Browsing by Author "Goto, K"

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    The 2011 Tohoku-oki tsunami — three years on
    (Elsevier, 2014-12) Goto, K; Ikehara, K; Goff, JR; Chagué-Goff, C; Jaffe, BE
    The 2011 Tohoku-oki tsunami that devastated the Pacific coast of Tohoku, Japan was a turning point for modern research. As a result of this event it was recognized that paleotsunami research is vital to help understand the size and recurrence interval of low-frequency large tsunamis. This paper reviews the progress of geological research on the 2011 Tohoku-oki tsunami and summarizes new questions that are arising out of this work. For example, recent work suggests that the landward extent and thickness of the sandy deposit, as well as the presence or absence of marine microfossils in the sediment are most likely to be mainly controlled by the initial wave properties, sediment source, offshore bathymetry and onshore topography. This in turn implies that there are certain relationships between the characteristics of a tsunami deposit and the wave properties and it may be possible to reconstruct the latter from the deposits. Offshore tsunami deposits related to the 2011 Tohoku-oki tsunami have also been well described. This recent research indicates that sedimentation and erosion in inner bay and open ocean (~ 20 m water depth) locations can be in the order of several meters, suggesting that the tsunami shear force was strong in the nearshore zone. On the other hand, sandy to muddy deposits a few centimeters thick were observed at about 100 to 6000 m water depth. It is likely that the tsunami resulted in resuspension of sea bottom sediments and that suspended material flowed downslope as a turbidity current or suspended flow, although many authors recognize the possibility that strong earthquake groundshaking might have also generated turbidity currents. Studies of the 2011 Tohoku-oki event have led researchers back to two of the fundamental issues of tsunami geology: understanding the linkage between onshore and offshore sedimentation and erosion, and establishing identification criteria for tsunami deposits. Moreover though, beyond the issue of simple tsunami geology, it is important for all researchers to communicate with governments and the general public in order to reduce future casualties by using risk assessments based on our understanding of infrequent large tsunamis.© 2014, Elsevier B.V.
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    Anisotropy of anhysteretic remanent magnetization (AARM) reveals cryptic flow fabric of tsunami
    (American Geophysical Union, 2013-12-09) Kon, S; Nakamura, N; Sugawara, D; Goto, K; Chagué-Goff, C; Goff, JR
    Sandy tsunami deposits may provide valuable information on tsunami inundation as well as hydrodynamics, such as flow speed. However, if the layer does not have sedimentary structures such as cross laminations, it is difficult to infer the flow direction, which is important to interpret the behavior of the tsunami, such as inflow and outflow as well as repetition of waves. Anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS), in combination with grain size data, can provide information about the hydrodynamic conditions prevailing during the emplacement of tsunami sequences. It might also allow the reconstruction of transport directions because it provides a cryptic alignment of ferromagnetic and paramagnetic minerals, such as coarse-grained magnetite or platy phyllosilicate minerals (e.g. biotite). These minerals behave differently in different hydrodynamic conditions: for example, platy biotite may deposit in a cryptic micro-ripple. This therefore suggests that the usefulness of bulk AMS together with optical observations is limited in the study of flow fabric in tsunami deposits. The anisotropy of anhysteretic remanent magnetization (AARM) on the other hand isolates the fine-grained magnetite subfabric of needle-shaped inclusions exsolved in silicate minerals. Samples (18) from tsunami deposits, believed to have been laid down by the Jogan event (869 AD), were collected from a section on the Sendai Plain, east Japan. The transport direction in these deposits could not be determined by AMS analysis due to large declination and inclination errors. The AARM technique was thus used to determine the cryptic subfabric of magnetite exsolutions along cleavages in biotite and amphibole. Our scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observations confirmed that the maximum AARM orientation is parallel to the needle-shaped magnetite microexsolutions in biotite and amphibole. We therefore infer that the large error of AMS is caused by the alteration of these paramagnetic minerals, and AARM provides a cryptic alignment of fine-grained magnetite microexsolutions. In order to apply this method to ancient historical Tsunami events, we also collected 40 samples from consecutive sand layers of possible tsunami deposits at 7 sites using 2 m long geoslicers in Rikuzen-Takata, northeast Japan. The AARM and SEM confirmed the tendency of same flow direction of sand layers at each site, suggesting a tsunami origin.
