Indian Ocean tsunami recurrence from optical dating of tsunami sand sheets

in Thailand
Amy L. Prendergast
a,
, M.L. Cupper
b
, K. Jankaew
c
, Y. Sawai
d
a
Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, CambridgeCB23DZUnited Kingdom
b
School of Earth Sciences, TheUniversity of Melbourne, Victoria 3010Australia
c
Department of Geology, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330 Thailand
d
Geological Survey of Japan, National Instituteof Advanced Industrial ScienceandTechnology (AIST), Tsukuba, Ibaraki 3058567 Japan
a b s t r a c t a r t i c l e i n f o
Articlehistory:
Received 5 March 2011
Received in revised form22 November 2011
Accepted 27 November 2011
Available online13 December 2011
Keywords:
2004 Indian Ocean tsunami
optical dating
radiocarbon
Indian Ocean
Thailand
paleotsunami
beach ridge
Sand sheets deposited by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and three Holocene tsunami predecessors in
western Thailand havebeen dated byoptically stimulated luminescence (OSL). Ages fromthemodern Indian
Ocean tsunami sand sheet allow an assessment of the suitability of OSL to date tsunami-deposited sediment
in tropical beach-ridge plain depositional environments. They show that, provided appropriate precautions
are taken to correct for incomplete bleaching of sediments, OSL can provide a robust chronology of tsunami
recurrence. Ages from the tsunami-deposited sand sheets underlying the 2004 tsunami deposits provide a
chronology of the largest tsunamis in western Thailand over the late Holocene. Three sand sheets, likely
deposited by tsunamis of similar magnitude to the 2004 event, were dated by luminescence to 380 50,
990 1301410 190, and 2100 260years before AD1950 (at 1-sigma precision). The youngest of these
compares with previous radiocarbon ages of detrital bark high in buried soils (Jankaew et al., 2008), which
suggest that the most recent large-scale predecessor to the 2004 tsunami occurred soon after 550700 cal
BP. The OSL ages from the lower two sand sheets, provide constraint on tsunami recurrence that was not
previously available from radiocarbon dating. The ages imply that between 350 and 1100 years separate
successive tsunamis on the Andaman coast of Thailand, with an average tsunami recurrence interval of
around 550years. These results contribute to the growing body of research on tsunami recurrence in the
Indian Ocean region and show that OSL can provideindependent estimates of tsunami recurrence for hazard
analysis, particularly in areas where suitable material for radiocarbon dating is unavailable.
2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Therewasno historical precedent for an event thesizeof the2004
Indian Ocean tsunami along the Aceh-Andaman subduction zone.
Determininghow oftentsunamisoccur andtheir magnitudeisimpor-
tant for understanding tsunami hazard, which in turn informs how
countries can prepare for such disasters. Studying the geological sig-
naturesof past tsunamis can extendtherecord of tsunami inundation
and run-up by thousands of years. Over the past two decades, the
identication of tsunami deposits, in particular sandy or gravelly sed-
iments preserved within lower energy depositional environments,
has aided in the recognition of tsunami events where written and
instrumental records are unavailable (reviewed most recently by
Bourgeois, 2009). Absolutedating of tsunami deposits allows an esti-
mate of tsunami recurrence intervals, which can form the basis for
tsunami hazard assessments.
Phra Thong Island is situated off the Andaman coast of Thailand,
within 600 km of the Sunda Trench, the main source of tsunamis for
the region (Fig. 1a). The western (Indian Ocean) coast has a series
of sparsely vegetated, low, sandy Holocenebeach ridges and marshy,
intermittently inundated swales, which prograde from east to west.
The east of the island comprises mangrove-fringed tidal inlets
(Fig. 1b). Tides in the region are semi-diurnal and microtidal with
mean spring tidal ranges of less than 2m. In some settings, tsunami
deposits can be difcult to distinguish from storm deposits. No
known Indian Ocean cyclonic storm surges have inundated the
western Thai coast (Murty and Flather, 1994). In this region, within
10 of the equator, cyclonic winds are limited due to the Coriolis
minimum. Therefore the beach ridges of Phra Thong provide an
ideal setting to study tsunami deposits without interference from
stormactivity.
