Applications of geochemistry in tsunami research: A review

Chagué‐Goff, Catherine; Szczuciński, Witold; Shinozaki, Tetsuya

doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2016.12.003

Cited by 152 publications

(99 citation statements)

References 173 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…), is in line with that reported for the uncontaminated sediments of inner Augusta Bay, which consist primarily of carbonates (Ca and Sr) and clays (Si, K and Rb; Croudace et al ., ) as well as the outcropping geology, dominated by carbonates and volcanoclastics/volcanics within muddy sediments and calcarenites (Grasso & Lentini, ). While the Ca and Sr signatures dominate the marine sediment, due to the occurrence of carbonates (Chagué‐Goff et al ., ), Ti/Ca and Ti/Sr are most likely to reflect the terrigenous input, with Ti sourced from volcanics, gneiss and schists and thus often used as an indicator of terrestrial material in onshore or offshore tsunami deposits (Chagué‐Goff et al ., ). Titanium has also been recorded in offshore sediments as a result of increased rainfall and associated runoff (Yarincik et al ., ; Haug et al ., ) and has also been used as a provenance marker (Stuut et al ., ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

New coring study in Augusta Bay expands understanding of offshore tsunami deposits (Eastern Sicily, Italy)

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Tsunami deposits present an important archive for understanding tsunami histories and dynamics. Most research in this field has focused on onshore preserved remains, while the offshore deposits have received less attention. In 2009, during a coring campaign with the Italian Navy Magnaghi, four 1 m long gravity cores (MG cores) were sampled from the northern part of Augusta Bay, along a transect in 60 to 110 m water depth. These cores were taken in the same area where a core (MS06) was collected in 2007 about 2·3 km offshore Augusta at a water depth of 72 m below sea level. Core MS06 consisted of a 6·7 m long sequence that included 12 anomalous intervals interpreted as the primary effect of tsunami backwash waves in the last 4500 years. In this study, tsunami deposits were identified, based on sedimentology and displaced benthic foraminifera (as for core MS06) reinforced by X‐ray fluorescence data. Two erosional surfaces (L1 and L2) were recognized coupled with grain‐size increase, abundant Posidonia oceanica seagrass remains and a significant amount of Nubecularia lucifuga, an epiphytic sessile benthic foraminifera considered to be transported from the inner shelf. The occurrence of Ti/Ca and Ti/Sr increments, coinciding with peaks in organic matter (Mo incoherent/coherent) suggests terrestrial run‐off coupled with an input of organic matter. The L1 and L2 horizons were attributed to two distinct historical tsunamis (ad 1542 and ad 1693) by indirect age‐estimation methods using 210Pb profiles and the comparison of Volume Magnetic Susceptibility data between MG cores and MS06 cores. One most recent bioturbated horizon (Bh), despite not matching the above listed interpretative features, recorded an important palaeoenvironmental change that may correspond to the ad 1908 tsunami. These findings reinforce the value of offshore sediment records as an underutilized resource for the identification of past tsunamis.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

New coring study in Augusta Bay expands understanding of offshore tsunami deposits (Eastern Sicily, Italy)

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Concentrations of up to 30 elements were obtained by X‐ray fluorescence analyses (XRF), conducted with a handheld Niton XL3t 900S GOLDD instrument (calibration mode SOIL; Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA) at an average interval of 2 cm. Due to different matrix effects (particle size, uniformity, surface geometry and moisture), geochemical analyses based on portable XRF are considered semi‐quantitative (EPA, ; Chagué‐Goff et al ., , ), but represent an approved and accepted tool in palaeoenvironmental research (Judd et al ., ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

River channel evolution and tsunami impacts recorded in local sedimentary archives – the ‘Fiume Morto’ at Ostia Antica (Tiber River, Italy)

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Ostia, the ancient port of Rome at the mouth of the river Tiber (Italy), flourished until the 2nd Century ad, although massive siltation had already caused the abandonment of its lagoonal harbour in the 1st Century bc. In search of an alternative harbour site, geomorphological and geoarchaeological research was carried out in the ‘Fiume Morto’, an abandoned Tiber meander to the immediate north of the town. To reconstruct its complex development and evaluate the suitability of the river channel as a fluvial harbour, a transect perpendicular to the former river channel's flow axis was systematically explored by a new methodological approach combining electrical resistivity tomography, direct push‐electrical conductivity sensing and vibracores. Together with microfossil, mineralogical and geochemical analyses of sediment samples and 50 radiocarbon dates, in‐depth stratigraphic data support a detailed reconstruction of different Tiber channel generations. Results reveal a meander development closely related to distinct ‘cut and fill’ dynamics. Inactive river channels were repeatedly filled with lagoonal sediments, abruptly followed by phases of intense incision. Yet, the overall Fiume Morto channel structure remained stable and almost in situ over centuries, showing nearly no lateral changes since the southward shift of the Tiber River mouth in the first millennium bc. In the 1st Century bc, channel conditions favoured navigation and transportation of goods with large ships. Open‐water conditions, suitable for anchoring and landing activities, dominate from the 1st Century ad until 1557 ad, when the Fiume Morto meander was finally cut off and silted up within a short time. Within the fluvial deposits, sediments most likely related to tsunami inundations are preserved. These events occurred sometime before the 2nd Century bc, in the early 1st Century ad and in the 17th Century ad or later. Results are consistent with traces of tsunami influence found in Ostia's western lagoonal harbour.