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    Erosion, deposition and landscape change on the Sendai coastal plain, Japan, resulting from the March 11, 2011 Tohoku-oki tsunami
    (Elsevier B.V., 2020-12-12) Richmond, B; Szczuciński, W; Chagué-Goff, C; Goto, K; Sugawara, D; Witter, R; Tappin, DR; Jaffe, BE; Fujino, S; Nishimura, Y; Goff, JR
    Case studies of recent tsunami impacts have proven to be extremely useful in understanding the geologic processes involved during inundation and return flow, and refining the criteria used to identify paleotsunami deposits in the geologic record. Here, we report on erosion, deposition and associated landscape change resulting from the March 11, 2011 Tohoku-oki tsunami along a nearly 4.5 km shore-normal transect on the coastal plain near Sendai, Japan. The study area on the broad, low-relief prograding coastal Sendai plain comprised a sand beach backed by ~ 3 m high sand dunes and a forest, a wetland, the Teizan canal, agricultural rice fields, buildings and roads. Field observations focused on measurements of tsunami flow characteristics (height and direction), mapping of erosion features and assessing sediment deposition based on shallow trenches at 50–100 m spacing. Recorded tsunami inundation heights reached up to about 11 m above mean sea level within the first 500 m from the shoreline and then ranged between 3 and 5 m for the next 2 km, gradually decreasing to about 3 m close to the inundation limit. The tsunami deposit generally thinned landward from an average maximum ~ 30 cm thick sand deposit in the coastal forest to a thin mud drape several mm thick near the inundation limit. A discontinuous sand-dominated sheet was prevalent to about 2800 m from the shoreline where mud content then gradually increased further landward eventually resulting in a mud-dominated deposit ranging from 3.5 cm to a few mm thickness. The overall thinning and fining of the deposit was often interrupted by localized features that led to complex sedimentological relationships over short distances. Satellite imagery taken on 14 March 2011, 3 days after the Tohoku-oki Tsunami shows prominent foreshore incisions with 100 s + meters spacing alongshore, a foredune ridge that underwent severe erosion and development of a prominent shore-parallel elongated scour depression. Our field survey in early May 2011 revealed that the foreshore recovered quickly with rapid post-tsunami sediment deposition from incident waves, whereas the dune–ridge complex had undergone only minor re-working from eolian processes. © 2020 Elsevier B.V
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    Field observations of erosion, deposition, and tsunami flow characteristics on the Sendai Coastal Plain after the March 2011, Tohoku-oki Tsunami, Japan
    (American Geophysical Union, 2011-11-05) Richmond, BM; Goto, K; Fujino, S; Nishimura, Y; Sugawara, D; Tappin, DR; Witter, RC; Jaffe, BE; Chagué-Goff, C; Szczuciński, W; Yulianto, E; Goff, JR
    Historical and instrumental data show that the Pacific coast of Mexico has been exposed to destructive tsunamis over at least the past 500 years. This coast is also affected by hurricanes generated in the eastern Pacific. The great 1985 Mexico earthquake and its aftershock generated tsunamis that affected the Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo and Michoacán coast. The purpose of our study was two-fold, a) to determine whether we could distinguish storm from tsunami deposits, and b) whether tsunami deposits from historical events are preserved in the tropical environments of the Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo coast. Two anomalous sand units in the Ixtapa estuary are interpreted as the result of high-energy marine inundation events that occurred in the last century. Several lines of evidence using a multi-proxy approach (historical studies, interviews with local witnesses, geomorphological and geological surveys, coring and trenching, and laboratory analyses including grain size, micropaleontology, geochemistry, magnetic susceptibility and radiometric dating) indicate the occurrence of two tsunamis that we link to local events: the 1985 Mexico and possibly the 1979 Petatlan earthquakes. We thereby provide the first onshore geological evidence of historical tsunamis on the Pacific coast of Mexico. © American Geophysical Union
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    The future of tsunami research following the 2011 Tohoku-oki event
    (Elsevier B.V., 2012-12-20) Goto, K; Chagué-Goff, C; Goff, JR; Jaffe, BE
    In this paper we summarize the regional setting, our previous understanding of historical and pre-historical tsunamis on the Pacific coast of Tohoku, Japan, prior to the 2011 Tohoku-oki tsunami, and our current understanding of the sedimentological, geochemical and paleontological features of the onshore and offshore deposits of the event. Post-tsunami surveys revealed many new insights, such as; (1) the maximum extent of the sand deposit is sometimes only 60% of the inundation distance, (2) the inundation limit can be estimated by geochemical analysis even a few months after the event, (3) a minor amount of marine sediment was transported inland by the tsunami on the Sendai and adjacent plains with the major sediment sources being from beach and dune erosion or vented sediments from liquefaction, although nearshore and offshore surveys revealed that there was a significant amount of sediment transport on the seafloor, (4) coarse gravel deposits (~ 1 m in thickness) were usually thicker than the sand ones (~ 30 cm in thickness), and (5) beach erosion was minimal in some places while severe in others. Another important aspect of this event is that it was a large, infrequent, tsunami that took place where possible predecessors (e.g., AD869 Jōgan) were already known to have occurred based on historical and geological evidence. The AD869 Jōgan tsunami deposits are noticeably similar to the 2011 Tohoku-oki sands, therefore suggesting that the Jōgan and its source mechanism may have been larger than previously thought. While we have learned many lessons from the 2011 Tohoku-oki event, more research is needed to provide reliable tsunami risk assessments around the world. © 2020 Elsevier B.V.
