Environmental impact assessment of the 2011 Tohoku-oki tsunami on the Sendai Plain

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dc.contributor.authorChagué-Goff, Cen_AU
dc.contributor.authorNiedzielski, Pen_AU
dc.contributor.authorWong, HKYen_AU
dc.contributor.authorSzczuciński, Wen_AU
dc.contributor.authorSugawara, Den_AU
dc.contributor.authorGoff, JRen_AU
dc.date.accessioned2020-10-12T22:46:10Zen_AU
dc.date.available2020-10-12T22:46:10Zen_AU
dc.date.issued2012-12-30en_AU
dc.date.statistics2020-10-13en_AU
dc.description.abstractLarge areas of farmland in the Sendai Plain, Japan, were inundated by the 11 March 2011 Tohoku-oki tsunami and covered by a discontinuous 30–0.2 cm thick sediment layer consisting of sand and/or mud and generally thinning and fining inland. Two months after the tsunami, numerous rice paddy fields and depressions remained ponded with brackish or saline water. A series of field surveys in May, August and October 2011 were carried out north of Sendai airport, in order to assess the environmental impact of the tsunami. While evaporation had resulted in elevated conductivity in ponded water in May (up to 68.2 mS cm− 1), rainfall over the next five months led to dilution, although brackish water was still recorded in depressions and on paddy fields. Tsunami sediments, underlying soil and soil beyond the tsunami inundation limit were collected at 43 sites along and near a transect extending over 5 km inland, and analysed for grain size, organic content, water leachable ions, acid leachable metals and exchangeable metalloids. Water leachable anion and cation concentrations were elevated in sandy and muddy tsunami deposits and soils particularly in areas, where seawater had stagnated for a longer period of time after the tsunami, with up to 10.5% Cl, 6.6% Na, 2.8% SO4, 440 mg kg− 1 Br measured in surface sediments (< 0.5 cm depth). Vertical variations were also recorded, with higher concentrations often measured in the surface samples. A similar trend could be observed for some of the metalloids (As) and metals (Zn, Cu and Ni), although in general, maximum concentrations of metals and metalloids were not much higher than in soils not inundated by the tsunami and were within background levels for uncontaminated Japanese soils. The impact of saltwater inundation was documented in the chemistry of soils underlying tsunami sediments, which were affected by salt contamination down to ~ 15 cm depth, and soils not covered by tsunami deposits. The latter implies that the extent of tsunami inundation may successfully be determined using geochemical markers in absence of any sedimentological evidence. Water leachable ions mostly decreased over time, however, they remained high enough to impact on rice farming, which was completely halted in 2011. Although further work is required to assess the longer term impact of tsunami inundation, flushing of salt with freshwater, as well as the possible removal of sandy/muddy sediments and underlying soil are recommended to allow crop production to resume. © 2020 Elsevier B.V.en_AU
dc.identifier.citationChagué-Goff, C., Niedzielski, P., Wong, H. K. Y., Szczuciński, W., Sugawara, D., & Goff, J. (2012). Environmental impact assessment of the 2011 Tohoku-oki tsunami on the Sendai Plain. Sedimentary Geology, 282, 175-187. doi:10.1016/j.sedgeo.2012.06.002en_AU
dc.identifier.issn0037-0738en_AU
dc.identifier.journaltitleSedimentary Geologyen_AU
dc.identifier.pagination175-187en_AU
dc.identifier.urihttps://apo.ansto.gov.au/dspace/handle/10238/9890en_AU
dc.identifier.volume282en_AU
dc.language.isoenen_AU
dc.publisherElsevier B.V.en_AU
dc.subjectJapanen_AU
dc.subjectTsunamisen_AU
dc.subjectGeologic depositsen_AU
dc.subjectEnvironmental effectsen_AU
dc.subjectContaminationen_AU
dc.subjectSurface watersen_AU
dc.subjectSeasen_AU
dc.subjectSedimentsen_AU
dc.subjectSilten_AU
dc.subjectCropsen_AU
dc.subjectSalinityen_AU
dc.subjectMetalsen_AU
dc.titleEnvironmental impact assessment of the 2011 Tohoku-oki tsunami on the Sendai Plainen_AU
dc.typeJournal Articleen_AU
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