The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami crested higher on Phra Thong
Island than almost anywhere else east of Sumatra, penetrating up to
2km inland with run-up heights of up to 19m (Tsuji et al., 2006).
An eyewitness reported tsunami ow depths of around 10 m at the
main study site (Jankaew et al., 2008). The tsunami caused local
erosion of beach face sediments (Fig. 1c) and deposited a sand sheet
Marine Geology 295-298 (2012) 2027
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: alp60@cam.ac.uk (A.L. Prendergast).
0025-3227/$ seefront matter 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.margeo.2011.11.012
Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect
Marine Geology
j ournal homepage: www. el sevi er. com/ l ocate/ margeo
520cm thick over most of the western half of the island. The sand
sheet is composed predominantly of mediumto very nesand, grad-
ing up to coarse silt. Horizontal bedding and locally derived rip-up
clasts are evident at some locations (Fujino et al., 2008; 2009;
Jankaew et al., 2008).
Jankaew et al. (2008) describeup to four tsunami sandsheets that
predatethe 2004 event preserved within the peaty soils of two mar-
shy swales acrossthewestern half of PhraThongIsland. Sediments in
these deposits range from coarse sand to coarse silt and generally
have one or more ning up sequences. The more landward swale
studied (Y) preserves four sand sheets whilst the seaward swale (X)
preserves three sand sheets (Fig. 2). In swale X, close limiting maxi-
mum radiocarbon ages for sand sheet deposition were obtained
from the uppermost centimetre of soil beneath sheet B, the penulti-
mate sand sheet (550700cal BP), and sheet C, the lowermost
event (21502350cal BP). However, within the sand sheets them-
selves, horizontal laminae dened by leaf fragments yielded a con-
icting range of ages (560570 and 10701270 cal BP in sheet B of
swale Y; between 6780 and 4260cal BP in sheet C of swale X), indi-
cating that the organic material in these sand sheets was reworked
fromolder deposits. Therefore, these ages only provide distant limit-
ing maxima for sand sheet deposition. Jankaew et al. (2008) could
only tentatively correlate sand sheets associated with the penulti-
mate tsunami between swales, based on the stratigraphic context of
the deposits and the fact that detrital organics in swale X yielded
ages too young to correlate with the lower sand sheets. They did
not attempt to correlatethelowermost sand sheets acrosstheswales
due to a lack of material suitable for radiocarbon dating below
sheet Bin swaleY. However, radiocarbon ages on non-abraded shells
(24822769cal BP) underlyingswale Y provide alimitingmaximum
S
u
n
d
a
T
r
e
n
c
h
90 0 0 1 E
S
u
m
a
t
r
a
THAILAND
80
~1000 km
N 15
5
INDIA
Mahabalipuram
N
1941
1881
Detail in b
Phuket
Meulabor Meulabor
Car Nicobar
Andaman
1
0

m
I
n
l
e
t

I
n
l
e
t
9817' E 50
Rock
Mangrove Mangrove
9 5'N
Beach
ridge plain
Beach
ridge plain
6.6
19.6
b
Detail in c Detail in c
Beach-ridge trend
Angular discordance
a
2004 slip
Historical rupture
c
R
id
g
e
9 8'00
98 15' 30
100 m
N
Cross section in Fig. 2a Cross section in Fig. 2a
S
w
a
l
e

X
S
w
a
l
e

Y
Approximate pre-tsunami shoreline Approximate pre-tsunami shoreline
Cross section in Fig. 2b Cross section in Fig. 2b
Reported flow depth ~10 m at tree Reported flow depth ~10 m at tree
Fig. 1. a, The tectonic setting showing the locations of historical earthquakes; b, Phra Thong Island: light grey areas denote beach ridge plains; c, The study area showing the
locations of thetrenches. Image fromPointAsia.com(2005).
