X-ray computed tomography scans have been used to look inside drill cores without destroying them. On the drilling vessel Chikyu, drill cores are routinely scanned by X-ray computed tomography, but the usage of scan data has been limited on the vessel due to large data size, unfamiliar data format, etc. In this study, we designed a workflow that enables shipboard scientists to access and utilize the X-ray computed tomography data quickly for shipboard core handling.

In March 2011, the Mw ~9 Tohoku-oki earthquake, one of the largest seismic events ever recorded, occurred across a megathrust fault in the west of the Japan trench. This devastating earthquake stressed the need for more detailed studies on the fault zone behavior and the main causes of this event.