show abstract

“…7). However, as sa lin ity in di ca tors are usu ally poorly pre served in sandy de pos its (e.g., Chagué-Goff et al, 2017), the doc u mented increase in Na and Cl may be mean ing ful. Ostracods and molluscs were not pres ent in the sam ples ana lysed.…”

Section: Origin Of the Event Layersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The main prob lem when us ing the geo log i cal ev i dence is to cor rectly iden tify the sed i men tary re cord, in par tic u lar in distin guish ing be tween tsu nami and storm de pos its. Both of these are high-en ergy events that may leave coarser event de pos its con tain ing ma rine in di ca tors in coastal strati graphic se quences (e.g., Kortekaas and Dawson, 2007;Mor ton et al, 2007;Chagué-Goff et al, 2017;Soria et al, 2017). Moreover, one al ways needs to take into ac count po ten tial post --depositional changes of the de pos its (e.g., Szczuciñski, 2012).…”

Section: Origin Of the Event Layersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sedimentary evidence of extreme storm surge or tsunami events in the southern Baltic Sea (Rogowo area, NW Poland)

Piotrowski

Szczuciński

Sydor

et al. 2017

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Bal tic Sea is not typ i cally con sid ered as an area af fected by tsu na mis. How ever, dur ing the Late Pleis to cene and Ho lo cene sev eral tsu nami events have been in ter preted from the sed i men tary re cord, mainly in Swe den and Es to nia. Fur ther more, on the south ern coast of the Bal tic Sea, there are his tor i cal ac counts of catastrophical ma rine floodings called "der Seebär" ("the Sea Bear"). Their de scrip tions re veal many fea tures typ i cal for tsu nami, but their gen e sis re mained un known and sed i men tary ev i dence for such events has not been found. Here we pro vide ev i dence of sandy event lay ers from the area of Rogowo, NW Po land -the area of his tor i cal cat a strophic storms as well as "der Seebär" events. The study area is a low-ly ing coastal plain with an av er age el e va tion of -0.5 to +0.5 m a.s.l., pro tected from the open sea by beach and coastal dune sys tems up to 5 m high. Sedimentological, micropalaeontological and geo chem i cal anal y ses along with AMS 14 C dat ing were ap plied to sed i mentary suc ces sions seen in 5 ma jor trenches and 198 sed i ment cores up to 1.5 m long. Two sandy lay ers were iden ti fied in the peat de pos its that de vel oped on the plain dur ing the last ~2000 years. They re veal a num ber of typ i cal fea tures of tsu nami depos its (sig nif i cant lat eral ex tent and thick ness, rip-up clasts, chem i cal and micropalaeontological ev i dence of ma rine or i gin), how ever, 14 C dat ing along with the his tor i cal ac counts re vealed that the ma jor layer, ex tend ing at least 1.2 km from the mod ern coasts, was prob a bly de pos ited by ar gu ably the larg est storm surge dur ing the last 2000 years, which took place in 1497 AD. These storm de pos its were likely formed dur ing in un da tion of the low-ly ing coastal plain af ter ma jor breach ing of coastal dunes re sult ing in tsu nami -like flow pat tern and thus sim i lar sedimentological ef fects. A dis con tin u ous sand layer of youn ger age (18th cen tury) and shar ing sim i lar prop er ties to the pre vi ous one may be re lated to "der Seebär" event or an other storm surge. The study re vealed that the south ern Bal tic Sea coast may be af fected by much greater coastal flood ing than known from more re cent ac counts and ob ser va tions. Thus, the pre sented geo log i cal re cord should be taken as an ex am ple of a worst-case scenario in coastal zone risk as sess ment from nat u ral haz ards. These events left sed i men tary de pos its that re sem ble tsu nami depos its. It is likely that, in sim i lar set tings where storm surges cause uni di rec tional in un da tion of a coastal plain, it may not be pos si ble to es tab lish whether the re sult ing de pos its were laid down from storms or tsu na mis.Key words: tsu nami de pos its, storm surge de pos its, grain size anal y sis, geo chem is try, ra dio car bon dat ing, Bal tic Sea.

show abstract

Applications of geochemistry in tsunami research: A review

Cited by 152 publications

References 173 publications

New coring study in Augusta Bay expands understanding of offshore tsunami deposits (Eastern Sicily, Italy)

New coring study in Augusta Bay expands understanding of offshore tsunami deposits (Eastern Sicily, Italy)

River channel evolution and tsunami impacts recorded in local sedimentary archives – the ‘Fiume Morto’ at Ostia Antica (Tiber River, Italy)

Sedimentary evidence of extreme storm surge or tsunami events in the southern Baltic Sea (Rogowo area, NW Poland)

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About