21 A.L. Prendergast et al. / MarineGeology 295-298 (2012) 2027
for the formation of the swales and constrain the deposition of all
sand sheets to the past 3000years.
Radiocarbon is the most common method used to date tsunami
deposits. Growth position plant fossils (where plant roots are xed
within the underlying soil whilst the stem protrudes in to the
tsunami-deposited sediment after having been overrun by the
advancing tsunami) provide excellent material for dating (Cisternas
et al., 2005) however, these cannot always be found. Dating detrital
plant and shell is less reliable as the material could have been
reworked for hundreds to thousands of years before entrainment by
the tsunami (Donato et al., 2008). This phenomenon is evident from
the wide range of radiocarbon ages of detrital leaves preserved in
sand sheets Band Cat PhraThong(Jankaew et al. 2008). Thesedetri-
tal organics cannot give reliable estimates of the time of tsunami
deposition. Furthermore, the lowermost sand sheet at Phra Thong
does not contain suitable material for radiocarbon dating in the
underlying soil or within the sand sheet. Therefore, other dating
methodologies are needed to correlate the sand sheets between the
swales, toreneandextendthechronologyat thissite, andtoprovide
amorerobust recurrenceratefor largetsunamis in the Indian Ocean.
OSL has the advantage of directly dating sediments. It measures
the luminescence signal from the release of trapped energy that has
accumulated in sediment grains as a result of environmental radia-
tion since burial. Exposure to sunlight releases energy, effectively
zeroing the signal. Therefore, OSL determines the elapsed time since
sediments were last exposed to sunlight (Huntley et al., 1985;
Aitken, 1998). Clean quartz grains exposed to direct sunlight can be
bleached within a few seconds (Aitken, 1998). Incomplete exposure
of sediments tosunlight duringtransport is common in many deposi-
tional environments and results in a heterogeneous distribution of
trapped charge in the quartz grains (Murray and Olley, 2002). The
process of sediment transport by tsunami is often rapid; at most
tens of minutes for each half wave with total sedimentation lasting
several hours (Murari et al., 2007; Jaffe et al., 2008). The ow may
be too turbid to expose all sediments to light and the tsunami may
occur at night. Therefore, whilst some bleaching may occur during
transport, it is unlikely that it is sufcient to completely reset the
luminescence signal (Huntley and Clague, 1996).
The assumption when using OSL to date tsunami-deposited sedi-
mentsis that thesourcesedimentsarewell bleached prior totsunami
entrainment and not exposed to daylight after deposition (Huntley
and Clague, 1996). Tsunamis entrain sediments from the terrain
over which they ow; usuallyshallow intertidal andbeachfacefacies.
Intertidal sediments fromvarious locations have been shown to have
a near-zero residual luminescence signal as they are regularly
exposed to bioturbation of at least a few tens of centimetres by
burrowing molluscs and worms and shallow-water reworking by
tidal ows (Huntley and Clague, 1996; Banerjee et al., 2001;
Madsen et al., 2005). Beach face sediments deposited by a combina-
tion of wind and wave action have also been shown to have near-
zero ages (Lopez and Rink, 2008).
Asymmetric D
e
populations in tsunami luminescence samples
may result if the tsunami entrains incompletely zeroed sediment
from deeper in the sedimentary prole (from >50cm sediment
depth or >10 m water depth for sub-tidal sediments: Murari et al.,
2007). If thesesedimentsarenot exposedtosufcient sunlight during
tsunami transport, for example if the tsunami occurs at night, the
resulting luminescence age will be older than the timing of deposi-
tion. One method for detecting incomplete bleaching is to examine
the distributions of equivalent doses. Positively skewed distributions
(>20%) suggest partial bleaching(Olley et al., 2004a). Such distribu-
tions have been described in paleotsunami sediments from North
America (Huntley and Clague, 1996; Ollerhead et al., 2001). In pre-
liminary studies of the 2004 tsunami sand sheet on Indian Ocean
shores, Murari et al. (2007) found a narrow range of D
e
measure-
ments, which were interpreted as evidence for effective bleaching.
