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Kato-Nakamura-Yasukawa Lab
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The lab explores the history of Earth's resources and environment, including seafloor rare-earth mud.
AboutAbout the lab
Reading Earth's resources and history from rocks and mud
The Kato-Nakamura-Yasukawa Lab studies Earth's resources, environment, and history.
The lab discovered "rare-earth mud," deep-sea mud that contains abundant rare earth elements, and established that it exists in the waters around Minamitorishima Island.
Faculty and students alike go on mine surveys and research cruises to collect rocks and minerals, and analyze them with their own hands.
The lab aims to unravel how the Earth works and its history, and to use that knowledge to make society richer and more sustainable.
Key terms
- Rare earths
- A group of metallic elements, also called rare earth elements. They are essential materials for high-tech products.
- Ore deposit
- A place where useful elements or minerals are concentrated enough to be mined and used.
- Manganese nodules
- A lump of metal found widely on the deep seafloor, formed by the accumulation of various useful metals.
- Multivariate analysis
- A statistical method that handles many types of data together to find relationships and groupings hidden within them.
NewsLab news
Discovered traces of an extraterrestrial impact at the time of the dinosaur extinction in rare-earth mud (co-authored with Kyushu University)
Published a paper on efficiently exploring for seafloor hydrothermal deposits using deep learning (co-authored with AIST)
A student received an award from the department
A student received the Excellent Presentation Award at the Annual Conference of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists of Japan
A student received the Student Outstanding Presentation Award at the Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of Japan
ResearchResearch themes
To understand Earth's resources, environment, and history, the lab analyzes rocks and mud collected from land-based mines and the deep seafloor. Its research ranges from exploring and developing new resources such as rare-earth mud to elucidating climate change and Earth's history.
*Illustrative imageSearching for rare metals and rare earths
Rare metals and rare earth elements are essential for advanced industries and for energy production and storage. The lab investigates where they lie and how much exists, on both land and sea.
*Illustrative imageUnraveling how mineral resources form
The lab scientifically investigates why resources form in nature, and the materials and processes involved. By narrowing down the places where the conditions for resource formation are met, it seeks clues for discovering new ore deposits.
*Illustrative imageMaking use of new seafloor resources
For seafloor mineral resources such as rare-earth mud and manganese nodules, the lab addresses challenges in exploration methods and development technologies through precise chemical analysis and experiments.
*Illustrative imageInterpreting geochemistry with data science
Data on many elements obtained through precise analysis hold traces of how resources formed and how the environment changed. The lab reads these traces using data science methods such as multivariate analysis.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Kato-Nakamura-Yasukawa Lab consist of faculty, staff and collaborating researchers, and doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students.As of 2025
- ProfessorYasuhiro KatoPublications ↗
- ProfessorKentaro Nakamura
- Associate ProfessorKazutaka YasukawaPublications ↗
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Deep Discoverer ferromanganese nodules North Atlantic 2021” NOAA
（撮影者不明） / Public domain (cropped) - Searching for rare metals and rare earths: “Rareearthoxides” Peggy Greb, US department of agriculture / Public domain (cropped)
- Unraveling how mineral resources form: “Brack ore (Kuroko) displayed at Mining Musium of Akita University” 掬茶 / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Making use of new seafloor resources: “Manganese-nodule-05 hg” Hannes Grobe / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Interpreting geochemistry with data science: “ACC nutrimouse correlation01” Jackverr / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Tsuji Lab): “Full moon partially obscured by atmosphere” NASA / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Mizuno Lab): “Posidonia oceanica meadow - Underwater observation and exploration - Calanque de Sormiou - 2022” Karim saari / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Ocean Environment Systems Lab): “Posidonia oceanica meadow and school of Salema porgy - Exploration and observation - Calanque de Sormiou - June 2022” Karim saari / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Dodbiba Lab): “Prominenthill-flotation” Geomartin / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
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