Incidental Geotourism

So, lots of new stuff going on.
Although I have been feverishly finishing up my thesis writing and sending off several manuscripts as of late, I have had this blog burning at the back of my mind for quite some time. Good news is on the horizon though. I will be moving to Wales in the Fall to pursue new avenues in geosciences. So, that's all fine and dandy. And that means that I have an entire summer of research time, vacation, and of course blog time!

I'm going to start this blog with a little bit of what I like to call 'inciddental geotourism'. Back in 2009, I went out on my first research cruise. The purpose of the cruise was to use the Japan Agency for Marine Science and Technology's (aka JAMSTEC) deep sea submersible, the Shinkai 6500 (or 6K for short) to study the world's largest oceanic core complex (i.e. a footwall of a long-lived, large offset, low-angle detachment fault known to occur along mid-ocean ridges) known as the Godzilla Megamullion located in the southern Parece Vela Basin in the Western Pacific (see map below).

Map of the Philippine Sea Plate in the Western Pacific. Japan is to the North and the Philippines are visible on the Western portion of the map.

I will most likely talk in further detail on Godzilla in a later post, but what concerns this post is less of the actual cruise and more of what happened after it. So when it comes to planning cruises, you have to know where you will be getting on the boat and where you will be getting off. It turned out that the research cruise which was scheduled to use the 6K sub after our cruise was intending to work on the inner trench slope of the Bonin Ridge, just East of the island of Chichi-jima. So it was worked out that our cruise would disembark in the tiny (1 major dock) port of Futami Harbor where the next cruise's scientific party would be waiting.

Futami Harbor

Well, as it turns out, Chichi-jima is the type locality of the ultra-depleted volcanic rock boninite. Chichi-jima is the main island in the Bonin Islands. See the connection there. Needless to say, our chief scientist knew what he was doing when he chose our port of harbor. The crazy thing is, the only way to get to the island aside from research vessels is by a ~27 hour high-speed ferry out of Tokyo bay that visits every 3 or 4 days and stays for about 2. Its safe to say that my stay on the island was definitely a rare opportunity for geologists.

The island is pretty small, ~24 km^2 with a permanent population of about 2000. But don't let its size fool you, there is plenty of first class geology and UNESCO branded history on the island. From dozens of rusted shipwrecks and decaying bunkers dating all the way back to its use as a Japanese radio relay station during world war II, to loads of fantastic outcrops exhibiting type localities for intraoceanic arc volcanics, there is enough on the island to keep you busy for weeks.

I personally recommend a visit to Chichi-jima for anyone, geologist or common man alike, to go and spend a week or two. I have a geologic map of the island, albeit in japanese. And I have all of the information needed to plan a trip there, if you are willing to spend a long time on trains, planes, and boats. I will leave you with several pictures of the island and outcrops. If you would like any information, email me and I can send it to you.