Hawaiian legends of coastal devastation and paleotsunami reconstruction, Nu'u, Kaupō, Maui, Hawai'i

Document Type

Article

Source of Publication

Marine Geology

Publication Date

11-1-2024

Abstract

In Hawaiʻi, tsunamis are often described in orally transmitted legends (moʻolelo). This study examines sedimentary evidence of a possible local submarine landslide-generated tsunami, described in a legend from the south east coast of Maui which originated between the 15th Century CE and the first arrival of Europeans in 1778 CE. Physical evidence for a tsunami, found at the Nu'u Refuge, Maui, is primarily comprised of an extensive coral clast deposit (found 8.5 m above msl and 251 m inland from the shoreline) together with waterworn cobbles which form fracture-embedded wedge clasts in a local basalt escarpment (at up to 8 m above msl). U/Th dating of the coral clasts gives a maximum tsunami deposit age of 1671 CE for the event that may have inspired the local moʻolelo. This depositional sequence is used to characterize the nature of the assumed tsunami in terms of inundation distance, maximum wave runup and minimum flow velocities. A numerical model developed using GeoClaw matches well with the physical evidence. The data and modeling presented here suggest that locally-generated tsunamis from submarine landslides warrant further research attention as sources of destructive high energy marine inundation events.

ISSN

0025-3227

Publisher

Elsevier BV

Volume

477

Disciplines

Earth Sciences

Keywords

Minimum flow velocities, Oral traditions, Submarine landslides, Tsunami modeling, Tsunamis, Wedge clasts

Scopus ID

85205733267

Indexed in Scopus

yes

Open Access

no

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