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    Geological and geochemical field survey on the Sendai Plain following the 11 March 2011 Tohoku-Oki Tsunami
    (American Geophysical Union, 2011-12-05) Chagué-Goff, C; Goto, K; Fujino, S; Nishimura, D; Szczuciński, W; Rishmond, B; Tappin, D; Jaffe, BE; Witter, R; Yulianto, K; Goff, JR
    A post-tsunami survey was carried out in May 2011 by members of a UNESCO-IOC International Tsunami Survey Team. The geological and geochemical survey was carried out along a transect extending 4.5 km inland north of Sendai airport, and focused on tsunami flow characteristics, sedimentation and erosion, as well as assessing the impact of saltwater contamination on the paddy fields . Tsunami inundation in this area reached c. 4.5 km inland, and the limit was marked by the elevated Tobu Highway, except where underpass structures allowed inundation further inland. The tsunami deposit generally thinned and fined inland, with the sandy deposit thinning landward from about 30 cm thickness in the coastal forest to less than 0.5 cm c. 2.8 km inland. Rip-up clasts were observed mostly near the base of the sandy deposits. Further inland, the deposit was dominated by mud, although it contained thin sand laminae one to a few grain-thick up to the limit of inundation near Tobu Highway. The thickness of the tsunami deposit was found to show large variability over short distances. Erosion and liquefaction features were also commonly observed. Ponded water was reported between the coastal forest and up to 2.6 km inland, while salt crusts were observed on numerous rice paddy fields up to the limit of tsunami inundation, where the water had evaporated. Conductivity measurements of ponded water, canals, irrigation and drainage channels revealed that the water was still saline to brackish, despite >60 mm of precipitation in the two months since the tsunami. Elevated concentrations of water-leachable chloride (salt) were measured both in mud and sand deposits, where seawater had stagnated and evaporated.
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    Geological evidence and sediment transport modelling for the 1946 and 1960 tsunamis in Shinmachi, Hilo, Hawaii
    (Elsevier, 2018-02-01) Chagué, C; Sugawara, D; Goto, K; Goff, JR; Dudley, WC; Gadd, PS
    The Japanese community of Shinmachi, established on low-lying land between downtown Hilo and Waiakea, Hawaii, was obliterated by the 1946 Aleutian tsunami but was rebuilt, only to be destroyed again by the 1960 Chilean tsunami. The aim of this study was to find out if any geological evidence of these well documented events had been preserved in the sedimentary record in Wailoa River State Park, which replaced Shinmachi after the 1960 tsunami. This was achieved by collecting cores in the park and performing sedimentological, chronological and geochemical analyses, the latter also processed by principal component analysis. Sediment transport modelling was carried out for both tsunamis, to infer the source of the sediment and areas of deposition on land. The field survey revealed two distinct units within peat and soil, a thin lower unit composed of weathered basalt fragments within mud (Unit 1) and an upper unit dominated by fine volcanic sand within fine silt exhibiting subtle upward fining and coarsening (Unit 2, consisting of Unit 2A and Unit 2B), although these two anomalous units only occur on the western shore of Waiakea Mill Pond. Analysis with an ITRAX core scanner shows that Unit 1 is characterised by high Mn, Fe, Rb, La and Ce counts, combined with elevated magnetic susceptibility. Based on its chemical and sedimentological characteristics, Unit 1 is attributed to a flood event in Wailoa River that occurred around 1520–1660 CE, most probably as a result of a tropical storm. The sharp lower contact of Unit 2 coincides with the appearance of arsenic, contemporaneous with an increase in Ca, Sr, Si, Ti, K, Zr, Mn, Fe, La and Ce. In this study, As is used as a chronological and source material marker, as it is known to have been released into Wailoa River Estuary and Waiakea Mill Pond by the Canec factory between 1932 and 1963. Thus, not only the chemical and sedimentological evidence but also sediment transport modelling, corroborating the historical record, suggest that Unit 2A was deposited by the 1946 tsunami, and the sediment most likely originated from Wailoa River Estuary, beach and nearshore seafloor. The upper part of this unit, Unit 2B, is believed to have been deposited by the 1960 tsunami, as suggested by sediment transport modelling, although limited accommodation space is likely to have resulted in the thin deposit (3 cm thickness) present at that site. Limited accommodation space on the island of Hawaii has led to only rare locations where tsunami deposits are preserved, despite the repeated occurrence of tsunamis affecting the island. © 2017 Elsevier B.V.