They inferredthat despitethesizeof the2004tsunami, it only eroded
and entrained well-bleached sediment from the near shore zone.
Bishop et al. (2005) found residual ages of less than 10years in
most tsunami samples from Thailand however; a small proportion
of samples had residual ages of several thousand years. Robinson
et al. (2008) found variationsinthebleachingsignal between different
grain sizes within the 2004 sand sheet in Thailand.
Luminescence dating has been employed with various degrees of
success to date tsunami events in Tunisia (Wood, 1994), Lisbon
(Banerjee et al. 2001), north America (Huntley and Clague, 1996;
Ollerhead et al. 2001), Israel (Reinhardt et al. 2006), Australia
(Switzer and Jones, 2008) and the Andaman Islands (Kunz et al.,
2010). Theaims of thispaper aretwofold, Firstly, wetest theapplica-
bility of using OSL to date tsunami deposited sediments in tropical
beach ridge plain settings. As the exact time of the 2004 Indian
Ocean tsunami is known, sand sheets deposited by this tsunami in
Koh Phra Thong offer an excellent opportunity to study bleaching
characteristics which allows a assessment of the effectiveness of the
OSL technique to date tsunami deposited sediments in this deposi-
tional setting. Secondly, we report the rst OSL results from
paleotsunami-deposited sand sheets in western Thailand. This is sig-
nicant as theavailable material for radiocarbon datingin theswales
meant that Jankaew et al. (2008) were not able to provide well con-
strained ages for the two older tsunami events in the PhraThong se-
quence. By directly dating the tsunami-deposited sediments, we
provide ages for all sand sheets described in Jankaew et al. (2008).
This provides greater constraint on the recurrence intervals of large
Holocene tsunamis in the Indian Ocean. Such results are important
for the assessment of tsunami hazard and the implementation of fu-
ture tsunami mitigation strategies (Sieh 2006).
2. Methods
A total of twelve OSL samples were collected in metal tubes from
freshly cleaned vertical sediment faces. Seven samples were taken
fromthetsunami-depositedsandsheetsinswalesXandY, onesample
fromintertidal at sand which underliestheswales, andfour samples
from the beach ridges surrounding the swales. The 180212m
quartz fractionwasextractedunder subdued, red light usingstandard
procedures (e.g. Galbraith et al., 1999). Equivalent doses (D
e
) were
determined for multiple grains using a single-aliquot regenerative-
dose (SAR) protocol (Murray and Wintle, 2000). Analytical proce-
duresandapparatuseswereasdescribedbyCupper (2006). Addition-
ally, single grains from two samples from the 2004 sand sheet were
analysed by SAR OSL following the procedures described in Quigley
et al. (2006). This allowed an assessment of the potential for
b a
2200-2400 cal yr BP
2500-2800 cal yr BP
A
B
C1
C2
D
35050 35050
1410190 1410190
Modern Modern
1600200
2560350
38050 38050
Modern Modern
990130 990130
2100260 2100260
2540340 2540340
3 e g d i R 2 e g d i R 1 e g d i R Y e l a w S X e l a w S
2100270 2100270
2160280 2160280
Fig. 2. Cross sectionsinswalesX(a) and Y (b) fromcorrelation between pitsandauger
borings(vertical grey lines). OSL agesarein red, radiocarbon ages (fromJankaew et al.
2008) arein blue.
22 A.L. Prendergast et al. / MarineGeology 295-298 (2012) 2027
incompletebleachingin thetsunami deposits through comparison of
multiple and single-grain single-aliquot analyses from the modern
tsunami sand sheet. Beta and gamma dose rates were calculated
from K, U, and Th concentrations measured by instrumental neutron
activation analysis (INAA), ICPMSand XRF(as KO
2
) usingtheconver-
sion factors of Adamicand Aitken (1998). Cosmic-ray doserateswere
determined from established equations (Prescott and Hutton, 1994).
Full details of the analytical techniques used in age determination
areavailablein thesupplementary material.
