Hiroshi Ogasawara, Ritsumeikan University, Kusatsu, Japan, Tullis C Onstott, Princeton University, Department of Geosciences, Princeton, NJ, United States, Thomas L Kieft, New Mexico Institute of Technology, Department of Biology, Socorro, NM, United States, Thomas Wiersberg, ICDP International Continental Scientific Drilling Program, Potsdam, Germany, Martin Zimmer, GFZ Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany, Yasuo Yabe, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan, Raymond J Durrheim, University of the Witwatersrand, School of Geosciences, Johannesburg, South Africa, Musa Siphiwe Manzi, University of Witwatersrand, School of Geosciences, Wits, South Africa, Errol Duncan Cason, University of the Free State, Department of Microbial, Biochemical and Food Technology, Bloemfontein, South Africa, Bennie Leibenberg, Leibenberg, Orkney, South Africa, Martin Ziegler, ETH Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland, Tetsuro Hirono, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan, Takatoshi Ito, Tohoku University, Institute of Fluid Science, Sendai, Japan, Akio Funato, Fukada Geological Institute, Tokyo, Japan, Yuhji Yamamoto, Kochi University, Center for Advanced Marine Core Research, Kochi, Japan and ICDP DSeis team