Abstract Submarine landslides triggered by earthquakes can generate turbidity currents. Recently, several studies have reported that the remobilization of surface sediment triggered by earthquakes can also generate turbidity currents. Such sedimentary processes may be influenced by sediment characteristics, seafloor morphology and seismic motions. Here, we verify surface sediment remobilization using sedimentary records from the Nankai forearc region, SW Japan. We collected multi-core and piston core samples from a small confined basin, mainly composed of silty clay or very fine sand. Radiocaesium measurements of the multi-core show consistently high values in the upper 17 cm and low values below this depth. Rapid sediment deposition after 1950 is assumed, and the most likely cause is the 2004 off the Kii Peninsula earthquake. Based on calculations using bathymetric maps and palaeocurrent data, settlement of the upper 17 cm can be explained by redeposition of the surface ( c. 1 cm) slope sediment around the basin. Muddy turbidites are also identified in the piston core. The gap in radiocarbon age observed around 2.0 m bsf (metres below seafloor) implies similar sedimentary processes. Our study represents the first examination of surficial remobilization from sedimentary cores in the Nankai forearc region.

ABSTRACT The Shikoku Basin is a back-arc basin located offshore southwest Japan. Sediments within the basin make up a key part of the subduction inputs to the Nankai Trough. A 19 m.y. history of sedimentation has been documented at Sites C0011 and C0012 of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (Kumano transect) and Sites 1173 and 1177 of the Ocean Drilling Program (Muroto and Ashizuri transects, respectively). This paper focuses on three noteworthy aspects of that history: (1) the onset of substantial pyroclastic influx, which shifted significantly along the strike length of the margin, from 3.3–3.9 Ma at Sites 1177 and 1173 to 7.6–7.8 Ma at Sites C0011 and C0012; (2) transport of sand by sediment gravity flows, which resulted in three discrete sand bodies during the Miocene (Kyushu, Daiichi Zenisu, and Daini Zenisu submarine fans); and (3) clay mineral assemblages within hemipelagic mudstones, which show systematic reduction of 3 wt% detrital smectite per 1 m.y. decrease in age. Collectively, these temporal and spatial adjustments of lithofacies and sediment composition have important implications for downdip and along-strike projections of frictional, geotechnical, and hydrogeological properties as strata enter the Nankai subduction zone. The stratigraphic positions of smectite-rich Miocene mudstones, for example, should match up with increases in the volume of fluid production by clay dehydration during subduction. The higher-permeability sand bodies (Kyushu and Zenisu submarine fans) should act as preferred conduits for focused fluid flow. The potential for buildup of fluid overpressures should increase above and laterally adjacent to stratigraphic pinch-outs of sand bodies, especially where the aquifers are inclined or confined between basement highs. These three-dimensional complexities set the Nankai-Shikoku system apart from other subduction zones (e.g., Japan Trench, Costa Rica) where inputs consist of comparatively homogeneous pelagic and hemipelagic deposits.

ABSTRACT Knowledge of rock thermal conductivity is necessary to understand the thermal structure in active seismogenic zones such as the Nankai Trough subduction zone, SW Japan. To estimate in situ thermal conductivity at the oceanic crust surface in the seismogenic zone, we measured the thermal conductivity of a basaltic basement core sample retrieved from subducting oceanic basement at the Nankai Trough Seismogenic Zone Experiment input site C0012 under high temperature (maximum 160 °C) and high pressure (maximum effective pressure 100 MPa), respectively. These conditions correspond to the in situ temperature and pressure at the oceanic crust surface in the updip limit of the Nankai seismogenic zone (~7 km below the seafloor). Thermal conductivity of the oceanic basalt is both temperature and pressure dependent. In contrast to other rock types such as sandstone and granite, for which thermal conductivity decreases with increasing temperature, the thermal conductivity of the oceanic basalt increased with increasing ambient temperature. The thermal conductivity of the basalt also increased with increasing effective pressure; however, the rate of increase was much lower than that for other rocks. These new temperature and pressure effect data for oceanic crust basalt fill a gap in the research. The estimated thermal conductivity of the basalt at in situ temperature and pressure conditions was less than ~2 W m –1 K –1 , although deformation and alteration associated with subduction could decrease pore spaces in the basalt, leading to enhanced thermal conductivity. This value is significantly lower than that typically assumed for thermal structure simulations in the Nankai subduction zone.

ABSTRACT In subduction zones, fluid-pressure generation in the underthrusting section is of particular interest because it governs the effective stress conditions of the footwall lining the plate interface. Only a few studies have systematically explored the role of lithological heterogeneity of underthrust sediment on the resulting fluid pressure and its distribution. We used a coupled loading and pore-pressure dissipation model with a new compilation of sand properties to investigate the role of such heterogeneity on the drainage state beneath the plate interface in the western Nankai subduction zone offshore Japan, where the incoming sediment sequence hosts numerous sand layers with a total thickness of up to ~210 m within a matrix of hemipelagic mud. Our results show that sand layers act as important conduits for both pressure translation and solute transport from greater depth to the trench and seaward. The simulated pore pressure is mainly controlled by aggregate sand-layer transmissivity, and to second order by sand-layer depth, which affects the ability of fluids to access permeable sands from the surrounding less-permeable mudstone matrix. Modeled sand permeability in the outer subduction system is in the range of previous estimates for décollement zone permeability (10 –13 to 10 –16 m 2 ) and evolves to approximately three orders of magnitude lower permeability in the inner subduction system. The enhanced drainage leads to 15% lower excess pore pressures in models with sands than without sands. Thus, differences in the lithostratigraphy of the subducting sediment should have implications for the mechanical behavior along the Nankai subduction system.

ABSTRACT This study examined the thermal history of the Kumano forearc basin, as well as slope basin sediments and the accretionary prism, in the Nankai Trough, offshore Japan, using vitrinite reflectance measurements of sediments collected from Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Sites C0004, C0007, and C0009. We detected a paleothermal anomaly in the Kumano forearc basin at Site C0009 that has a 200-m-wide peak with a maximum temperature of 79 °C, ranging from 1000 to 1200 m below seafloor (mbsf). We concluded that thermal fluid is passing through the peak zone based on a curvilinear paleotemperature structure with a wide peak zone. Estimation of reflectance increase through vitrinite reaction promotion suggests that 80–100 °C thermal fluid had passed within at least 100 k.y., thus causing the anomaly. The thermal fluid upwelling could relate to thrusts and ancient splay fault activity near Site C0009. The thermal anomaly zone in the Kumano forearc basin at Site C0009 coincides with the currently active fluid conduit zone imaged on reflection seismic profiles. These results indicate that massive fluid circulation occurs spatially and temporally through thrusts in the subduction zone.