Kentaro Omura)5) Research into advancement of boring
technology, drilling of control bores,
development of research technology (CRIEPI:
Kimio Miyakawa)6) Drilling archean seafloor hydrothermal
systems (finding traces of early biosphere)(Kyushu Univ.: Shoichi Kiyokawa)7) Direct sampling of extremophiles in

geothermal reservoirs (Tokyo Univ.: Tetsuro
Urabe)
8) Drilling alluvial deposits in the Mekong Delta(Niigata Univ.: Masaaki Tateishi)
9) Supporting the Kochi Institute for Core
Sample Research in promoting drilling
research (JAMSTEC: Weiren Lin)10) Geophysical anomalies accompanying
vertical shaft drilling – Changes in water leveland deformation (TRIES: Yasuhiro Asai)
The number of 45 participants exceeded
expectations. Discussions were lively, and there
were many opportunities for cooperation. It
seems that the purport of this meeting was wellreceived, and all participants agreed to make ita standing event by holding a second meetingnext year.

10 Years of ICDP
Kiyoshi Suehiro
ICDP EC Committee Member
Director, JAMSTEC

I want to take you back over the past 10 years
of ICDP. I have been involved with ICDP servingon the Science Advisory Group and Executive
Committee over the past several years. First,
please take a look at the progress map posted
at http://www.iodp-online.de/ to get an ideaof what ICDP has been doing over the past ten
years.
It all started on February 26, 1996, but ofcourse, not all of a sudden. After implementationof the German drilling program KTB(1987-1994), scientific support from theInternational Lithosphere Program (ILP), and,official acceptance at the OECD s Megascience
Forum, the need for the establishment ofa multilateral international program wasrecognized at the International Scientific
Continental Drilling Conference in the summerof 1993 (1). In the background was the successof the international ODP (Ocean Drilling
Program), with which ICDP shares its scientificrationale. The first drilling project funded by
the ICDP was the Lake Baikal Drilling Project(1998-1999; Professor Kawai, PI).
In Japan Professor Niitsuma of Shizuoka
Univ. et al. had been active in deep scientificdrilling since the 1980s with the support of the
Science Council of Japan. From the 1990s, theimportance of collaborating with ocean drilling(OD21) and ICDP began to be recognized. Japan
officially joined ICDP in 1998, but had been
involved since its inception. In October 2000,
JAMSTEC exchanged an MOU with the DFZ, thefunding organization on the German side.

At the 2nd ICDP Conference in the spring of
2005, the following future perspectives werediscussed on the basis of ICDP’s activities overthe past ten years (2). Each of the research
themes is both directly and indirectly deeply
relevant to the healthy and safe existence ofJapan. They include climate dynamics and theglobal environment, meteor impact mechanics,
active faults and earthquake mechanism,geobiosphere, mineral resources, volcanicand geothermal systems, hotspot volcanoes
and igneous rock zones, and convergent
plate boundary and collision zones. In fact,
Japanese researchers have been involvedin many of these projects. For example, themagmatic conduit drilling at Mt. Unzen andTaiwan Chelungpu reverse fault projects
were promoted under Japan’s leadership andpartnership.

I think the key to ICDP’s success lies inestablishing primary targets in earth science,
the right combination of scientific andtechnological progress, and tackling tasks
related to earth science through skillfulcooperation between worldwide research
projects. One also senses a policy of “Let thebest person do the best job and let the world
benefit from the results”.
My sincere respect goes to GFZ for theirleadership.
References(1)Scientific Rationale for Establishment of anInternational Program of Continental Scientific
Drilling, 1994.
(2) Continental Scientific Drilling 2005: A Decad54eof Progress and Challenges for the Future, 2005.

The German Continental
Deep Drilling Program(KTB), which was
instrumental inestablishing the ICDP.
The main bore (approx.
9 km) and pilot bore
(approx. 4 km) arecurrently still used for
ICDP experiments.

©ICDP

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J-DESC NEWS 2006
ICDP Drilling Proposals
approved for 2006

Naoyuki Fujii
Chairman, ICDP Japan Implementation Committee
Faculty of Science, Shizuoka University

In March 2005, ICDP staged a symposium tomark its tenth anniversary. The themes at the
symposium were divided roughly into ninefields, and the future course of drilling scienceand programs was discussed based on thefindings obtained up to now. The related report
was considerably delayed, but is now scheduled
to be issued shortly in the form of a pamphlet.
Of the four drilling proposals discussed by the
Scientific Advisory Group in 2006, two wereadopted by the Executive Committee/Assemblyof Governors, while eight out of ten workshops
were approved. There were also five proposals
submitted by the Technical Support Group.
There were about five proposals in which
Japanese researchers are involved, including
two workshops under the title “Monitoringof Nankai Trough by an Ocean/Continental
Drilling Shaft Network” proposed by Professor
Sagiya (Nagoya Univ.) et al., and “Drilling at theNorthernmost Limit for Coral Reefs” proposedby Professor Iryu (Tohoku Univ.) et al., both ofwhich scored very high in the approval process.
We will here go into some of the details of theapproved drilling proposals.

