Earth scientists have long recognized the complex interplay of deformational, diagenetic, and hydrologic processes in developing mature mountain belts and have sought to understand the controls on and interactions among these fundamental processes. Accretionary prisms represent unique, accessible natural laboratories for exploring initial mountain-building processes. The geometries and structures of accretionary prisms are relatively simple and have been seismically well imaged. Typically, the materials incorporated within prisms are only moderately altered from their original states, so competing active processes can often be isolated, quantified, and reproduced in the laboratory.
The Nankai Trough accretionary prism represents an "end-member" prism, accreting a thick terrigenous sediment section in a setting with structural simplicity and unparalleled resolution by seismic and other geophysical techniques. It therefore represents a superb setting for addressing ODP's Long Range Plan objectives for accretionary prism coring, in situ monitoring, and refinement of mechanical and hydrological models. Our approach for drilling at the Nankai margin includes sites for coring, in situ observation, and long-term monitoring to (1) constrain prism hydrology, mechanical properties, and deformational styles and (2) test existing models for prism evolution.
Leg 190 was the first of a two-leg program concentrating on coring and sampling a transect of sites across the prism within a three-dimensional (3-D) seismic survey (Table T1). We refer to this set of sites as the Muroto Transect. An additional site was drilled to the west, which along with previously drilled sites provides a second transect, referred to as the Ashizuri Transect, for comparison of along-strike variations in accretionary processes and inputs. Leg 196, planned for 2001, will use logging-while-drilling technology to collect in situ physical properties data and will also install advanced CORKs (Davis et al., 1992) for long-term in situ monitoring of prism processes including pressure, temperature, fluid geochemistry, and strain.