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The 2011 Tohoku-oki Earthquake Tsunami: Similarities and Differences to the 869 Jogan Tsunami on the Sendai Plain

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Abstract

A post-tsunami field survey following the 2011 Tohoku-oki Earthquake Tsunami was carried out to asses inundated area in Sendai Plain, Northeast Japan. The type of inundation was classified into two categories (major and minor) according to the amount of accumulated debris, garbage and sediment. Major and minor inundations were identified up to 4 and 5 km from the coastline, respectively. Many artificial geomorphological features, such as roadway embankments and canals, were believed to have affected the run-up process of the tsunami. The inundation area of the 2011 tsunami on the Sendai Plain is compared with that of the 869 Jogan tsunami, which was reconstructed using numerical modeling based on available historical and geological records. The inundation area of the 2011 Tohoku-oki tsunami is comparable to that of the 869 Jogan tsunami, although a direct comparison is difficult due to differences in geomorphological contexts between the paleo period and the present.

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Acknowledgments

The post-tsunami field survey following the 2011 earthquake was conducted with support from a special grant under the “Emergency tsunami field survey in the Pacific coast of Tohoku Region” from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan. The field survey and numerical modeling of the Jogan tsunami was supported by the Tohoku University GCOE program “Global Education and Research Center for Earth and Planetary Dynamics” and by the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A), 22241042, 2010, from the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Disaster Control Research Center, Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University, Aoba 6-6-11, Aramaki, Aoba-ku, Sendai, 980-8579, Japan

    Daisuke Sugawara & Fumihiko Imamura

  2. Planetary Exploration Research Center, Chiba Institute of Technology, 2-17-1 Tsudanuma, Narashino, 275-0016, Chiba, Japan

    Kazuhisa Goto

  3. Department of Regional Management, Faculty of Liberal Arts, Tohoku Gakuin University, 2-1-1 Tenjinzawa, Izumi-ku, Sendai, 981-3193, Miyagi, Japan

    Hideaki Matsumoto

  4. Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University, Aoba 6-3, Aramaki, Aoba-ku, Sendai, 980-8578, Miyagi, Japan

    Koji Minoura

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  1. Daisuke Sugawara
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  2. Fumihiko Imamura
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  3. Kazuhisa Goto
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  4. Hideaki Matsumoto
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  5. Koji Minoura
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Correspondence to Daisuke Sugawara.

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Sugawara, D., Imamura, F., Goto, K. et al. The 2011 Tohoku-oki Earthquake Tsunami: Similarities and Differences to the 869 Jogan Tsunami on the Sendai Plain. Pure Appl. Geophys. 170, 831–843 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00024-012-0460-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00024-012-0460-1

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