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Life Sciences

University of Wollongong

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Boulder transport

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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Evidence For Historic Coastal High-Energy Wave Impact (Tsunami?) In North Wales, United Kingdom, S. Haslett, Edward A. Bryant Jan 2007

Evidence For Historic Coastal High-Energy Wave Impact (Tsunami?) In North Wales, United Kingdom, S. Haslett, Edward A. Bryant

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

Understanding the contribution of high-energy events (e.g. storms, tsunami) to coastal evolution is currently much debated. Field investigations in North Wales on Anglesey and the Lleyn Peninsula have identified four sites where imbricated boulder trains occur that are discriminators of wave characteristics. Clast analysis indicates that storm wave heights (ca. 20 m), in excess of known extremes (5 to < 9 m), are required to transport them. A plausible explanation is the historic impact of tsunami (≥ 5 m high) that may have been caused either by a) a submarine slide situated offshore on the edge of the continental shelf or Rockall Trough, b) through seismic activity, as the region is one of the most seismically active regions of the British Isles, or c) impact of comet debris in the North Atlantic, with a candidate event around AD 1014. Field evidence suggests that such a high wave-energy event has not recurred along this coast within the last 400 years.


Catastrophic Wave (Tsunami?) Transport Of Boulders In Southern New South Wales, Australia, R. W. Young, Edward A. Bryant, D. M. Price Jan 1996

Catastrophic Wave (Tsunami?) Transport Of Boulders In Southern New South Wales, Australia, R. W. Young, Edward A. Bryant, D. M. Price

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

Deposits of large boulders above modern limits of storm waves along the coast of southern New South Wales record catastrophic wave action. The largest boulders that were moved weigh 80-90 tonnes, and the maximum height of wave action was 32 m. Hydraulic reconstruction indicates flow depths of 3.4 and perhaps > 4 m and velocities of 5.5 m/s to 10.3 m/s. Cavitation features on some rock surfaces support the estimates of maximum velocities. A remarkably limited range in the orientation of imbricated boulders along 150 km indicates that the deposits record a single event that approached from the SE. to SSE. …