Developing a revolutionary method for exploration of seafloor hydrothermal deposits

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25630417
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Earth system and resources engineering
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Nakamura Kentaro 東京大学, 工学(系)研究科(研究院), 准教授 (40512083)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 海底熱水鉱床 / 船上音響探査 / 周波数 / 観測条件 / 中部沖縄トラフ

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In order to make a dramatic improvement in exploration efficiency of seafloor hydrothermal deposits, I tried to develop a new exploration method based on water column observation using multibeam echo souder (MBES) systems. The three years of research produced the following results; (1) elucidation of the cause of the detection of hydrothermal plumes by MBES, (2) determination of optimal conditions for the MBES survey, and (3) performance of a wide-area acoustic water column survey in mid- and southern Okinawa Trough, which provided evidence of effectiveness of this exploration method as well as the first wide-area map for seafloor hydrothermal vent sites in mid-Okinawa Trough.

Free Research Field

資源工学