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Optical Dating of Tsunami-Laid Sands1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

David J. Huntley  and
John J. Clague
David J. Huntley
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, V5A 1S6, Canada
John J. Clague
Affiliation:
Geological Survey of Canada, 100 West Pender St. Vancouver, British Columbia, V6B 1R8, Canada and Institute for Quaternary Research, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, V5A 1S6, Canada
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Abstract

The ages of some tsunami deposits can be determined by optical dating, a key requirement being that the deposits are derived from sediment that was reworked and exposed to daylight by tidal currents, waves, wind, or bioturbation during the last years before the tsunami. Measurements have been made using 1.4 eV (infrared) excitation of K-feldspar grains separated from samples of prehistoric tsunami sand sheets and modern analogs of tsunami source sediments at four sites in Washington state and British Columbia. Source sands gave equivalent doses indicative of recent exposure to daylight. Tsunami sand at Cultus Bay, Washington, yielded an optical age of 1285 ± 95 yr (calendric years before A.D. 1995, ±1σ). At 2σ, this age overlaps the range of from 1030 to 1100 yr determined through a combination of high-precision radiocarbon dating and stratigraphic correlation. Tsunami sands at three sites near Tofino and Port Alberni on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, have optical ages of 260 ± 20, 325 ± 25, and 335 ± 45 yr. Historical records and radiocarbon dating show that the sand at each of the three sites is between 150 and 400 yr old. These optical ages support the hypothesis that the Vancouver Island sands were deposited by a tsunami generated by a large earthquake on the Cascadia subduction zone about 300 yr ago.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 46 , Issue 2 , September 1996 , pp. 127 - 140
Copyright
University of Washington

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Footnotes

1

Geological Survey of Canada Contribution 40595.

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