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Evidence for erosion and deposition by the 2011 Tohoku-oki tsunami on the nearshore shelf of Sendai Bay, Japan

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Abstract

Ongoing geological research into processes operating on the nearshore continental shelf and beyond is vital to our understanding of modern tsunami-generated sediment transport and deposition. This paper investigates the southern part of Sendai Bay, Japan, by means of high-resolution seismic surveys, vibracoring, bathymetric data assimilation, and radioisotope analysis of a core. For the first time, it was possible to identify an erosional surface in the shallow subsurface, formed by both seafloor erosion and associated offshore-directed sediment transport caused by the 2011 Tohoku-oki tsunami. The area of erosion and deposition extends at least 1,100 m offshore from the shoreline down to water depths of 16.7 m. The tsunami-generated sedimentological signature reaches up to 1.2 m below the present seafloor, whereas bathymetric changes due to storm-related reworking over a period of 3 years following the tsunami event have been limited to the upper ~0.3 m, despite the fact that the study area is located on an open shelf facing the Pacific Ocean. Tsunami-generated erosion surfaces may thus be preserved for extended periods of time, and may even enter the rock record, because the depth of tsunami erosion can exceed the depth of storm erosion. This finding is also important for interpretation of modern submarine strata, since erosion surfaces in shallow (depths less than ~1 m) seismic records from open coast shelves have generally been interpreted as storm-generated surfaces or transgressive ravinement surfaces.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the staff of the Sakamoto Laboratory at the School of Marine Science and Technology (Tokai University) for assistance with data analysis, and IDEA Consultants, Inc. (Japan) for radioisotope analyses. We also thank Dr. David R. Tappin for constructive discussions. The aerial photographs of the study area were provided by Tohoku Chiikizukuri Kyokai, Japan, and the bathymetric data by Tohoku Regional Bureau, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. We thank four reviewers and the journal editors for constructive inputs to this paper.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mathematical Science and Advanced Technology, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, 3173-25 Showa-machi, Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama, 236-0001, Japan

    Shuro Yoshikawa & Hide Sakaguchi

  2. Research and Development Center for Earthquake and Tsunami, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, 2-15 Natsushima-cho, Yokosuka, 237-0061, Japan

    Toshiya Kanamatsu

  3. International Research Institute of Disaster Science (IRIDeS), Tohoku University, Aoba 468-1 E303, Aramaki, Aoba-ku, Sendai, 980-0845, Japan

    Kazuhisa Goto

  4. School of Marine Science and Technology, Tokai University, 3-20-1 Orido, Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka, 424-8610, Japan

    Izumi Sakamoto & Kenji Nemoto

  5. Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Tokai University, 3-20-1 Orido, Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka, 424-8610, Japan

    Masatoshi Yagi

  6. Coastal Ocean Research Co., Ltd., 4-28-11 Taitou, Taitou-ku, Tokyo, 110-0016, Japan

    Mikio Fujimaki

  7. Fuyo Ocean Development & Engineering Co., Ltd., 3-15-7 Kuramae, Taitou-ku, Tokyo, 111-0051, Japan

    Riichirou Imura

Authors
  1. Shuro Yoshikawa
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  2. Toshiya Kanamatsu
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  3. Kazuhisa Goto
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  4. Izumi Sakamoto
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  5. Masatoshi Yagi
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  6. Mikio Fujimaki
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  7. Riichirou Imura
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  8. Kenji Nemoto
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  9. Hide Sakaguchi
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Correspondence to Shuro Yoshikawa.

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Yoshikawa, S., Kanamatsu, T., Goto, K. et al. Evidence for erosion and deposition by the 2011 Tohoku-oki tsunami on the nearshore shelf of Sendai Bay, Japan. Geo-Mar Lett 35, 315–328 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00367-015-0409-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00367-015-0409-3

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