NanTroSEIZE Stage 1 Expeditions 314, 315, and 316: First Drilling Program of the Nankai Trough Seismogenic Zone Experiment

Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Expeditions 314, 315, and 316 were carried out as a unified program of drilling collectively known as Stage 1 of the Nankai Trough Seismogenic Zone Experiment, or NanTroSEIZE, the first multi-stage complex drilling project in IODP and the most ambitious effort in scientific ocean drilling to date (Tobin and Kinoshita, 2006b; Kinoshita et al., 2006). The first of four planned operational stages, the Stage 1 expeditions were conducted aboard the new riser-capable drilling vessel Chikyu from September 2007 to February 2008, and were Chikyu’s inaugural IODP expeditions. Seventy-one scientists from twelve countries took part in the three expeditions as shipboard participants, and thirty-three holes in total were drilled at eight sites, to as much as 1400 meters below the sea floor (Table 1, Fig. 1)