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Recent and historical tsunami deposits from Lake Tokotan, eastern Hokkaido, Japan, inferred from nondestructive, grain size, and radioactive cesium analyses

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Abstract

Geological evidence of recent tsunamis from sediment samples collected from Lake Tokotan, a coastal lagoon in eastern Hokkaido, northern Japan, was detected using computed tomography (CT) and soft X-ray images, grain size, and radionuclide profiles. Initial field observations revealed that sediments had no discernable sedimentary structures at the top of the core. However, results of CT imaging, soft X-ray, and grain size analyses show evidence for three invisible sand layers that are intercalated with mud layers. These sand layers exhibit trends of landward fining and thinning. Furthermore, the distribution of sand layers was limited to the center and seaward parts of the lake. Vertical profiles of cesium and lead concentrations in combination with recent eyewitness accounts indicated that these sand layers are correlated with the 1973 Nemuro-oki, 1960 Chilean, and 1952 Tokachi-oki tsunami events. The deeper part of the sediment cores includes three volcanic ash layers and three prehistoric coarse sand layers. The prehistoric layers are correlated with unusually large tsunamis that were geologically identified in previous studies from eastern Hokkaido. These findings suggest that nondestructive techniques, in combination with radionuclide analysis, allow for detection of frequent but faint tsunami deposits. This technique allows for an improved understanding of the history of tsunami inundation in Lake Tokotan and of other locations for which stratigraphic evidence for faint tsunamis layers is not readily apparent from field assessments.

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Abbreviations

CT:

Computed tomography

Ta-a:

Tarumai-a

Ko-c2:

Komagatake-c2

Ta-b:

Tarumai-b

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Acknowledgements

We thank members of the Akkeshi Maritime Affairs Memorial Hall for helping with the fieldwork. We thank anonymous reviewers for providing valuable comments. CT image analysis was performed under the cooperative research program of the Center for Advanced Marine Core Research (CMCR), Kochi University (Accept No. 15A018). Tephra analysis was conducted by the FURUSAWA Geological Survey. This research was carried out partly under the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) International Research Fellow program at the Geological Survey of Japan (PE14038), JSPS Kakenhi (15K05334), and a National Science Foundation grant (EAR-1624612).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Research in Isotopes and Environmental Dynamics (CRiED), University of Tsukuba, Tennodai 1-1-1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8577, Japan

    Tetsuya Shinozaki

  2. Geological Survey of Japan, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Higashi 1-1-1-C7, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8567, Japan

    Tetsuya Shinozaki, Yuki Sawai, Kazumi Ito, Junko Hara, Dan Matsumoto & Koichiro Tanigawa

  3. Department of Earth Sciences, Centre for Natural Hazards Research, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Dr., Burnaby, BC, V5A 1S6, Canada

    Jessica E. Pilarczyk

  4. Division of Marine Science, School of Ocean Science and Technology, University of Southern Mississippi, 1020 Balch Blvd., Stennis Space Center, MS, 39529-9904, USA

    Jessica E. Pilarczyk

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  1. Tetsuya Shinozaki
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Shinozaki, T., Sawai, Y., Ito, K. et al. Recent and historical tsunami deposits from Lake Tokotan, eastern Hokkaido, Japan, inferred from nondestructive, grain size, and radioactive cesium analyses. Nat Hazards 103, 713–730 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-020-04007-7

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