O n e o f t h e a p p r o v e d p r o p o s a l s , FA R
– DEEP (Fennoscandian Arctic Russia –Drilling Early Earth Project), addresses a 500
million year interval defining the ArchaeanPalaeoproterozoic transition (APT: 2500-2000
Ma) in northwestern Russian Fennoscandia,
characterized by a series of unprecedented
environmental upheavals out of which thenascent aerobic earth system emerged. In otherwords, in the course of these 500 million years
the earth experienced intracontinental rifting,mafic vulcanism and deposition of banded
iron formation. This project aims to resolve themajor outstanding problems surrounding theearth's enviromental evolution, which include:(1) carbon, sulfur, phosphorus and nitrogen
cycles, (2) change in the redox state of the
mantle, (3) the timing of the rise of oxygen in
the earth’s atmosphere and oceans, and (4)biological evolution. In fact, the project is tocore 14 drillholes totalling 3740 m to obtainsamples that will cover nearly the entire 500
million years of APT. As the cost of this project
is somewhat difficult to estimate at this point,
the grant awarded is still provisional and will

Area of the FAR-DEEP project in northwestern Russian Fennoscandia (locatedat 68°N, 36°E) and distribution of Paleoproterozoic rock formations (courtesyof ICDP, adapted from Koistinen et al. 2001).

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be appropriately amended after study by the
ICDP-OSG.
The other approved proposal (ShallowWater Drilling of the New Jersey Continental
Shelf), which is part of the Transatlantic Drilling
program carried out in collaboration with
IODP, aims to clarify the rates of global sealevel change from the Oligocene to the present
by drilling the New Jersey continental shelf
off the East Cost of North America. Recently
programs implemented by collaboration
between IODP and ICDP are being touted as
the key to achieving scientific targets, and thisproject is believed to be a typical exampleof this. As to the history of this project, it
was originally approved by ICDP in 1999 andgranted $500,000, but was resubmitted when
the technical problems encountered in drillingand sampling unconsolidated sandy sedimentfor oxygen-18 dating were finally overcome.
However, with much time having passed sinceapproval and a number of subsidiary drillings
and site surveys having been added, the ICDP
updated the project contents and requested aresubmission.

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J-DESC’s Education & Outreach Activities
J-DESC is not only engaged in promoting earth drilling science within Japan, but also actively pursues educationand outreach activities. We are involved in a wide range of undertakings aimed at bringing earth drilling science closer
to people’s understanding, and issuing this newsletter is one of them.

■ 1st IODP Post-Expedition Lecture
Almost two years have passed since the startof drilling research under the IODP, and alreadyover 70 Japanese researchers have taken partin expeditions. We have reached the stage
where post-cruise meetings are being held forthe initial expeditions and the related researchfindings are consolidated for each expedition.
Wanting to introduce this research outcome
to Japan’s research community, the Japan
Drilling Earth Science Consortium (J-DESC)
regularly puts together IODP post-expedition
lectures, the first of which was held on May
19, 2006, at the auditorium of the Ocean
Research Institute of the University of Tokyo.
The meeting featured reports on the researchoutcome of Expeditions 301, 302 and 303 as
well as presentations and poster exhibits by
onboard researchers focusing on the subject of
future IODP expeditions.

Main Presentations :● Exp. 301 Juan de Fuca Hydrogeology:
Hydrothermal circulation and basement

microbiology at the eastern flank of Juan de
Fuca Ridge(Tetsuro Urabe [Tokyo Univ.] et al.)● Exp. 302 ACEX Arctic Coring Expedition:
Environmental variations in the Central Arctic
Ocean(Kozo Takahashi [Kyushu Univ.] et al.)● Exp. 303 North Atlantic Climate Variations:
Ice sheet-ocean atmosphere interactions(Tokiyuki Sato [Akita Univ.] et al.)
● IODP – Where we are and where we go(H.C. Larsen [IODP-MI] et al.)● Nankai Trough CDP Drilling Program(Masataka Kinoshita [JAMSTEC] et al.)Around 70 onboard researchers, young
researchers and college students participated.

