Laboratory experiments of tsunami runup on a circular island

Laboratory experiments of a 7.2-m-diameter conical island were conducted to study three-dimensional tsunami runup. The 62.5-cm tall island had 1 on 4 side slopes and was positioned in the center of a 30-m-wide by 25-m-long flat-bottom basin. Solitary waves with height-to-depth ratios ranging from 0.05 to 0.20 and source lengths ranging from 0.30 to 7.14 island diameters were tested in water depths of 32 and 42 cm. Twenty-seven capacitance wave gages were used to measure surface wave elevations at incident and four radial transects on the island slope. Maximum vertical runup measurements were made at 20 locations around the perimeter of the island using rod and transit. A new runup gage was located on the back or lee side of the island to record runup time series.     

Tsunami trapping near circular islands

Trapping of long water waves that are induced by submarine earthquakes and that attack circular islands is studied by applying a theoretical model (Tinti andVannini, 1994) that is based on the linear shallow water approximation. The solution is computed as the superposition of the eigenmodes of the water basin. The tsunami trapping is seen in terms of the capability of the source to excite the trapped eigenmodes of the basin. The bottom depth dependence around the island is shown to be quite important in determining the trapping capability of the island: a depth profile that is downwardly concave as the distance from the island coasts increases is substantially more efficient in amplifying the incoming waves and in trapping their energy than a profile exhibiting an upward concavity.     

Tsunami washover deposits, Tawharanui, New Zealand

Barrier dunes on the northern side of the Tawharanui Peninsula, north of Auckland, New Zealand, appear to have been overtopped by extreme waves that have deposited two large sand washover lobes in a back beach wetland. Present-day storm surges and storm waves are incapable of overtopping the barrier dunes. However, historical data and numerical models indicate tsunamis are amplified by resonance within the adjacent bay and Hauraki Gulf. Further, the location of nearshore reefs in close proximity to the washover lobes suggests that the interaction between tsunamis and the reefs further amplified the waves at those locations. The presence of a distinctive pumice (Loisels Pumice) within the washover deposits suggests that the deposits are associated with a 15th Century eruption from the submarine Mt Healy caldera located northeast of New Zealand.     

我国地震海啸危险性分析方法研究

美国、日本等国家已经建立了完善的海啸防灾减灾机制，对海啸危险性分析方法的研究也做了很多的工作，而我国目前在这方面尚属空白。本文首次对我国的海啸危险性分析方法进行了研究，提出了我国地震海啸危险性分析的基本原则，在此基础上，借鉴我国成熟的地震危险性分析方法，建立了我国地震海啸危险性分析方法的主要步骤。在根据我国一些历史地震海啸资料的基础上，通过统计的方法对我国珠江三角洲的海啸危险性进行了研究。     

Tsunamis and Tsunami Hazards in Central America

A tsunami catalogue for Central America is compiledcontaining 49 tsunamis for the period 1539–1996,thirty seven of them are in the Pacific and twelve inthe Caribbean. The number of known tsunamis increaseddramatically after the middle of the nineteenth century,since 43 events occurred between 1850 and 1996. This isprobably a consequence of the lack of populationliving near the coast in earlier times.The preliminary regionalization of the earthquakessources related to reported tsunamis shows that, inthe Pacific, most events were generated by theCocos-Caribbean Subduction Zone (CO-CA). At theCaribbean side, 5 events are related with the NorthAmerican-Caribbean Plate Boundary (NA-CA) and 7 withthe North Panama Deformed Belt (NPDB).There are ten local tsunamis with a specific damagereport, seven in the Pacific and the rest in theCaribbean. The total number of casualties due to localtsunamis is less than 455 but this number could behigher. The damages reported range from coastal andship damage to destruction of small towns, and theredoes not exist a quantification of them.A preliminary empirical estimation of tsunami hazardindicates that 43% of the large earthquakes (Ms 7.0) along the Pacific Coast of Central America and100% along the Caribbean, generate tsunamis. On thePacific, the Guatemala–Nicaragua coastal segment hasa 32% probability of generating tsunamis after largeearthquakes while the probability is 67% for theCosta Rica–Panama segment. Sixty population centers onthe Pacific Coast and 44 on the Caribbean are exposedto the impact of tsunamis. This estimation alsosuggests that areas with higher tsunami potential inthe Pacific are the coasts from Nicaragua to Guatemalaand Central Costa Rica; on the Caribbean side, Golfode Honduras Zone and the coasts of Panama and CostaRica have major hazard. Earthquakes of magnitudelarger than 7 with epicenters offshore or onshore(close to the coastline) could trigger tsunamis thatwould impact those zones.     

A pleistocene origin for shore platforms along the Northern Illawarra Coast,New South Wales

This paper examines the composition, structure and age of clastic deposits situated behind shore platforms at Austinmer and Coledale on the northern Illawarra coast, New South Wales. Our results support earlier chronological evidence of a Pleistocene history for shore platforms along the Illawarra coast. The size and fabric of sediments within these deposits indicate rapid, high‐energy deposition of bedrock eroded from platforms adjacent to the deposits. The elevations of the deposits above the modern shoreline suggest higher sea levels or higher wave energy gradients than presently occurs across these platforms. Dating of sediments within these deposits using ¹⁴C, AAR and TL techniques indicates Late Pleistocene and Late Holocene erosion of the shore platforms. Platform development was initiated before the Last Interglacial as correlative sediments lie atop relict platform surfaces landward of the modern platforms.     

Characteristic of tsunami force acting on shelter with mooring

Tsunami shelter has been designed and built as a refuges in case tsunami occurs. In recent year, different kinds of tsunami shelter have been proposed and developed, which is either a building type or a floating one. The main purpose of this research is to propose a new type of tsunami shelter with elastic mooring in comparison with a fixed type of shelter and to investigate tsunami force acting on the shelter and motions due to tsunami wave. Three different kinds of tsunami shelter were compared, rectangular, trapezoid and streamline type, with two conditions such as fixed on the ground and floating with elastic mooring. To compute interaction between run-up tsunami wave and the tsunami shelters with mooring, the numerical model has been developed by using particle based method, Smooth Particle Hydrodynamic (SPH) coupling with Extended Discrete Element Method (EDEM) for elastic mooring. Based on the validation of tsunami force and shelter motions with experimental results, the numerical results indicated that the model can simulate interactions between tsunami wave and shelter in fixed and mooring case. The result also shows that the tsunami force on the fixed tsunami shelter can be higher than that on the tsunami shelter with elastic mooring and then the mooring system can reduce tsunami force, 35% for averaged value and 50% for maximum one and the surge and pitch motions can be also reduced. The tsunami shelter with elastic mooring system could be a useful option for evacuating from tsunami attacking.     

台湾及其邻近地区的海啸

台湾位于环太平洋地震带,不仅陆上地震频繁,发生在海外的地震也不少,但其中仅有极少数的海底地震曾引起海啸。然而,由于台湾北部及西部水深极浅,近距离海底地震所引起的海啸有可能会造成重大灾害,对１８６７年发生在台湾基隆附近的海啸曾造成数百人死伤。