rock. Typically porosity decreases with increasing depth. However, there is an anomalous preservation of porosity at depth at drill site 1173. This has been attributed to post-depositional opal cementation that is preserving the porosity (Spinelli et al., 2007). The detrital clays, primarily smectite, display variation over time and location in the Nankai Trough as well as the Shikoku basin. At depth there is an increase in the smectite clay content in the sediments, inferring that there has been a change in the deposition source rock (Steurer et al., 2003). Furthermore, there is a geothermal alteration of the smectite, converting it to illite clay (Steurer et al., 2003). Tectonic structure The Nankai Trough is actively deforming and marks a region of seismic activity. Deformation is concentrated in the outermost imbricate zone, with a significant amount of "out of sequence" thrusting occurring landward. Based on the work of Operto et al., 2006, several areas of intense tectonic activity in the Nankai Trough were identified using full waveform tomography. The upper portion of the upper accretionary prism and the underlying backstop are currently undergoing a great deal of compressional pressure. Several thrust faults were identified by Operto et al., 2006, of which the thrust faults closest to the subduction zone are active. Furthermore, Pisani et al., 2006, identified protothrusts and decollement surfaces along the Nankai Trough. Recently there has been an increase in interest in the release of water from illite clays in subducting sediments. The conversion of smectite to illite (illitization) in subduction zones is likely driven by the higher temperature found in the subduction zone as opposed to non-subducting sediments (Saffer et al., 2005). IODP Expedition 370 will seek to find the temperature limit of the deepest life on Earth by drilling in the Nankai Trough, where heat flow is particularly high near its boundary with the subducting young, hot Philippine Sea tectonic plate. At the targeted site, the geothermal gradient is about four times steeper than elsewhere in the Pacific Ocean. Reaching temperatures of approximately 130 °C in other areas would require collecting cores from approximately 4 kilometers below the seafloor, rather than 1.2 kilometers as planned by Expedition 370. Eventually, IODP Expedition 370 reached a temperature of ~120 °C at 1.2 kilometers below the seafloor with mineral evidence showing that there are localized depths with significantly higher temperatures due to hot fluids. Seismicity The Nankai Trough is the near-surface