Abstract
The deposits of the Tohoku Tsunami were studied on the Kunashir, Shikotan, Zelenyi, Yurii, and Tanfil’ev islands. They were sampled immediately after this event from ice, half a year later, and one and a half years later. The sampling was accompanied by measurements of the runup heights and the description of the innudation zones. Sand and mud covers were recorded only in closed bays that were covered by ice. The tsunami waves broke the ice cover to provoke bottom erosion and peatland destruction in low coastal areas even under insignificant runup. The investigations included the analysis of the grain-size distribution in the deposits and the taxonomic composition of the microfossils, including benthic foraminifers, diatoms, and pollen assemblages. The marine diatom assemblages are dominated by sublittoral benthic forms accompanied by subordinate sublittoral planktonic, neritic, and oceanic species. The palynospectra include pollen and spores of the local island vegetation, allochthonous pollen transported by the tsunami wave and wind from adjacent areas, and taxa reworked from the upper Holocene deposits eroded by the tsunami. The examined sections have been revisited to estimate the degree of preservation of the tsunamigenic deposits.
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Original Russian Text © N.G. Razjigaeva, L.A. Ganzey, T.A. Grebennikova, E.D. Ivanova, M.S. Lyaschevskaya, A.A. Kharlamov, V.M. Kaistrenko, 2014, published in Okeanologiya, 2014, Vol. 54, No. 3, pp. 406–418.
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Razjigaeva, N.G., Ganzey, L.A., Grebennikova, T.A. et al. Deposits of the Tohoku Tsunami (March 11, 2011) in the southern Kuril Islands: Composition and fossils. Oceanology 54, 374–386 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0001437014020209
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0001437014020209