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Coastal Sedimentation Associated with the Tohoku Tsunami of 11 March 2011 in South Kuril Islands, NW Pacific Ocean

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Abstract

Sediment deposited by the Tohoku tsunami of March 11, 2011 in the Southern Kurils (Kunashir, Shikotan, Zeleniy, Yuri, Tanfiliev islands) was radically different from sedimentation during local strong storms and from tsunamis with larger runup at the same location. Sediments from the 2011 Tohoku tsunami were surveyed in the field, immediately and 6 months after the event, and analyzed in the laboratory for sediment granulometry, benthos Foraminifa assemblages, and diatom algae. Run-up elevation and inundation distance were calculated from the wrackline (accumulations of driftwood, woody debris, grass, and seaweed) marking the distal edge of tsunami inundation. Run-up of the tsunami was 5 m at maximum, and 3–4 m on average. Maximum distance of inundation was recorded in river mouths (up to 630 m), but was generally in the range of 50–80 m. Although similar to the local strong storms in runup height, the tsunami generally did not erode the coast, nor leave a deposit. However, deposits uncharacteristic of tsunami, described as brown aleuropelitic (silty and clayey) mud rich in organic matter, were found in closed bays facing the South Kuril Strait. These closed bays were covered with sea ice at the time of tsunami. As the tsunami waves broke the ice, the ice floes enhanced the bottom erosion on shoals and destruction of low-lying coastal peatland even at modest ranges of runup. In the muddy tsunami deposits, silt comprised up to 64 % and clay up to 41.5 %. The Foraminifera assemblages displayed features characteristic of benthic microfauna in the near-shore zone. Deep-sea diatoms recovered from tsunami deposits in two closely situated bays, namely Krabovaya and Otradnaya bays, had different requirements for environmental temperature, suggesting these different diatoms were brought to the bays by the tsunami wave entraining various water masses when skirting the island from the north and from the south.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are thankful to V. N. Boyko, the Director of the “Kurilsky” Natural Reserve, for his help in fieldwork organization. We gratefully acknowledge the contribution from the researchers of the Reserve, I.A. Nevedomskaya, A.G. Savchenko, S.E. Karpenko and Yu.V. Sinkevich, who sampled the tsunami deposits from the ice floes immediately after the tsunami passage. We thank all the authors of the photographs used as illustration to the text. We express our sincere gratitudes to I.I. Spasskaya (Institute of Geography RAS, Moscow, Russia) for translation of the article and Ms. B. MacInnes (University of Washington, Seatlle, USA) who revised the English version.

The work was performed with financial support of RFBR grant N 11-05-00497-a and FEB RAS grant 12-I-P4-06; the expedition was supported of RFBR grant 11-05-10027-к.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pacific Geographical Institute FEB RAS, Vladivostok, Russia

    N. G. Razjigaeva, L. A. Ganzey, T. A. Grebennikova & E. D. Ivanova

  2. Shirshov’ Institute of Oceanology RAS, Moscow, Russia

    A. A. Kharlamov

  3. Institute of Marine Geology and Geophysics FEB RAS, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Russia

    V. M. Kaistrenko & A. A. Shishkin

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  1. N. G. Razjigaeva
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  2. L. A. Ganzey
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  3. T. A. Grebennikova
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  4. E. D. Ivanova
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  5. A. A. Kharlamov
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  6. V. M. Kaistrenko
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  7. A. A. Shishkin
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Correspondence to N. G. Razjigaeva.

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Razjigaeva, N.G., Ganzey, L.A., Grebennikova, T.A. et al. Coastal Sedimentation Associated with the Tohoku Tsunami of 11 March 2011 in South Kuril Islands, NW Pacific Ocean. Pure Appl. Geophys. 170, 1081–1102 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00024-012-0478-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00024-012-0478-4

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