This book is the comprehensive volume of the TAIGA (a great river in Japanese) project.
Supported by the Japanese government the project examined the hypothesis that the subseafloor
fluid advection system (subseafloor TAIGA) can be categorized into four types TAIGAs of sulfur
hydrogen carbon (methane) and iron according to the most dominant reducing substance and
the chemolithoautotrophic bacteria archaea that are inextricably associated with respective
types of TAIGAs which are strongly affected by their geological background such as surrounding
host rocks and tectonic settings. Sub-seafloor ecosystems are sustained by hydrothermal
circulation or TAIGA that carry chemical energy to the chemosynthetic microbes living in an
extreme environment. The results of the project have been summarized comprehensively in 50
chapters and this book provides an overall introduction and relevant topics on the mid-ocean
ridge system of the Indian Ocean and on the arc-backarc systems of the Southern Mariana Trough
and Okinawa Trough.
