9 research outputs found
Earthquakes and tsunamis caused by low-angle normal faulting in the Banda Sea, Indonesia
As the world's largest archipelagic country in Earth's most active tectonic region, Indonesia faces a substantial earthquake and tsunami threat. Understanding this threat is a challenge because of the complex tectonic environment, the paucity of observed data and the limited historical record. Here we combine information from recent studies of the geology of Indonesia's Banda Sea with Global Positioning System observations of crustal motion and an analysis of historical large earthquakes and tsunamis there. We show that past destructive earthquakes were not caused by the supposed megathrust of the Banda outer arc as previously thought but are due to a vast submarine normal fault system recently discovered along the Banda inner arc. Instead of being generated by coseismic seafloor displacement, we find the tsunamis were more likely caused by earthquake-triggered submarine slumping along the fault's massive scarp, the Weber Deep. This would make the Banda detachment representative not only as a modern analogue for terranes hyper-extended by slab rollback but also for the generation of earthquakes and tsunamis by a submarine extensional fault system. Our findings suggest that low-angle normal faults in the Banda Sea generate large earthquakes, which in turn can generate tsunamis due to earthquake-triggered slumping. Low-angle normal faults in the Banda Sea have caused large earthquakes that indirectly generated tsunamis due to earthquake-triggered submarine slumping, according to an analysis of historical earthquake and tsunami events and GPS observations.Peer reviewe
Tsunami risk communication and management: Contemporary gaps and challenges
Very large tsunamis are associated with low probabilities of occurrence. In many parts of the world, these events have usually occurred in a distant time in the past. As a result, there is low risk perception and a lack of collective memories, making tsunami risk communication both challenging and complex. Furthermore, immense challenges lie ahead as population and risk exposure continue to increase in coastal areas. Through the last decades, tsunamis have caught coastal populations off-guard, providing evidence of lack of preparedness. Recent tsunamis, such as the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004, 2011 Tohoku and 2018 Palu, have shaped the way tsunami risk is perceived and acted upon. Based on lessons learned from a selection of past tsunami events, this paper aims to review the existing body of knowledge and the current challenges in tsunami risk communication, and to identify the gaps in the tsunami risk management methodologies. The important lessons provided by the past events call for strengthening community resilience and improvement in risk-informed actions and policy measures. This paper shows that research efforts related to tsunami risk communication remain fragmented. The analysis of tsunami risk together with a thorough understanding of risk communication gaps and challenges is indispensable towards developing and deploying comprehensive disaster risk reduction measures. Moving from a broad and interdisciplinary perspective, the paper suggests that probabilistic hazard and risk assessments could potentially contribute towards better science communication and improved planning and implementation of risk mitigation measures
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Tsunami risk communication and management: Contemporary gaps and challenges
Supplementary data: The following is the Supplementary data to this article: Acrobat PDF file (2MB) available at: https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S2212420921007329-mmc1.pdfCopyright © 2022 The Authors. Very large tsunamis are associated with low probabilities of occurrence. In many parts of the world, these events have usually occurred in a distant time in the past. As a result, there is low risk perception and a lack of collective memories, making tsunami risk communication both challenging and complex. Furthermore, immense challenges lie ahead as population and risk exposure continue to increase in coastal areas. Through the last decades, tsunamis have caught coastal populations off-guard, providing evidence of lack of preparedness. Recent tsunamis, such as the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004, 2011 Tohoku and 2018 Palu, have shaped the way tsunami risk is perceived and acted upon. Based on lessons learned from a selection of past tsunami events, this paper aims to review the existing body of knowledge and the current challenges in tsunami risk communication, and to identify the gaps in the tsunami risk management methodologies. The important lessons provided by the past events call for strengthening community resilience and improvement in risk-informed actions and policy measures. This paper shows that research efforts related to tsunami risk communication remain fragmented. The analysis of tsunami risk together with a thorough understanding of risk communication gaps and challenges is indispensable towards developing and deploying comprehensive disaster risk reduction measures. Moving from a broad and interdisciplinary perspective, the paper suggests that probabilistic hazard and risk assessments could potentially contribute towards better science communication and improved planning and implementation of risk mitigation measures.COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology); Royal Society, UK (grant number CHL\R1\180173); Severo Ochoa Centers of Excellence Program (CEX 2018-000797-S) funded by MCIN/ AEI /10.13039/501100011033; Lloyd's Tercentenary Research Foundation, the Lighthill Risk Network, and the Lloyd's Register Foundation-Data Centric Engineering Programme of the Alan Turing Institute
