Microorganisms in marine subsurface sediments substantially contribute to global biomass. Sediments warmer than 40°C account for roughly half the marine sediment volume, but the processes mediated by microbial populations in these hard-to-access environments are poorly understood. We investigated microbial life in up to 1.2-kilometer-deep and up to 120°C hot sediments in the Nankai Trough subduction zone. Above 45°C, concentrations of vegetative cells drop two orders of magnitude and endospores become more than 6000 times more abundant than vegetative cells. Methane is biologically produced and oxidized until sediments reach 80° to 85°C. In 100° to 120°C sediments, isotopic evidence and increased cell concentrations demonstrate the activity of acetate-degrading hyperthermophiles. Above 45°C, populated zones alternate with zones up to 192 meters thick where microbes were undetectable.

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Abstract:To better understand the distribution of three dimensional stress states in the Nankai subduction zone, southwest Japan, we review various stress-related investigations carried out in the first and second stage expeditions of the Nankai Trough Seismogenic Zone Experiment (NanTroSEIZE) by the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) and compile the stress data. Overall, the maximum principal stress 1 in the shallower levels (<~1km) is vertical from near the center of forearc basin to near the trench and; the maximum horizontal stress SHmax (interpreted to be the intermediate principal stress 2) is generally parallel to the plate convergence vector. The exception to this generalization occurs along the shelf edge of the Nankai margin where SHmax is along strike rather than parallel to the plate convergence vector. Reorientation of the principal stresses at deeper levels (e.g., >~1km below seafloor or in underlying accretionary prism) with 1 becoming horizontal is also suggested at all deeper drilling sites. We also make a comparison of the stress state in the hanging wall of the frontal plate-interface between Site C0006 in the Nankai and Site C0019 in the Japan Trench subduction zone drilled after the 2011 Mw9.0 Tohoku-Oki earthquake. In the Japan Trench, the A C C E P T E D M A N U S C R I P T ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT3 comparison between stress state before and after the 2011 mega-earthquake shows that the stress changed from compression before the earthquake to extension after the earthquake. As a result of the comparison between the Nankai Trough and Japan Trench, a similar current stress state with trench parallel extension was recognized at both C0006 and C0019 sites. Hypothetically, this may indicate that in Nankai Trough it is still in an early stage of the interseismic cycle of a great earthquake which occurs on the décollement and propagates to the toe (around site C0006).

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Drilling operationsThe advanced piston corer (APC), extended core barrel (XCB), and rotary core barrel (RCB) systems were used during Expedition 344. The APC and XCB systems were used to recover the sedimentary section in Holes U1381C, U1412A, U1412B, U1413A, U1413B, and U1414A and the sediment/basement interface at Hole U1381C. The RCB system was used to recover sediment and basement sections in Holes U1380C, U1412C, U1412D, U1413C, and U1414A.The APC system cuts soft-sediment cores with minimal coring disturbance relative to other IODP coring systems. After the APC core barrel is lowered through the drill pipe and lands above the bit, the drill pipe is pressured up until the two shear pins that hold the inner barrel attached to the outer barrel fail. The inner