Publication Date:
2014-09-02
Description:
The Hawaiian Islands’ location in the middle of the Pacific Ocean is threatened by tsunamis from great earthquakes in nearly all directions. Historical great earthquakes Mw 〉 8.5 in the last 100 years have produced large inundations and loss of life in the Islands, but cannot account for a substantial (≤600 m 3 ) paleotsunami deposit in the Makauwahi sinkhole (Figure 1) on the Island of Kaua‘i [ Burney et al. , 2001]. Using high-resolution bathymetry and topography we model tsunami inundation of the sinkhole caused by an earthquake with a moment-magnitude of Mw ~9.25 located in the eastern Aleutians. A preponderance of evidence indicates that a giant earthquake in the eastern Aleutian Islands circa 1425-1665 AD—located between the source regions of the 1946 and 1957 great tsunamigenic earthquakes—created the paleotsunami deposit in Kaua‘i. A tsunami deposit in the Aleutians dated circa 1530-1660 AD is consistent with this eastern Aleutian source region [ Witter et al., 2013].
Print ISSN:
0094-8276
Electronic ISSN:
1944-8007
Topics:
Geosciences
,
Physics