Organized by :Japan Drilling Earth Science Consortium(J-DESC)
Ocean Research Institute of the University of
Tokyo
Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science andTechnology (JAMSTEC)

We hope to post the date of the next postcruise meeting on the J-DESC website and will
notify those on the mailing list at that time.

IODP University & Science Museum Campaign
The “IODP University & Science Museum
Campaign” has been conducted throughout
Japan since 2004 by the Japan Drilling Earth
Science Consortium, in co-sponsorship with
the independent administrative corporation
JAMSTEC.
With this campaign, we intend to introduce
IODP to students and postgraduate students at
Japan’s universities, line up onboard researchers
to participate in IODP research cruises, anddevelop the human resources needed tosupport the IODP science community byassuming a central role in Japan’s future IODP
proposals. At the same time, our outreachactivities at science museums throughout theregions are aimed at building up relations with
science museums while appealing IODP andwhat it stands for to a wide audience, especiallyschool children who will be Japan’s future
generations of scientists.
The campaign started in 2006 with eventsstaged at Kanazawa University (May 6) and
Shinshu University (August 5-6), with a large
number of visitors coming to the venue. Threeother cities are to follow this year (see the
J-DESC website for details).
Venues who wish to host the campaign may
contact us at any time. In principle, we stage
the event at a university cum science museum.
We plan to ask the host university to act as
liaison with the local science museum, do PR
in the region, and introduce the university’s
involvement in IODP.

Campaign event at Kanazawa University.

Booths showcasing IODPJ-DESC sets up booths showcasing IODP anddispatches informed personnel to academic
and scientific meetings and events related toearth drilling science. This fiscal year, we havealready set up booths at the following venues,
which proved to be very popular.
At the Chikyu Open House in June, a booth
was set up in the research section onboard the
Chikyu and JAMSTEC researchers were invited
to explain IODP programs to participants.

Booths set up in FY 2006 :● Japan Geoscience Union Meeting 2006
(May 14 – 17: Makuhari)● Open House at Japan’s deep-sea drilling
vessel, Chikyu(June 12: Kobe, June 19: Osaka)● AOGS：Asia-Oceania Geophysical Society(July 10 – 14: Singapore)● 17th International Sedimentological
Congress (ISC) 2006
(August 27 – September 1: Fukuoka)

Visitors to the J-DESC booth onboard the Chikyu
listening attentively to explanations provided byProfessor Yoshiyuki Tatsumi (JAMSTEC).

1

J-DESC NEWS 2006
■ FY 2006 Schedule of J-DESC Activities
Month
2006
April

J-DESCIODP related● 4th J-DESC General Meeting

ICDP related● EC (4/28-29(4/9 ORI)

Reykjavik, Iceland)● 1st IODP Post-expedition LectureMay(5/19 ORI)

● IODP University & Science● Post-cruise MeetingJune(6/12 Kobe, 6/19 Osaka)（5/23-26 Miyazaki）● AOG(6/30 Reykjavik,
Iceland))● Post-cruise Meeting Exp.310 (7/18-22 Texas) ● ICDP Japan● IODP Council (7/12-13 Washington)
Implementation● #1 IIS-PPG (7/7-8 Netherlands, The Hague)
Committee (7/31)● #1 SASEC（7/11-12 Washington）● ICDP Japan● #6 SSP (7/24-26 Sapporo)
Coordination●IODP Japan Science Planning Committee (7/25) Committee (7/21)

July● Post-cruise Meeting
Exp.307 (8/23-25 Yokohama)Campaign● Exp.310 Review (8/2-3 Washington)
Special Event (8/5-6 Shinshu University)● #8 SPC (8/28-31 Bergen, Norway)●IODP University & Science Museum

August● IODP EuroForum 2006 (5/8-9 Cardiff, UK)● Japan Geoscience Union Meeting 2006（5/14-18 Makuhari）● IODP-ICDP Fault Zone Drilling Workshop

Exp.301 (5/9-10 Alaska)
Exp.302 (5/22-24 Italy)● #6 SSEP (5/29-6/1 Potsdam, Germany)● OTF (6/5-6 Washington）
Museum Campaign● #6 EPSP (6/22-23 Paris)
11th Event (6/5 Kanazawa University)● ##3 STP (6/26-28 Helsinki)● Chikyu Open House● #3 EDP (6/27-29 Germany)● Domestic proposals

Call for participation

September● 2nd IODP Post-expedition Lecture● Deadline for2007
January
FebruaryMarch● ICDP Japan● #4 STP (12/7-9 San Francisco)● #2 IIS-PPG (Houston)●IODP University & Science Museum