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    Geological evidence for the destruction of Shinmachi, Hawaii, by the 1946 Aleutian and 1960 Chile Tsunamis?
    (American Geophysical Union, 2016-12-12) Chagué-Goff, C; Goto, K; Goff, JR; Gadd, PS; Sugawara, D; Nakamura, N
    Around 1900, Japanese workers brought to Big Island, Hawaii, to work on the sugar plantations, established the Shinmachi (`New Town') community on low-lying land on Hilo's waterfront. Although Shinmachi was obliterated by the 1946 Aleutian tsunami, it was rebuilt, only to be totally destroyed again by the 1960 Chile tsunami. Shinmachi was never rebuilt and the site is now part of the Wailoa State Park. Short cores were collected throughout the park in an attempt to recover the geological evidence of these two tsunamis. Two anomalous layers, a lower sand (Unit 1) and an upper fining upward fine sand to silt (Unit 2) intercalated within soil and peat and exhibiting sharp lower and upper contacts, were recorded at only a few locations, probably reflecting, at least partly, the effect of anthropogenic disturbance and a limited amount of accommodation space on recent Holocene lava flows. One core was analysed by ITRAX core scanner equipped with a magnetic susceptibility (MS) meter. Unit 1 exhibits high MS associated with high Fe, Mn and Rb counts, but low Si and K counts, reflecting the volcanic composition of the material, and probably an older flooding event from the river. Unit 2 on the other hand is characterised by a different suite of elements, including Si, K, Ti, Mn, Fe, Ca, Sr, Zr and As. These most likely represent the mineralogical and chemical composition of shallow marine sediments from Hilo Bay and/or brackish sediments from Wailoa River estuary. High concentrations of As in particular have previously been reported in sediments from Hilo Bay and Wailoa River estuary and attributed to the release of arsenic trioxide by a canec manufacturing plant between 1932-1963. In this study, As was absent below Unit 2, and can thus be used as chronological control. Unit 2 therefore most likely represents the 1946 tsunami deposit. There was no clear evidence for the 1960 tsunami, probably reflecting the limited amount of accommodation space in the area.
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    Impact of tsunami inundation on soil salinsaltion - up to one year after the 2011 Tohoku-okitsunami
    (Springer, 2013-09-27) Chagué-Goff, C; Wong, HKY; Sugawara, D; Goff, JR; Nishimura, Y; Beer, J; Szczuciński, W; Goto, K
    The long-term effect of tsunami inundation on soil salinisation was assessed following the 2011 Tohoku-oki tsunami in two areas on the Sendai Plain, near Sendai airport in the Miyagi Prefecture and Matsukawa-ura near Soma in the Fukushima Prefecture. Data gathered over four sampling seasons 2, 5, 9 and 11 months after the tsunami near Sendai airport show that the salt content generally decreased with time. Concentrations were nevertheless higher in February 2012 than in October 2011, probably due to capillary action and evaporation following long periods with little precipitation in the winter, while the lower concentrations in October were attributed to dilution due to intense rainfall prior to the sampling period. In February 2012, the area with chloride concentrations over the guidelines for the establishment of rice seedlings still extended for nearly 1 km between 2.45 and 3.33 km inland. Chloride concentrations also reached the guideline values at the land surface 1.71 km inland. This corresponded to the limit of the area deemed not suitable for rice production by local rice farmers. However, recent observations revealed that rice crops were not only halted in 2011 but also in 2012, probably due to high salinisation of soil and/or surface and groundwater. Our study shows that soil salinisation was still recorded to nearly 15 cm depth in areas with fine-grained organic-rich soil ~2.5 km from the shoreline 11 months after the tsunami, and that water-leachable ions were preferentially retained in organic-rich muddy sediment and soil, reflecting the long-term impact of tsunami inundation. In Matsukawa-ura, salt crusts still covered the area flooded by the tsunami in February 2012 and both the soil and muddy tsunami deposit were characterised by high chloride and sulphate concentrations. The latter might also lead to sulphide toxicity. Remediation measures have been implemented in certain areas, but further research needs to be carried out to test the effectiveness of the measures being used to allow rice production to resume. © 2014, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.
