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The Great Sumatra Tsunami on 26 December 2004 generated large amounts of debris and waste throughout the affected coastal region in the Indian Ocean. In Banda Aceh—Indonesia, the tsunami flows were observed carrying a thick muddy sludge that mixed with all kinds of debris from the destroyed buildings, bridges and culverts, vehicles, fallen trees, and other flotsam. This waste and debris was mostly deposited inland, but traveled both onshore and offshore. Numerical dispersal modeling is carried out to simulate the transport of debris and waste produced by the tsunamis during the event. The model solves the Lagrangian form of the transport/dispersion equations using novel particle tracking techniques. Model results show that understanding the pathway and distribution of the suspended materials and flotsam caused by tsunamis is important for a proper hazards mitigation plan and waste management action, and to minimize serious long-term adverse environmental and natural resources consequences.

The tsunami inundation flows on Banda Aceh, Indonesia reached 5 km inland during the December 26, 2004, event and devastated most of the houses, buildings, and infrastructure along the coast and killed more than 167,000 people. The overland flows from the northwest coast and the west coast collided at Lampisang village approximately 3.7 km from Ulee Lheue (northwest coast) and 6.8 km from Lhok Nga (west coast) as reported by survivors. Inundation modeling based on the nonlinear shallow-water wave equations reproduces the inundation pattern and demonstrates a colliding of the overland flows. The model suggests that wave characteristics on the northwest coast of Banda Aceh were different from those on the waves that impacted upon the west coast. The areas, which experienced higher inundation levels, did not always experience greatest overland flow speeds, and the damage areas mostly coincide with the flow speed distribution rather than the runup and inundation depth.

Previous studies have combined random-site hierarchical sampling designs with analysis of variance techniques, and grid sampling with spatial autocorrelation analysis. We illustrate that analysis techniques and sampling designs are interchangeable using densities of an infaunal bivalve from a study in Poverty Bay, New Zealand. Hierarchical designs allow the estimation of variances associated with each level, but high-level factors are imprecisely estimated, and they are inefficient for describing spatial pattern. Grid designs are efficient for describing spatial pattern, and are amenable to conventional analysis. Our example deals with a continuous spatial habitat, but our conclusions also apply in disjunct or patchy habitats. The influence of errors in positioning is also assessed. The advantages of systematic sampling are reviewed, and more efficient hierarchical approaches are identified. The distinction between biological and statistical significance in all analyses is emphasised.

Geophysical data have identified four submarine segments of the Kerepehi Fault, roughly bisecting a back-arc rift (Hauraki Rift). These segments have been traced through the shallow waters of the Firth of Thames, which lies at the southern end of the Hauraki Gulf, New Zealand. No historical or paleotsunami data are available to assess the tsunami hazard of these fault segments. Analysis of the fault geometry, combined with paleoseismic data for three further terrestrial segments of the Fault, suggest Most Credible Earthquake (MCE) moment magnitudes of 6.5-7.1. Due to the presence of thick deposits of soft sediment, and the semi-confined nature of the Firth, the MCE events are considered capable of generating tsunami or tsunami-like waves. Two numerical models (finite element and finite difference), and an empirical method proposed by Abe (1995), were used to predict maximum tsunami wave heights. The numerical models also modelled the tsunami propagation. The MCE events were found not to represent a major threat to the large metropolitan centre of Auckland City (New Zealand's largest population centre). However, the waves were a threat to small coastal communities around the Firth, including the township of Thames, and 35,000 ha of low-lying land along the southern shores of the Firth of Thames. The Abe method was found to provide a quick and useful method of assessing the regional tsunami height. However, for sources in water depths

Pyroclastic flows entering the sea played a major role in generating the largest tsunamiwaves, arising from the 1883 eruption of Krakatau, Indonesia, which caused a considerabledeath toll, most deaths resulting from the tsunamis. The potential exists for similar eventsto occur in Indonesia and New Zealand.

Given a marine basin of near homogeneous lithology, a known sea level curve, and known submarine abrasion rates, a model is developed to estimate the volume of material eroded by marine action. Assumptions of the model are that erosion is effected solely by submarine abrasion, which is assumed known and uniform through time, and that the volume eroded is small relative to the total volume of the basin. The basis of the model is that the volume eroded V, between time limits t1 andt2,is essentially a function of the perimeter length l of the basin, which in turn is time-dependent on the sea level curve, so that $$V = k\int_{t1}^{t2} {l(t)dt} $$ where k is an abrasion rate constant. The model was tested on Kiel Bay, Western Baltic, a shallow semienclosed, essentially nontidal sea, for which considerable data is available. Critical for numerical integration of the model is the k value, representing the volume eroded from the shore normal profile per unit length of shoreline per year. A number of possible k values were utilized, the most likely realizing a total volume eroded over the past 9000 y, since the sea first entered Kiel Bay, of 2.60×109m3. From this model, long-term average vertical submarine abrasion rates for Kiel Bay can be deduced as being between 0.001 and 0.0004 m/y.