Page 16 - GeoPRISMS_Newsletter_Spring2018_Neat

IODP tackles the Hikurangi Margin of

New Zealand with two drilling expeditions

to unlock the secrets of slow-slip events

Michael Underwood (New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology),

Phil Barnes (National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research), and
Laura Wallace (UT Austin & GNS Science)

ocumentation of slow-slip events (SSEs) and associated seismic phenomena (tremor, low frequency
earthquakes, etc.), largely through recent deployments of dense geodetic and seismic networks,
Dhas changed the paradigm of fault-slip behavior on subduction megathrusts (Schwartz and
Rokosky, 2007; Peng and Gomberg, 2010; Wech and Creager, 2011; Saffer and Wallace, 2015). SSEs at the
northern Hikurangi subduction margin, offshore the North Island of New Zealand (Fig. 1), are among the
best-documented and shallowest examples on Earth. In that region, the Pacific plate subducts westward
beneath the Australian plate at a rate of 4.5–5.5 cm/y (Wallace et al., 2004). SSEs recur there every 1–2 years
over periods of 2–3 weeks at depths of <2–15 km below the seafloor (Wallace and Beavan, 2010; Wallace
et al., 2016). The close proximity of Hikurangi SSEs to the seafloor makes them amenable to study using
the U.S. drilling vessel JOIDES Resolution. This is also an ideal locale for using sub-seafloor observatories
to monitor near-field deformation and associated changes in chemical and physical properties throughout
multiple slow-slip cycles.

The International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) directed its attention and resources toward the
IODP personnel transferring Hikurangi margin by scheduling two linked expeditions in 2017 and 2018 to investigate the origins of
a sedimentfilled core liner
from the rig floor to the core- shallow slow-slip events. The development of proposals to drill at northern Hikurangi was facilitated to
cutting area. a considerable extent by a series of workshops sponsored by IODP and GeoPRISMS. Expedition 372
(November 2017 – January 2018) was the first of the two expeditions. Led by Co-Chief Scientists Phil
Barnes and Ingo Pecher, that expedition completed Logging-While-Drilling (LWD) holes at three of the
primary drilling sites (U1518, U1519, and U1520). During the same expedition, Site U1517 (Fig. 1) was
also cored and logged to address objectives from an Ancillary Project Letter (APL) aimed at understanding
the role of gas hydrates in “creeping” submarine landslides (Pecher et al., 2018).
Expedition 375 followed in March–May, 2018, to investigate in situ conditions and rock properties that
modulate Hikurangi SSEs, and to install sub-seafloor observatories (Saffer et al., 2017). Expedition 375
was led by Co-Chief Scientists Demian Saffer and Laura Wallace. Specific targets for coring during the
expedition included a highly active out-of-sequence thrust near the toe of the accretionary prism (Site
U1518); a site on the upper plate immediately above the area that undergoes large SSE slip (Site U1519);

16 • GeoPRISMS Newsletter Issue No. 40 Spring 2018