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    Initial field survey report of the 2011 East Japan Tsunami in Sendai, Natori adn Iwanuma Cities
    (UNESCO-IOC, 2011-07-10) Sugawara, D; Goto, K; Chagué-Goff, C; Fujino, S; Goff, JR; Jaffe, BE; Nishimura, Y; Richmond, B; Szczuciński, W; Tappin, DR; Witter, R; Yuliento, E
    The East Japan Earthquake (Mw 9.0) and associated tsunami struck the Pacific coast of eastern Japan on March 11th, 2011 at 2:46 p.m. (Japan Standard Time). Maximum run-up heights reached about 40 m along the Sanriku region’s coast and around 10 m on the Sendai coastline. The coasts of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima Prefectures in particular were badly damaged, and a considerable amount of time and money will be required to restore these areas. Tsunami inundation up to 5 km inland occurred across the Sendai Plain, which remained partly flooded for several weeks after the event. Some areas were still under water 2 months after the earthquake, and are likely to remain flooded for some time as a result of subsidence. The Disaster Control Research Center at Tohoku University conducted scientific research of the inundated coastal plains of Sendai, Natori and Iwanuma Cities in collaboration with other research institutes from Japan and overseas with the support of UNESCO-IOC (Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission). Data and samples collected during the field survey are now being analyzed by various institutes around the World. This report is a summary of our field survey that focused on an area to the north of Sendai Airport. Radioactivity data recorded at the time of survey are also provided.
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    Magnetic anisotropies for tsunami deposits: application to the 3.11
    (Japan Geoscience Union, 2013-05-24) Kon, S; Nakamura, N; Goto, K; Sugawara, D; Iijima, Y; Chagué-Goff, C; Goff, JR
    Tsunami deposits consist of well-sorted fine sand intercalating with non-marine black organic mud. It is difficult to reveal a transport direction of the deposit if the deposit showed no sedimentary fabrics,such as ripples. The proxy of anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) appears to be a promising tool for the study of flow fabrics in recent-tsunami deposits such as Sumatra tsunami (Wassmer et al. 2010). The AMS fabric might allow us to reconstruct transport directions of unconsolidated tsunami sediments during emplacement because AMS provides a cryptic alignment of ferromagnetic and paramagnetic minerals. Such cryptic minerals, such as magnetite or phyllosilicate minerals, would behave as a different emplacement mode in a different hydrodynamic condition. In the AMS fabrics of volcanic rocks, there are large discrepancies between the magnetic lineation and the framework-forming silicate linear fabric. This suggests that the uncorroborated use of bulk AMS to detect flow fabric in tsunami deposits has risks. In this article, we show that the anisotropy of anhysteretic remanent magnetization (AARM) may resolve the difficulties. The combination of inundation eye-witness, SEM, AMS, and AARM confirms the flow pattern of recentand paleo-tsunami deposits from the geoslicer sampleing at Rikuzen-Takata city, Japan during 2011, 11th March Tohoku tsunami. We determined if the sandy deposits are of tsunami from these magnetic anisotropies. © 2013, Japan Geoscience Union.
