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Abstract: Tsunami deposits contain information about the flow that created them which can be interpreted to estimate tsunami magnitude. Sandy deposits near Sendai Airport are modeled using an inverse sediment transport model to explore the spatial and temporal variation of tsunami flow speed in the 11 March 2011 Tohoku-oki tsunami. The 2011 deposits contain grain-size signatures of both sediment transport convergences and sediment settling out of suspension. Sediment transport convergences form massive or inversely graded intervals. Sediment falling out of suspension forms a specific type of normal grading, termed suspension grading. The Jaffe and Gelfenbaum (2007) inverse sediment transport model, which relates the thickness and bulk grain size of suspension-graded intervals to tsunami flow speed, was applied to 24 suspension-graded intervals, ranging in thickness from 2 to 4cm, at 7 trenches located from about 250 to 1350m inland from the shoreline. Modeled tsunami flow speeds range from 2.2 to 9.0m/s, and were strongly dependent on the choice of Manning''s n roughness parameterization. Flow speeds were highest from about 75–300m landward of the forested sand dunes where the tsunami encountered lower roughness in a low-lying area as it traveled downslope, and decreased by 16% as the tsunami moved inland over the subsequent 596m. As many as 5 suspension-graded intervals, interpreted as forming during the onshore flow of up to 5 waves, were identified at each location, with a tendency for an inland decrease in the number of suspension-graded intervals suggesting fewer waves inland. Tsunami flows tended to be fastest in the lower two intervals (earlier waves) and slowest in the uppermost interval (last wave) of the deposits. Modeled reconstructions of the suspension-graded intervals at a vertical resolution of 1-cm reproduced observed upward fining of the distributions reasonably well, supporting the use of the inverse model. Estimates of the time required to form 99% of the thickness of the suspension-graded intervals ranged 2 to 5min, allowing that sediment falling from suspension could have formed these portions of the deposits in the time between waves. Application of the inverse model to determine paleotsunami flow speeds from deposits, although now possible, is complicated by uncertainty in roughness. As inverse approaches to estimating roughness and tsunami flow speed improve, the magnitude of paleotsunamis will be better understood and the ability to assess tsunami hazard from paleotsunami deposits will improve. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A combination of numeric hydrodynamic models, a large-clast inverse sediment-transport model, and extensive field measurements were used to discriminate between a tsunami and a storm striking Anegada, BVI a few centuries ago. In total, 161 cobbles and boulders were measured ranging from 1.5 to 830 kg at distances of up to 1 km from the shoreline and 2 km from the crest of a fringing coral reef. Transported clasts are composed of low porosity limestone and were derived from outcrops in the low lying interior of Anegada. Estimates of the near-bed flow velocities required to transport the observed boulders were calculated using a simple sediment-transport model, which accounts for fluid drag, inertia, buoyancy, and lift forces on boulders and includes both sliding and overturning transport mechanisms. Estimated near-bed flow velocities are converted to depth-averaged velocities using a linear eddy viscosity model and compared with water level and depth-averaged velocity time series from high-resolution coastal inundation models. Coastal inundation models simulate overwash by the storm surge and waves of a category 5 hurricane and tsunamis from a Lisbon earthquake of M 9.0 and two hypothetical earthquakes along the North America Caribbean Plate boundary. A modeled category 5 hurricane and three simulated tsunamis were all capable of inundating the boulder fields and transporting a portion of the observed clasts, but only an earthquake of M 8.0 on a normal fault of the outer rise along the Puerto Rico Trench was found to be capable of transporting the largest clasts at their current locations. Model results show that while both storm waves and tsunamis are capable of generating velocities and temporal acceleration necessary to transport large boulders near the reef crest, attenuation of wave energy due to wave breaking and bottom friction limits the capacity of storm waves to transport large clast at great inland distances. Through sensitivity analysis, we show that even when using coefficients in the sediment-transport model which yield the lowest estimated minimum velocities for boulder transport, storm waves from a category 5 hurricane are not capable of transporting the largest boulders in the interior of Anegada. Because of the uncertainties in the modeling approach, extensive sensitivity analyses are included and limitations are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: While the destruction caused by a tsunami can vary significantly owing to near- and onshore controls, we have only a limited quantitative understanding of how different local parameters influence the onshore response of tsunamis. Here, a numerical model based on the non-linear shallow water equations is first shown to agree well with analytical expressions developed for periodic long waves inundating over planar slopes. More than 13,000 simulations are then conducted to examine the effects variations in the wave characteristics, bed slopes, and bottom roughness have on maximum tsunami run-up and water velocity at the still water shoreline. While deviations from periodic waves and planar slopes affect the onshore dynamics, the details of these effects depend on a combination of factors. In general, the effects differ for breaking and non-breaking waves, and are related to the relative shift of the waves along the breaking–non-breaking wave continuum. Variations that shift waves toward increased breaking, such as steeper wave fronts, tend to increase the onshore impact of non-breaking waves, but decrease the impact of already breaking waves. The onshore impact of a tsunami composed of multiple waves can be different from that of a single wave tsunami, with the largest difference occurring on long, shallow onshore topographies. These results demonstrate that the onshore response of a tsunami is complex, and that using analytical expressions derived from simplified conditions may not always be appropriate. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper presents a simple model for tsunami sedimentation that can be applied to calculate tsunami flow speed from the thickness and grain size of a tsunami deposit (the inverse problem). For sandy tsunami deposits where grain size and thickness vary gradually in the direction of transport, tsunami sediment transport is modeled as a steady, spatially uniform process. The amount of sediment in suspension is assumed to be in equilibrium with the steady portion of the long period, slowing varying uprush portion of the tsunami. Spatial flow deceleration is assumed to be small and not to contribute significantly to the tsunami deposit. Tsunami deposits are formed from sediment settling from the water column when flow speeds on land go to zero everywhere at the time of maximum tsunami inundation. There is little erosion of the deposit by return flow because it is a slow flow and is concentrated in topographic lows. Variations in grain size of the deposit are found to have more effect on calculated tsunami flow speed than deposit thickness. The model is tested using field data collected at Arop, Papua New Guinea soon after the 1998 tsunami. Speed estimates of 14 m/s at 200 m inland from the shoreline compare favorably with those from a 1-D inundation model and from application of Bernoulli''s principle to water levels on buildings left standing after the tsunami. As evidence that the model is applicable to some sandy tsunami deposits, the model reproduces the observed normal grading and vertical variation in sorting and skewness of a deposit formed by the 1998 tsunami. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]