QUAKE TERROR: Boffins Identify Giant Tsunami That Decimated Coastal Communities For 1,000 Years

Selected sites for geological and archaeological observations of Late Holocene coastal uplift and tsunami deposits (see Fig.1B for site locations).(A) Uplifted littoral deposits are located up to 6 m a.s.l. at Pabellón de Pica (20.89°S), overlain by distinctive deposits interpreted as tsunami layers and debris flow. Littoral facies, showing stratification and abundant shell fragments interpreted as beach-berm deposits, are overlain by distinctive deposits interpreted as tsunami layers showing significant lateral extension, fragments, and some articulated bivalves and other faunal content typical from subtidal and intertidal environments (Protothaca thaca, Choromytilus chorus, and Megabalanus sp.), extensive angular fragmentation, and incipient imbrication toward the sea [e.g., (90)]. (B) Tsunami deposit located at 14 m a.s.l. embedded in and reworking Mid-Holocene archaeological layers at Paquica Sur (21.91°S). (C) Archaeological strata at San Ramón-15 mine (25.38°S), affected by a seismically induced crack overlain by colluvial wedge and soil layer. Note: Picture is from a press release (Departamento de Geologia - Universidad de Chile/Newsflash) Selected sites for geological and archaeological observations of Late Holocene coastal uplift and tsunami deposits (see Fig.1B for site locations).(A) Uplifted littoral deposits are located up to 6 m a.s.l. at Pabellón de Pica (20.89°S), overlain by distinctive deposits interpreted as tsunami layers and debris flow. Littoral facies, showing stratification and abundant shell fragments interpreted as beach-berm deposits, are overlain by distinctive deposits interpreted as tsunami layers showing significant lateral extension, fragments, and some articulated bivalves and other faunal content typical from subtidal and intertidal environments (Protothaca thaca, Choromytilus chorus, and Megabalanus sp.), extensive angular fragmentation, and incipient imbrication toward the sea [e.g., (90)]. (B) Tsunami deposit located at 14 m a.s.l. embedded in and reworking Mid-Holocene archaeological layers at Paquica Sur (21.91°S). (C) Archaeological strata at San Ramón-15 mine (25.38°S), affected by a seismically induced crack overlain by colluvial wedge and soil layer. Note: Picture is from a press release (Departamento de Geologia - Universidad de Chile/Newsflash)
Copyrights: Departamento de Geologia - Universidad de Chile/Newsflash

13 April 2022
A tremendous earthquake unleashed a giant tsunami that caused so much devastation to coastal inhabitants that it took at least 1,000 years for them to return to shore living. Geologists and archaeologists who say we need to learn the lessons from the quake of the past fear that modern...