Surface-Initiated Polymer Brushes in the Biomedical Field: Applications in Membrane Science, Biosensing, Cell Culture, Regenerative Medicine and Antibacterial Coatings
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Complex tsunami hazards in eastern Indonesia from seismic and non-seismic sources: Deterministic modelling based on historical and modern data
Eastern Indonesia is one of the world’s most complex regions in terms of tsunami hazards, as it accommodates numerous seismic and non-seismic tsunami sources with a history of deadly tsunamis. This study is an effort to enhance tsunami hazard knowledge in eastern Indonesia where limited data and analyses exist. We provide a brief understanding of eastern Indonesia’s tsunami hazards by modelling selected deterministic tsunami scenarios from tectonic, submarine mass failure (SMF), and volcanic sources. To our knowledge, this is the first time that tsunami hazards modelling from such diverse sources in Indonesia has been performed. Our methodology is a deterministic tsunami hazard analysis considering credible tsunami sources from historical and contemporary data, modelling them using state-of-the-art simulation tools. We modelled two Mw7.8 tsunamigenic earthquake scenarios on the Flores back-arc thrust, one rupturing the basal fault (FBT-BF) and the other rupturing the splay fault (FBT-SF), showing that the two scenarios produce maximum tsunami amplitudes of ~5.3 m and ~4.2 m, respectively, which are comparable to the deadly 1992 Flores tsunami. We modelled potential SMF-generated tsunamis in the Makassar Strait with SMF volumes of 5 km3 and 225 km3 which yielded maximum tsunami heights of ~1.1 m and ~4.3 m along the eastern coast of Kalimantan Island and ~2.9 m and ~11.1 m along the west shore of Sulawesi Island, respectively. The 1871 Ruang volcanic tsunami is studied through existing historical documents and a source model is proposed comprising a flank collapse with volume of 0.10 km3. Such a source model successfully reproduced the 25 m runup reported in a historical account.Royal Society, UK (Grant Number CHL\ R1\180173)
Earthquakes and tsunamis caused by low-angle normal faulting in the Banda Sea, Indonesia
As the world’s largest archipelagic country in Earth’s most active tectonic region, Indonesia faces a substantial earthquake and tsunami threat. Understanding this threat is a challenge because of the complex tectonic environment, the paucity of observed data and the limited historical record. Here we combine information from recent studies of the geology of Indonesia’s Banda Sea with Global Positioning System observations of crustal motion and an analysis of historical large earthquakes and tsunamis there. We show that past destructive earthquakes were not caused by the supposed megathrust of the Banda outer arc as previously thought but are due to a vast submarine normal fault system recently discovered along the Banda inner arc. Instead of being generated by coseismic seafloor displacement, we find the tsunamis were more likely caused by earthquake-triggered submarine slumping along the fault’s massive scarp, the Weber Deep. This would make the Banda detachment representative not only as a modern analogue for terranes hyper-extended by slab rollback but also for the generation of earthquakes and tsunamis by a submarine extensional fault system. Our findings suggest that low-angle normal faults in the Banda Sea generate large earthquakes, which in turn can generate tsunamis due to earthquake-triggered slumping.d I.R.P. by an Australian Awards
scholarship and partially by a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Bridge
Fellowship awarded to P.R.C. We also thank TGS and GeoData Ventures and R. Hall for
providing the multibeam data used to derive the bathymetry image in Fig. 1. P.R.C. and
J.D.G. publish with the permission of the CEO, Geoscience Australi
A probabilistic tsunami hazard assessment for Indonesia
Probabilistic hazard assessments are a fundamental tool for assessing the
threats posed by hazards to communities and are important for underpinning
evidence-based decision-making regarding risk mitigation activities. Indonesia has
been the focus of intense tsunami risk mitigation efforts following the 2004
Indian Ocean tsunami, but this has been largely concentrated on the Sunda
Arc with little attention to other tsunami prone areas of the country such
as eastern Indonesia. We present the first nationally consistent
probabilistic tsunami hazard assessment (PTHA) for Indonesia. This assessment
produces time-independent forecasts of tsunami hazards at the coast using data from
tsunami generated by local, regional and distant earthquake sources. The
methodology is based on the established monte carlo approach to probabilistic
seismic hazard assessment (PSHA) and has been adapted to tsunami. We account
for sources of epistemic and aleatory uncertainty in the analysis through the
use of logic trees and sampling probability density functions. For
short return periods (100 years) the highest tsunami hazard is the west coast
of Sumatra, south coast of Java and the north coast of Papua. For longer
return periods (500–2500 years), the tsunami hazard is highest along the
Sunda Arc, reflecting the larger maximum magnitudes. The
annual probability of experiencing a tsunami with a height of
> 0.5 m at the coast is greater than 10% for Sumatra, Java, the Sunda islands
(Bali, Lombok, Flores, Sumba) and north Papua. The annual probability of
experiencing a tsunami with a height of > 3.0 m, which would cause
significant inundation and fatalities, is 1–10% in Sumatra, Java, Bali,
Lombok and north Papua, and 0.1–1% for north Sulawesi, Seram and Flores.
The results of this national-scale hazard assessment provide evidence for
disaster managers to prioritise regions for risk mitigation activities and/or
more detailed hazard or risk assessment