SPECIAL CALL: The U.S. Science Support Program is issuing a special call for a shore-based paleontologist (nannofossil specialist) to apply to join IODP Expedition 358 (NanTroSEIZE Deep Riser Drilling: Nankai Seismogenic/Slow Slip Megthrust). For contingency operations of Expedition 358, we would like to select a paleontologist who has a background of late Miocene to Pleistocene calcareous nannofossils.

During the contingency operation in March 2019, we plan to drill Site NT1-03C at the toe of frontal accretionary prism and Site KB-1B at the Kumano Forearc Basin, both in the Nankai Trough. For Site NT1-03C, middle Pleistocene to modern slope sediments, early to middle Pleistocene trench-fill sediments, and late Miocene to Pliocene hemipelagic sediments are expected to comprise the hanging wall of the frontal thrust, whereas late Miocene to Pliocene trench-fill sediments are expected to underthrust. For Site KB-01B, Pliocene to Pleistocene forearc basin sediments as well as underlying late Miocene (?) accretionary prism sediments are expected.

Site NT1-03C (33° 2.000′ N, 136°47.403′ E)
(see Frontal Sites – Contingency, http://publications.iodp.org/scientific_prospectus/314/314sp33.htm)

Site KB-01B (33.401517N/136.335873E)

(see KB-01B Alternate Site, KB Seismic Line, KB_map)

We welcome applications from nannofossil specialists able to immediately work on the samples as a shore-based scientist. Samples will be sent from Chikyu during middle-late March 2019 to the laboratory of the successful applicant for processing and analysis. There is no requirement for shipboard participation or international travel. The successful applicant will be a member of the Expedition 358 Science Party and be included in the authorship of the expedition reports.

U.S.-affiliated scientists interested in responding to the special call should apply to sail through the U.S. Science Support Program – click here to review the application process and link to the USSSP Application Portal. The deadline to apply for this special call is March 7, 2019 (11:59 PM ET).

The International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) is now accepting applications for scientific participants on Expedition 358 (NanTroSEIZE Plate Boundary Riser 4) aboard the D/V Chikyu, operated by the Center for Deep Earth Exploration (CDEX) within the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC). For more information about the scientific objectives of this expedition and implementation plan, watch a recorded webinar that was held on 29 November 2017 (click here to access).

The Nankai Trough Seismogenic Zone Experiment (NanTroSEIZE) Project comprises multiple expeditions over a multi-year period aimed at sampling and instrumenting the up-dip transition into the subduction seismogenic zone. The NanTroSEIZE Complex Drilling Project is now reaching its penultimate phase: drilling and sampling the Plate Boundary at ~5200 mbsf, believed to be capable of seismogenic slip and locking, and where coseismic slip occurred during the 1944 Tonankai earthquake.

Primary objectives include continuous logging while drilling (LWD) data, analysis of mud gas and cuttings, and a regime of downhole measurements and tests. There is a limited coring program for the expected hanging wall and footwall of the plate boundary itself.

One special line of investigation concerns mud gas analysis via the onboard SciGas drilling mud gas monitoring system, which allows determination of hydrocarbons (methane, ethane, propane, i- and n-butane, propane), stable carbon isotopic composition of methane (δ13CCH4), and non-hydrocarbon (e.g., amongst others, O2, N2, Ar, H2, Xe, He) gases (Hammerschmidt, et al., 2014).

IODP Exp 358 is targeting a subduction plate boundary fault system and its wall rocks in a seismogenic depth for the first time in science. Ultimately, this expedition will test hypotheses and the current understanding of the mechanics and geological/geochemical evolution of these kind of megathrust faults. Please read the Expedition 358 Call For Participation for further details on the planned science and operations.

The expedition is currently planned to begin on 7 October 2018 and finish on 21 March 2019 (164 days). This expedition is planned for more than five months at sea and therefore will not be staffed in the standard expedition “shipboard scientific party” model. Rather, we solicit applicants for the scientific party who can commit to the following activities:

(1) Scientific party member should make themselves available for time windows of 2-3 months’ duration, during which they will likely be asked to board Chikyu for one or more 2 to 4 week “shifts.” The shipboard tasks of cuttings, log, and downhole experiment analysis will take place in these concentrated efforts during the expedition. Members of the scientific party will be asked to maintain flexible schedules to accommodate this need.

(2) All members of the scientific party will be expected to participate in a final analysis and sampling meeting at the end of the expedition, anticipated to require several weeks in March or April of 2019.

(3) Participants will require helicopter underwater escape training (HUET) certification from an approved OPTIO training center.

The special call above is for a shore-based paleontologist (nannofossil specialist). U.S.-affiliated scientists interested in responding to the special call should apply to sail through the U.S. Science Support Program – click here to review the application process and link to the USSSP Application Portal. The deadline to apply is March 7, 2019.

For questions, please email usssp@ldeo.columbia.edu.