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National News
Japan
Kyoko Okino
The InterRidge-Japan program continues efforts to promote
ridge-related studies in Japan, despite a fiscal predicament*. In
FY2007, the annual contribution to InterRidge was shared by
three organizations. Although we have been forced to get along
without an umbrella project supporting InterRidge-Japan for
two years, several seagoing research programs were funded and
executed, as described below.
An InterRidge-Japan symposium was held on October 30-
31, 2007, at Ocean Research Institute, University of Tokyo.
About sixty scientists participated in the symposium to share
recent research activities. We encouraged graduate students to
present their studies in this symposium, and 13 students gave
talks. We plan a similar symposium in October 2008. We also
had a business meeting on May 26, 2008, at the Japan Geoscience
Union Meeting, where we shared information on budget,
cruise, workshops and international affairs, and discussed the
InterRidge-Japan annual activity plan. We designated Hidenori
Kumagai (JAMSTEC), as successor for Nobukazu Seama,
for the IR steering committee in 2009. We submitted a proposal
for a new interdisciplinary research project among microbiology,
geochemistry, geology, and geophysics, focusing on
trans-crustal advection and in-situ biogeochemical processes of
global sub-seafloor aquifer. We submitted an initial proposal to
MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and
Technology) last year, but unfortunately without success. We
rebuilt the research framework, polished up the execution plan
and submitted the revised proposal in May 2008. The proposal
is now under review, and we hope to start the new project at
the end of this year.
In FY2007, seven ridge-related and/or hydrothermalism-related
cruises were conducted mainly around Japan Island. Three
cruises, R/V Natsushima NT07-11 and NT07-13 and R/V
Kaiyo KY08-01, were successfully conducted in the backarc
Okinawa Trough, and these results will be utilized for planned
deep-sea drilling in hydrothermal vent areas. Another cruise
focusing on hydrothermal activity was done in Izu-Ogasawara
arc. Two ocean-bottom electro- magnetometers (OBEMs)
were recovered on R/V Kairei KR07-16 cruise, as part of
a magnetotellic (MT) transect across the central Mariana
arc- backarc area (http://www.marine-geo.org/tools/search/
entry.php?id=KR07-16). In the Parece Vela Basin, the extinct
backarc basin behind the Mariana arc, a large oceanic core
complex was investigated mainly by dredge hauls during R/V
* Editor’s note: Just prior to publication, we received news
that InterRidge-Japan received funding for Project TAIGA
with lead PI T. Urabe (see Letter from the Chairs, p. 1).
Hakuho-maru KH07-2. Cruise R/V Hakuho-maru KH07-4-2
visited the Southwest Indian Ridge at 34º-40º E near the Marion
hotspot in January 2008. Geophysical mapping, seismic
reflection and refraction surveys using air-guns and 10 ocean
bottom seismometers (OBSs), deployment of OBEMs for MT
transect across the spreading axis and rock sampling were accomplished
(http://ofgs.ori.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~intridgej/report_html/
KH07-4-2/KH07-4-2.htm).
In FY2008, four ridge cruises were funded and three have already
been conducted. Two cruises using submersible Shinkai
6500 targeted the lower crustal section of backarc lithosphere
along the Mariana Trench (YK08-8-1) and the backarc spreading
axis of the Central Mariana Trough (YK08-8-2). Another
cruise to hydrothermal vents at Hatoma Knoll, Okinawa
Trough, was also done using ROV Hyper-Dolphin (NT08-13).
In this area, the world’s first blue smoker chimney was discovered
in 2006. For the remaining funded cruise, R/V Mirai
will cross the Pacific Ocean and visit the Chile Triple Junction
in early 2009. Geophysical mapping, rock sampling, and
OBS deployment are planned to reveal the geophysical and
geological process of ridge subduction. Also in FY2008, four
additional cruises on R/V Natsushima with ROV Hyper-Dolphin
were conducted for hydrothermal vent biological research:
NT08-07 to Myojinsho Caldera (PI K. Inoue), NT08-12 to
Kagoshima Bay (PI Y. Fujiwara), NT08-15 to the Okinawa
Trough (PI H. Yamazaki), and NT08-17 to Kagoshima Bay
(PIs K. Inoue and T. Yamanaka).
The threat of spiking oil prices throws a shadow over our seagoing
research. A planned R/V Hakuho-maru cruise along the
Southwest Indian Ridge near the Marion Hotspot, where we
conducted the survey and deployed OBEMs early this year,
was postponed to next fiscal year, January or February 2010,
due to the rapid increase of fuel cost. Fortunately the deployed
OBEMs will be recovered by a Japanese fisheries training vessel,
however the delay of planned study is unavoidable. Additional
cruises are planned for FY2009.
We are pleased to announce that the 4 th International Symposium
on Chemosynthesis-Based Ecosystems - Hydrothermal
Vents, Seeps and Other Reducing Habitats will be held in
Okinawa, Japan, from 29 June - 3 July 2009. This symposium,
sponsored in part by InterRidge, highlights the recent achievements
in the field of unique ecosystems driven by chemosynthesis
rather than photosynthesis. For more information, please
consult: http://www.jamstec.go.jp/xbr/4th_CBE/.
For more information onInterRidge-Japan, please see our web
site (in Japanese): http://ofgs.ori.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~intridgej/.
InterRidge News 36 Vol. 17, 2008