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    Modern and possible paleotsunami deposits in Samenoura, Sanriku Coast, and their relation to tsunami source mechanisms
    (Japan Geoscience Union Meeting, 2014-05-02) Sugawara, D; Nishimura, Y; Goto, K; Goff, JR; Jaffe, BE; Richmond, B; Chagué-Goff, C; Szczuciński, W; Yokoyama, Y; Miyairi, Y; Sawada, C
    Samenoura is situated in the bay head of a small inlet on the Pacific coast of Oshika Peninsula, one of the nearest places to the epicenter of the 2011 Tohoku-oki Earthquake. According to the Joint Survey Group, wave heights were measured at more than 20 m near the coastline. This area was severely damaged as a result of both co-seismic subsidence and tsunami inundation. We carried out field surveys of the Tohoku-oki and paleotsunami deposits at Samenoura in March, May and October 2013. Sandy deposits laid down by the Tohoku-oki tsunami were up to 20 cm thick at locations with an elevation greater than 10 m, and were several cm thick within the forest higher up. The tsunami deposit also contained numerous shell fragments and foraminifera. Although some possible sources of the tsunami deposits can be attributed to narrow sandy beaches near the study area, the deposition of such a thick sandy deposit is more or less enigmatic, considering the steep Ria-type coastal topography.Using a gouge auger and geoslicer, we found at least two sand layers intercalated within muddy sediments. A volcanic ash layer, which corresponds to the AD 915 Towada-a tephra, was also identified from a horizon between these sand layers. The underlying sand layer was most probably laid down by the 869 Jogan earthquake tsunami, one of the large-scale events known to have affected the region. Previous studies of the Jogan tsunami have proposed several possible source models that involve an interplate thrust earthquake. Given that the local bathymetry and topography of Samenoura Bay may be sensitive to the waveform of a large-scale tsunami, paleotsunami deposits found from this area may be the key to determining the source mechanisms of events on the Sanriku Coast.In this presentation, the possible correlation of the sandy deposits with known paleotsunami events based on detailed radiocarbon dating is discussed. The hydrodynamic character and processes of tsunami sediment erosion and deposition in Samenoura Bay are analyzed using numerical modeling of both interplate and outer-rise earthquake scenarios. © Japan Geoscience Union Meeting, 2014.
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    New insights of tsunami hazard from the 2011 Tohoku-oki event
    (Elsevier, 2011-12-01) Goto, K; Chagué-Goff, C; Fujino, S; Goff, JR; Jaffe, BE; Nishimura, Y; Richmond, B; Sugawara, D; Szczuciński, W; Tappin, DR; Witter, R; Yulianto, E
    We report initial results from our recent field survey documenting the inundation and resultant deposits of the 2011 Tohoku-oki tsunami from Sendai Plain, Japan. The tsunami inundated up to 4.5 km inland but the >0.5 cm-thick sand deposit extended only 2.8 km (62% of the inundation distance). The deposit however continued as a mud layer to the inundation limit. The mud deposit contained high concentrations of water-leachable chloride and we conclude that geochemical markers and microfossil data may prove to be useful in identifying the maximum inundation limit of paleotsunamis that could extend well beyond any preserved sand layer. Our newly acquired data on the 2011 event suggest that previous estimates of paleotsunamis (e.g. 869 AD Jogan earthquake and tsunami) in this area have probably been underestimated. If the 2011 and 869 AD events are indeed comparable, the risk from these natural hazards in Japan is much greater than previously recognized. (c) 2011 Elsevier
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    New Zealand's most easterly palaeotsunami deposit confirms evidence for major trans-Pacific event
    (Elsevier, 2018-11-01) Goff, JR; Goto, K; Chagué, C; Watanabe, M; Gadd, PS; King, DN
    Sedimentary, geochemical, geomorphological, radiocarbon and numerical modelling data were used to examine the nature, extent and age of a boulder scatter at Okawa Point, Chatham Island, New Zealand. Boulders up to 98 t were traced around 800 m inland and comprised both a landward and seaward grouping on either side of a mid-Holocene high-stand storm ridge dated to around 4840–4810 cal BP. The landward boulder scatter was linked with an enigmatic coarse sand/gravel layer that extends up to 1100 m inland and has been dated to around 3500–4500 cal BP. Numerical modelling indicated that while the seaward boulders that mainly rest upon the Chatham Island Schist shore platform could have been emplaced by either storm or tsunami waves, those landward of the mid-Holocene storm ridge were most probably transported by a tsunami. There are several near-contemporaneous palaeotsunami deposits reported from mainland New Zealand, Australia, SW Pacific and the wider Pacific region. If some or all of these are associated with the same basin-wide palaeotsunami then it appears likely to have been one of the largest Holocene Pacific palaeotsunamis. An analysis of historical and numerically modelled data suggests that the most likely candidate is from within the northern Chile seismic gap, with early evidence suggesting that a large palaeoseismic and palaeotsunami event may have occurred around 4000 yr BP. If correct, this has important implications for assessing the largest possible magnitude earthquakes in the northern Chile seismic gap and the size of the tsunamis they generate. © 2018 Elsevier B.V.
