[S-SS06] Nankai Trough Seismogenic Zone Experiment: Logging and sampling the seismogenic megathrust

[SSS06-06] Seismic Imaging of Mud Diapirs in Northern Kumano Basin, Nankai Trough

*Gregory F Moore¹, Miho Asada², Shuichi Kodaira², Achim Kopf³ (1.University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2.JAMSTEC, 3.MARUM)

Keywords:Nankai Trough, Mud diapir, Accretionary prism

Mud volcanoes (MV), the surface expression of deeper-seated diapirs are now well known in Kumano Basin. Fifteen years ago, Morita et al. (2004) published a seismic line across the basin showing mud diapirs sourcing the MVs, but the extent of these diapirs has remained underappreciated. We present JAMSTEC 2D seismic lines across and along the basin axis showing that significant deformation of the shallow sedimentary section in the northern part of the basin is caused by mud diapirs. The diapirs feed at least 11 MVs in the northern part of the basin, all of which have been surveyed with multibeam bathymetry, high-resolution sonar and sampling. The diapirs range in diameter from 4-6 km and have seismic expression to at least 2-3 km below the seafloor. Older sedimentary layers are tilted upward adjacent to the diapirs and have internal onlap features that indicate several stages of uplift. Bottom simulating reflections (BSRs) that cross-cut the sediment and diapirs are locally disrupted under the MVs, indicating upward migration of fluids through the methane hydrate layers to the surface. Morita et al. (2004) report that mudstone fragments carried to the surface by the MVs range in age from 18.2-13.6 Ma (late Early Miocene – early Middle Miocene), indicating that the mud diapirs, which probably originate within the underlying accretionary prism, passed through the older layers of the forearc basin.

Reference: Morita, S., Ashi, J., Aoike, K., and Kuramoto, S. (2004), Evolution of Kumano basin and sources of clastic ejecta and pore fluid in Kumano mud volcanoes, Eastern Nanaki Trough, In: Proceedings of the International Symposium on Methane Hydrates and Fluid Flow in Upper Accretionary Prisms, Engineering Geology Laboratory, Department of Civil & Earth Resources Engineering, Kyoto University, Kyoto, pp. 92–99.