Abstract
AIST has been conducting marine geological surveys in the Okinawa area to construct geological maps since 2008. The chain of islands extending from Kyushu to Taiwan in the Okinawa area is called the Ryukyu Arc, and was formed with the subduction of the Philippine Sea Plate beneath the Eurasian Plate along the Ryukyu Trench. The Okinawa Trough is a back-arc basin formed behind the Ryukyu Arc. Active submarine volcanoes and hydrothermal phenomena are known to exist in the trough. Because large scale mineral deposits may exist in relation to the geological structures, collecting the marine geological information around the area where submarine mineral resources are expected is very effective for grasping the location of resource-rich zone. Being surrounded by sea, Japan is expected to increase marine utilization within the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the future. Methods for developing submarine mineral resources based on the geological phenomena are presented as tools for exploiting fundamental geological information.
