Speleothems as past-tsunami archives over the last several centuries

• Project/Area Number: 24654159
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Geology
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: YAMADA Tsutomu 東北大学, 理学(系)研究科(研究院), 助教 (50321972)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2015)
• Budget Amount: ¥3,510,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥810,000); Fiscal Year 2014: ¥910,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥210,000); Fiscal Year 2013: ¥910,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥210,000); Fiscal Year 2012: ¥1,690,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥390,000)
• Keywords: 鍾乳石 / 津波履歴 / 東北地方

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study aim to investigate potential of speleothems as past-tsunami archives and to retrieve tsunami history over the past several centuries on the Pacific side of Northeast Japan. The disaster situations of limestone caves at Shinmei-saki and Minato-machi (Kesennnuma, Miyagi Prefecture) attached by the Great East Japan Earthquake and subsequent tsunami were surveyed. Remains of some marine organisms as well as fine-grained siliciclastic sediments were found on the surface of several speleothems. These impurities as a marker of tsunami inundation will be fixed by calcium carbonate and be incorporated into the speleothem. Some speleothems collected from lower-elevation site have growth hiatuses which may indicate influence of past-tsunami inundations.

Research Products

• [Journal Article] 東日本大震災による気仙沼神明崎洞穴群の被災状況 (2013)
  • Author(s): 山田 努、加藤大和
  • Journal Title: 洞窟学雑誌 Volume: 38巻 Pages: 37-51
  • NAID: 40020056926
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Presentation] 鍾乳石に津波記録は残るか？ (2014)
  • Author(s): 山田 努・加藤大和
  • Organizer: 日本地質学会第121年学術大会
  • Place of Presentation: 鹿児島大学
  • Year and Date: 2014-09-15
• [Presentation] 古津波記録書としての鍾乳石の可能性 (2014)
  • Author(s): 山田 努・加藤大和
  • Organizer: 日本洞窟学会第40回大会
  • Place of Presentation: 西海公民館
  • Year and Date: 2014-09-06
• [Presentation] 東日本大震災により被災した宮城県気仙沼神明崎・港町の洞穴群
  • Author(s): 山田 努、加藤大和
  • Organizer: 日本洞窟学会第39 回大会（東京大会）
  • Place of Presentation: 銀座ルノアール 新宿区役所横店会議室（東京都新宿区）