Hydrothermal sediments associated with a relict back‐arc spreading center in the Shikoku Basin, recovered from the Nankai accretionary prism, Japan

The hemipelagic mudrocks of the Nankai accretionary prism, Japan, contain hydrothermal deposits associated with a relict spreading center in the Shikoku Basin. Initial work on core samples from Ocean Drilling Program site 808 found several samples with elevated concentrations of calcium, magnesium, iron and manganese, at depths of between 1060 and 1111 m below sea floor. However, the origin of these sediments was uncertain, due to a lack of data. There was no recorded evidence of whether these elevated concentrations were present throughout this interval of core, or if they were present as discrete layers with the background hemipelagic mudrocks in between. In the present study the core was resampled, and the sediments with anomalous chemical compositions were found to be present in discrete layers. This fact, along with a detailed interpretation of their geochemistry, has allowed them to be identified as hydrothermal sediments, associated with the relict spreading center in the Shikoku Basin. The lower (older) two layers display a chemical composition typical of umbers, while the upper (younger) two layers are metalliferous mudrocks typical of deposits found further from the spreading center.