Five centuries of tsunamis and land-level changes in the overlapping rupture area of the 1960 and 2010 Chilean earthquakes

The Role of Holocene Relative Sea-Level Change in Preserving Records of Subduction Zone Earthquakes

“…However, Garrett et al [21] noted the occurrence of high marsh soils at elevations below modern mean sea level, implying RSL rise during the last 1 ka. This is in contrast to the late Holocene emergence noted in studies to the north [14,53,55,[87][88][89] and in our GIA predictions. Garrett et al [21] suggest that net tectonic subsidence of Chiloe Island, or glacio-isostatic subsidence related to the Patagonian Ice Sheet and not considered in current GIA models, may have caused RSL rise during the last 1 ka.…”

Coastal evidence for Holocene subduction-zone earthquakes and tsunamis in central Chile

“…We base our interpretation on characteristics shared by all six beds including: significant lateral extent, uniform thickness, sharp (1e3 mm) lower and upper contacts, mixed diatom assemblages that include anomalous marine planktonic species, mica content, and upward fining sequences. Such characteristics have been found in modern tsunami deposits from Papua New Guinea (e.g., Gelfenbaum and Jaffe, 2003;Dawson, 2007), Thailand (e.g., Jankaew et al, 2008;Sawai et al, 2008), Sumatra (e.g., Monecke et al, 2008), Chile (e.g., Cisternas et al, 2005;Horton et al, 2011;Garrett et al, 2013;Ely et al, 2014), and Japan (e.g., Goto et al, 2011;Szczuci nski et al, 2012). Beds F-A can be correlated over distances of 100e200 m. Radiocarbon ages from plant macrofossils underlying bed C in pits 18 and 43 are statistically indistinguishable, consistent with lateral continuity of this bed.…”

“…More extensive evidence has been found at wetter sites in southern and south-central Chile, although records are limited to the last~2000 years (Atwater et al, 1992;Bartsch-Winkler and Schmoll, 1993;Cisternas et al, 2005;Moernaut et al, 2009;Nelson et al, 2009;Garrett et al, 2013;Ely et al, 2014;Moernaut et al, 2014).…”

Turbidite paleoseismology along the active continental margin of Chile – Feasible or not?

“…The persistence of the boundaries between such segments is still poorly understood (e.g., Ely et al, 2014) and giant seismic supercycle events might rupture more than a single segment (McCaffrey, 2008;Shennan et al, 2009). Moreover, turbidity current generation is sensitive to shaking intensity during a seismic event as opposed to coastal paleoseismological sedimentary archives that are associated with coseismic land-level changes or tsunami inundation.…”