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    Possible paleo-tsunami deposits at Rikuzentakata City, Japan
    (National Committee of Japan for IGU, 2013-08-05) Iijima, Y; Sugawara, D; Goto, K; Chagué-Goff, C; Hayase, R; Hashimoto, K; Kon, S; Nakamura, N; Goff, JR
    Rikuzentakata City, NE Japan, has been repeatedly suffered by tsunami inundations including 1896 Meiji-Sanriku, 1933 Showa-Sanriku, 1960 Chilean Tsunami, and 2011 Tohoku-Oki Tsunami. Up to 30 cm thick sand layer was deposited by the 2011 tsunami in this city (Naruse et al., 2012). Our study indicates that historical and prehistoric tsunamis also left deposits in this area. Nevertheless, previous studies of paleo-tsunami deposits in this area are limited (Haraguchi et al., 2006, Imaizumi et al., 2007), because of the difficulty of finding paleo-tsunami deposits along this ""ria"" coast. We conducted a field survey using a geoslicer to acquire sediment cores in order to explore the magnitude and history of tsunamis in this area. Overall 10 cores, each 2 m long and 12 cm wide were acquired during the survey. The sedimentary sequences were mostly composed of peaty soil, which was thought to have been deposited in a marsh environment, however these soils units were inter-fingered by numerous 1-15 cm thick sand layers. According to initial work including grain size analysis, some of the sand layers deposited 1.4 km from the present shoreline are identified as having a possible tsunami origin because they tend to show upward fining characteristics, indicating rapid sedimentation from suspended load. We will also present the preliminary results of tephra chronology, radiocarbon and 210Pb dating, and diatom analysis.
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    Preface for special issue of marine geology: in the wake of the 2011 Tohoku-oki tsunami – three years on
    (Elsevier, 2014-12) Goto, K; Chagué-Goff, C; Goff, JR; Ikehara, K; Jaffe, BE
    The 2011 Tohoku-oki event that devastated the northeast coast of Japan gives us a rare opportunity to improve our knowledge about tsunami deposits. Before this event the geological evidence of historical and prehistoric tsunamis was generally not included in tsunami mitigation plans. The 2011 event clearly forces all those working on tsunami disaster mitigation to rethink the importance of geological data as a key line of evidence for understanding magnitudes intervals and magnitudes. The geological work related to this tsunami is of global interest. It is the appropriate time to produce a special issue that includes papers presenting a more in-depth analysis of the deposits, more highly developed numerical modeling, and analysis of high-resolution pre- and post-tsunami DEM data for the 2011 Tohoku-oki tsunami. The papers in this special issue provide many new insights to help us better understand the nature of the tsunami deposits, both onshore and offshore. This special issue includes 11 original papers and 1 review paper related to the 2011 Tohoku-oki tsunami event. The papers comprising this special issue of Marine Geology are focused on four primary topics: 1) Onshore sedimentation and erosion (Nandasena et al., 2013 (reprinted); Fujiwara and Tanigawa, 2014, Goto et al., 2014a, Koiwa et al., 2014, Schneider et al., 2014 and Yamada et al., 2014) 2) Offshore sedimentation and erosion (Ikehara et al., 2014--this issue and Kitahashi et al., 2014) 3) Linkage of offshore and onshore sedimentation by modeling (Sugawara et al., 2014) 4) Reinterpretation of beach ridge formation (Goff and Sugawara, 2014) 5) Terminology and social relevance 5) Terminology and social relevance (Goff et al., 2014, Goto et al., 2014b). © 2014 Published by Elsevier B.V.
