Drill the seabed to find out the earthquake

Scientists are preparing to drill down to the area of ​​frequent earthquakes in the Nankai Trough area off the coast of Japan in order to understand the source of seismic and tsunami battles. This project with a budget of hundreds of millions of dollars promises to be one of the great challenges of the scientific community in the next 10 years.

Nankai Trough is a sunken area in the Japanese seabed. This was the beginning of seismic battles that caused great casualties for the rising sun, including two terrifying earthquakes in Tonankai (1944) and Nankaido (1946) with 8.1 magnitude. and 8.3 Richter levels. This area is known as seismic houses, where the geological rock formations buckling under another layer of rock makes the upper soil fold into folds. The Nankai Trough (NanTroSEIZE) seismic test project, scheduled to be implemented in September with a 10-year implementation period, will collect geological samples near the center of the Earth to study and set devices at the same time. Sensors track changes in the ground.

In addition to the mission of understanding the causes of earthquakes, the Chikyu vessel is 210 meters long, also undertaking the search for life deep in the earth.(Photo: IODP / JAMSTEC)

'We plan to explore the history of earthquakes and tsunamis in a 100 or 200 year cycle' , Project leader Masataka Kinoshita of the Oceanic and Earth Science and Technology Agency (JAMSTEC). explain. Mr. Kinoshita said Japanese people are keen to know what is going to happen on the seabed. NanTroSEIZE will drill directly into the broken sections (large fissures) beneath Japan.

Drilling operations will be carried out from the 57,000-ton Chikyu ship with state-of-the-art exploration equipment. The ship will be anchored at 2,500 m from the seabed before drilling deep into the ground about 7 km. Geological samples will be sent to research labs while drilling holes will be placed with sensors to monitor the movement of rock layers in the fault zone. The sensor system will also record changes in temperature and pressure, while collecting information to assess biochemical reactions.

Data from these devices will be stored by signal receivers at seabed junctions. Scuba divers will return each year to retrieve data. In the future, these intersections will connect cables to transmit information directly to scientists on land. In addition to the Nakai Trough area, the NanTroSEIZE project will also be deployed off the coast of Costa Rica in Central America. The results from these two places will be used to set up a warning system for earthquakes and tsunamis not only for Japan but for areas frequently seized in the world.

N.MINH