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Block and boulder accumulations along the coastline between Fins and Sur (Sultanate of Oman): tsunamigenic remains?

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Abstract

The rocky coastline of the Sultanate of Oman between Fins and Sur is decorated by a number of large blocks and boulder accumulations forming ramparts. The blocks occur as individual rocks of up to 40 tons, as imbricated sets and as “boulder trains.” Landward, the deposits change into a sand/boulder mixture and distal into sands. The coast is made up of Tertiary folded limestones and beach rock of Quaternary age, both also constitute the megaclasts. The transport distance from the fractured seaward platform of 6–10 m above mean sea level varies between 20 m and more than 50 m. We found individual blocks of recent corals and overturned blocks with attached oysters and rock pools. Terrestrial laser scanning was used to analyze geomorphologic features as well as for volumetric estimates of the block weights. Tropical cyclones such as Gonu in 2007 or Phet in 2010 are known to have affected Oman’s coastline in the past. The coastal changes during recent cyclones were minor; therefore, we interpret the block deposits as tsunamigenic. However, this interpretation is not unambiguous. The most likely source area for a tsunami is seen in the Makran Subduction Zone situated in the northern Indian Ocean. Here, at least 4–5 tsunamigenic earthquakes are documented.

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Acknowledgments

This study was financially supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG-project Re 1361/14-1) and by The Research Council Oman (TRC-grant ORG GUtech EBR 10 013). Dirk Hoffmeister (University of Cologne) is thanked for calculation of wave heights and velocities. The two librarians Cornelia Lutter (RWTH Aachen University) and Barbara Wolf (Kiel University) helped a lot in organizing relevant references which is highly appreciated. The authors are grateful for the English review done by Stefani German and Magdalena Rupprechter (GUtech, Muscat). Two anonymous reviewers are thanked for their constructive feedback which helped to improve the manuscript.

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Correspondence to G. Hoffmann.

Appendix

Appendix

1.1 Equations

For the mass of a submerged boulder being:

$$ mb = Vb\left( {\rho b - \rho w} \right): $$
$$ Ht = \sqrt {\frac{{E_{\text{kin}} }}{{0.125\rho_{w} agl}}} $$
(1)

where \( E_{\text{kin}} = E_{f} + E_{h} = \left( {\mu m_{b} gX_{\text{transport}} } \right) + \left( {m_{b} gH_{\text{uplift}} } \right) \) and \( L = L_{0} \left[ {\tanh \left( {\frac{2\pi d}{{L_{0} }}} \right)^{\frac{3}{4}} } \right]^{\frac{2}{3}} \) and \( L_{0} = \frac{{gT^{2} }}{2\pi } \)

$$ v_{t} = \root{3} \of {{\frac{{E_{\text{kin}} }}{{0.5\rho_{w} acT}}}} $$
(2)
$$ v_{t} = \sqrt {\frac{{2\mu m_{b} g}}{{C_{d} ac\rho_{w} }}} $$
(3)
$$ v_{t} = \sqrt {\frac{{0.5bm_{b} g}}{{0.5C_{d} ac^{2} \rho_{w} }}} $$
(4)

1.2 Mathematical symbols

a, b, c :

Axes of a boulder

C d :

Coefficient of drag (1,2)

d :

Water depth

E kin :

Kinetic energy

E f :

Energy of friction

E h :

Potential energy

g :

Earth’s gravity (9.81 m/s2)

H t :

Height of tsunami wave

H uplift :

Height of an uplifted boulder (asl)

L :

Tsunami wave length

L 0 :

Tsunami wave length in deep water

m b :

Mass of boulder

μ:

Coefficient of friction

ρ b :

Density of boulder

ρ w :

Density of seawater (1,020 kg/m3)

T :

Tsunami wave period

tanh :

Tangens hyperbolicus

v t :

Tsunami wave velocity

V b :

Volume of boulder

X transport :

Distance of boulder to coastline

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Hoffmann, G., Reicherter, K., Wiatr, T. et al. Block and boulder accumulations along the coastline between Fins and Sur (Sultanate of Oman): tsunamigenic remains?. Nat Hazards 65, 851–873 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-012-0399-7

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