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    Sediment sources and sedimentation processes of 2011 Tohoku-oki tsunami deposits on the Sendai Plain, Japan — insights from diatoms, nannoliths and grain size distribution
    (Elsevier B.V., 2012-12-30) Szczuciński, W; Kokociński, M; Chagué-Goff, C; Cachão, M; Goto, K; Sugawara, D
    The 11th March 2011 Tohoku-oki tsunami inundated the low-lying Sendai Plain (Japan) more than 5 km inland leaving sand and mud deposits over most of the area. In order to establish the sources of the tsunami deposits and interpret processes of their sedimentation, samples were collected from the deposits, underlying soils and the beach along a shore-perpendicular transect and analysed for grain size, diatom assemblages and nannoliths. The fining-inland tsunami deposits consisted of poorly to moderately sorted medium to coarse sand within 2 km of the coastline and very poorly to poorly sorted mud farther inland. More specifically, there was a slight fining of the coarse to medium sand mode within the sandy deposits and an increased contribution of the coarse and very coarse silt fraction in the mud deposits. The tsunami deposits also exhibited vertical changes including fining upward and coupled coarsening-fining upward trends. Few diatoms were present in beach sediments, soils and tsunami deposits within 1 km of the coastline, while diatoms were more abundant farther inland. Diatom assemblages in the soil and tsunami deposits were similar and dominated by species typical of freshwater-brackish habitats, while no typically marine species were encountered. Nannoliths were generally absent in the studied sediments, except for few specimens. Our data indicate that there was probably no or only a very minor component of marine sediments transported onland by the tsunami. The sandy tsunami deposits within ~ 1 km of the coastline were mostly derived from beach and dune erosion. From 1 to 2 km landward the contribution of these sources decreased, while sources comprising local soil erosion and the entrainment of sediments from the Teizan-bori canal increased. Farther inland, local soil erosion was the major sediment source for the mud deposits. The tsunami deposits were most likely deposited during at least two inundations, mostly out from suspension resulting in an upward grain size fining trend. However, bed load deposition was also important in the sandy deposits as suggested by a common grain size upward coarsening, position on C–M diagrams and frequent horizontal lamination. The present study reveals that even very large tsunamis may not transport marine sediments onland and thus many commonly applied indicators of tsunami deposits based on the assumption of their offshore origin (marine diatoms, foraminifera, nannoliths, marine sediments) may be of limited use. © 2020 Elsevier B.V.
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    Using magnetic fabric to reconstruct the dynamics of tsunami deposition on the Sendai Plain, Japan — the 2011 Tohoku-oki tsunami
    (Elsevier B.V., 2014-12-01) Schneider, JL; Chagué-Goff, C; Bouchez, JL; Goff, JR; Sugawara, D; Goto, K; Jaffe, BE; Richmond, B
    The magnetic fabric and grain size of sand deposits emplaced during the 2011 Tohoku-oki tsunami were studied in five trenches along a 1800 m long shore normal transect on the Sendai plain as well as in a near shore sedimentary infill of a scour depression. The magnetic susceptibility in all deposits is due to ferromagnetic minerals (mainly magnetite) making the anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (magnetic fabric) suitable for fabric analyses. The dominant magnetic fabric is planar in all trenches and stronger in finer-grained inland deposits than in the coarser sediments. This planar fabric is related to tractive shearing of the bedload basal portion of the tsunami flow that led to the deposition of traction carpet layers. Among the various fabric parameters used for this study, the vertical evolution of the shape factor (q) of the magnetic ellipsoid in each trench follows the evolution of the magnetic lineation (L) and foliation (F). These parameters provide information on the hydrodynamic energy (flow speed) fluctuations during the emplacement of the tsunami deposit. For the most proximal deposits, characterized by well-sorted reworked beach sand with minor fluctuations in grain-size distribution, the magnetic fabric is sensitive to hydrodynamic energy variations during sedimentation. Reconstruction of tsunami flow orientation in the sediments, based on the orientation of the mean Kmax calculated for each trench, appears to be unambiguous only for the sandy infills of small topographic depressions. The variations in flow direction indicators elsewhere could be related to local variation of the flow and to micro-topographic effects. These findings are encouraging for the use of the magnetic fabric proxy in the study of paleotsunami deposits. © 2014 Elsevier B.V.
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    When is a tsunami a mega-tsunami?
    (American Geophysical Union, 2014-01-12) Chagué-Goff, C; Goff, JR; Terry, JP; Goto, K
    The 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami is commonly called a mega-tsunami, and this attribute has also been linked to the 2011 Tohoku-oki tsunami. However, since this term was first coined in the early 1990's there have been very few attempts to define it. As such it has been applied in a rather arbitrary fashion to a number of tsunami characteristics, such as wave height or amplitude at both the source and at distant locations, run-up height, geographical extent and impact. The first use of the term is related to a tsunami generated by a large bolide impact and indeed it seems entirely appropriate that the term should be used for such rare events on geological timescales. However, probably as a result of media-driven hyperbole, scientists have used this term at least twice in the last decade, which is hardly a significant portion of the geological timescale. It therefore seems reasonable to suggest that these recent unexpectedly large events do not fall in the category of mega-tsunami but into a category of exceptional events within historical experience and local perspective. The use of the term mega-tsunami over the past 14 years is discussed and a definition is provided that marks the relative uniqueness of these events and a new term, appropriately Japanese in origin, namely that of souteigai-tsunami, is proposed. Examples of these tsunamis will be provided.