Campaign
14th Event (3/3-4 Nagoya University)● AOGS (7/10-14 Singapore)● ISC2006 (8/27-9/1 Fukuoka)● Mission Moho Workshop (9/6-9 Portland)● Continental Break-Up Workshop (9/15-18 Switzerland)● Geological Society of Japan #113 Annual Meeting(9/16-18 Kochi)● Subseafloor Life Workshop (10/3-5 Vancouver)domestic proposals ● Seismological Society of Japan (10/31-11/2 Nagoya)● IODP–ICDP Chicxulub Impact Crater Workshop(10/15)● ICDP Training(10/12 Potsdam, Germany)● Scientific Ocean Drilling & Geohazards Workshop(10/9-13 KTB,
Germany)(10/25-27 Barcelona, Spain)● Post-cruise Meeting(10/28 JAMSTEC Tokyo Office)Exp.308 (10/7-8 Spain)● IODP University & Science● E&O TF Meeting
October
Museum Campaign(10/12-13 Bremen, Germany)
12th Event (10/14-15 Tohoku● SSAS Review WG (10/31 Odawara)
University)●IODP University & Science Museum● #2 SASEC (11/1-2 Odawara)
November Campaign● #7 SSEP (11/13-16 Sapporo)
13th Event (11/17-18 Kumamoto University)

DecemberOther● IODP-ICDP Town Hall Meeting (4/4 Vienna）● #7 EPSP (1/9-10 Yokohama)● #4 EDP (1/17-19 New York)

Implementation
Committee● Proposal deadline(1/15)● #7 SSP (2/20-22 San Diego● SAG● #3 SASEC (3/22-23 Video Conference)● #9 SPC (3/4-7 Osaka)● EC● EC Draft preparation● AGU (12/11-15 San Francisco)● IODP Town Hall Meeting (12/14 San Francisco AGU)

■ IODP SASEC : SAS Executive Committee, SPC : Science Planning Committee, SSEP : Science Steering and Evaluation Panel, SSP: Site Survey Panel
EPSP : Environmental Protection and Safety Panel, STP : Scientific Technology Panel, EDP : Engineering D■ ICDP SAG : Science Advisory Group, EC : Executive Committee, AOG : Assembly of Governors■ What is J-DESC (Japan Drilling Earth Science Consortium)?

■ Mailing List

J-DESC was established in February 2003 as an organization to serve thepromotion of earth drilling science in Japan, drawing its members mainly
from universities and national research organizations (46 regular members
as of August 2006). It consists of an IODP Section and a Continental
Drilling Section.
Each of these sections collaborates respectively with the IODP (Integrated
Ocean Drilling Program) engaged in ocean and the ICDP (International
Continental Drilling Program) engaged in continental drilling.

We have set up a domestic mailing list in an effort to build up a
network within Japan dedicated to the exchange of opinions on IODPand ICDP related research information. If you would like to be put on ourmailing list, please contact the J-DESC Secretariat (e-mail: aesto-iodp@
aesto.or.jp).

J-DESC■ Scientiﬁc planning and study of research foundations for earth drilling science■ Submission of proposals to related organizations■ Organic collaboration between scientiﬁc researches in earth drilling science■ Support of and cooperation with international projects■ Outreach■ Our Website
Please visit the J-DESC website at : http://www.j-desc.org
Various information
on scientific drilling(proposals, calls
for participation in
expeditions, etc.) isposted on this site.

Members: Regular members, private members and supporters
IODP Section

Continental Drilling Section

Collaboration

IODP

Integrated Ocean
Drilling Program

The IODP is an international researchcooperation project dedicated to thepromotion of scientiﬁc ocean drillingunder primary leadership of Japan andthe USA. It conducts scientiﬁc researchcruises making use of the deep-sea
drilling vessel,, and others.

Collaboration

ICDP

International Continental
Drilling Program

The ICDP, an international program madeup of 13 countries including Japan,
Germany and the USA, is dedicated tothrowing light on the history of earth
variations to gain exact knowledge of thecomposition, structure and processes ofthe earthʼs crust.

IODP website : http://www.iodp.org
ICDP website : http://www.icdp-online.de

http://www.jamstec.go.jp/
jamstec-j/international/icdp/ (Japan)

J-DESC Newsletter■ Publisher : Japan Drilling Earth Science Consortium (J-DESC) ■ Editor : Secretariat, Japan Drilling Earth Science Consortium (J-DESC)
Advanced Earth Science and Technology Organization, Scientific Drilling Department
Bussan Bldg. Annex F1, 1-1-15 Nishishinbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-0003, JapanScientific Drilling Department
TEL : 03-5512-8185 FAX : 03-5512-8196 e-mail : aesto-iodp@aesto.or.jp
Photos courtesy of : JAMSTEC, IODP, ICDP (www.icdp-online.de)