3. Results
OSL ages arepresented in Fig. 2and Table1. All samplescontained
quartz with luminescence signals dominated by the fast OSL compo-
nent, displayed acceptablerecyclingratios, and showed good internal
consistency.
TheOSL agefromthe underlyingtidal at deposits represents the
time before the freshwater peat began to accumulate in the swales
and shows that all four sand sheets were deposited after 2540
340 years ago. This age overlaps with radiocarbon ages from
growth-position shells in the same unit (24822739cal BP: Jankaew
et al., 2008) and accords with the OSL ages frombeach ridges brack-
eting the swales. The beach ridges young seawards, consistent with
their interpretation as aprogradingsequence. Around 500years sep-
arates theformation of each ridge. Based on theageof themost land-
ward ridge (2560 350years ago) and its distance fromthe modern
shoreline(500700 m), the averagerate of beach ridge progradation
is 0.190.27myear
1
.
OSL ages for all sand sheets and intertidal ats are stratigraphi-
cally consistent. Ages from the most recent event (A) are the same
in each swaleas areages fromthepenultimateevent (B), thus allow-
ing correlation across the swales. The ages fromsand sheet B (350
50 and 380 50years ago); and sand sheet C(990 130and 1410
190 years ago) are younger than the equivalent close limiting maxi-
mum radiocarbon ages of Jankaew et al. (2008: 506651 cal BP and
21533244 cal BP). The dose rate differences between the peat and
sand layers wereexamined throughout theproles toassess whether
gamma dose heterogeneity due to the intercalation of sand and peat
layers in the swales accounts for these age differences (Table 1).
Sand Sheet B (350 50 yrs, 380 50 yrs) is underlain by a peat
layer with a gamma dose rate ~2530%lower than the sand sheet
and overlain by a peat layer with a gamma dose rate ~15%higher
than the sand sheet, the combined effect of which could alter the
OSL age estimate by a couple of decades at most. Sand Sheet C in
swale X (1410 190years) is older than sand sheet C in swale Y
(990 130 years ago). This may be because the peat overlying sheet
C in swale X has a gamma dose rate ~60%higher than the sand
sheet which could cause overestimation of the ages by several hun-
dred years. It is thus likely that sand sheet C (X) is in fact closer in
age to C(Y) and can be tentatively correlated across the swales.
Sand sheet Dis not found in the moreseaward swale. This can be
explained by the morphostratigraphic setting. Because the swales
progressively young seawards, older deposits can only be preserved
in swales further inland. The age of the most seaward beach ridge
(Ridge 1) indicates that swale X formed around 1600 210 years
ago, probably too young to preserve sand sheet D (2100 260 years
ago). Therefore, onewouldexpect that bydatingsamplesfromswales
further landward, thechronology for largetsunami may beextended.
4. Discussion
4.1. Incomplete bleaching and the suitability of OSL for dating tsunami
deposits
As the exact time of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami is known,
sand sheets deposited by the tsunami offer an excellent opportunity
to study bleachingcharacteristics. Thesandsheetsat PhraThongpro-
vide ideal candidates: based on their sedimentology and diatom
assemblages, the tsunami sourced its sediment from beach and
subtidal facies (Sawai et al., 2009), which should have a near-zero
age. There is little chance of post-depositional disturbance to reset
the OSL signal because in a little over 2 years since the deposition of
sand sheet A and the collection of the samples, a peaty soil prole
up to 5 cmthick developed in the swales and the sedimentary struc-
tures were well preserved. Other mechanisms that may cause a
spread in equivalent doses, such as beta dose heterogeneity and
Table 1
OSL ages and associated radionuclide contents and doserates.
Sample Depth
(m)
Water
(%)
a
Radionuclide contents
b

radiation
c
(Gy ka
1
)

radiation
d
(Gy ka
1
)

radiation
e
(Gy ka
1
)
Cosmic-ray
radiation
f
(Gy ka
1
)
Total doserate
(Gy ka
1
)
Equivalent
dose (Gy)
Optical age
(ka)
K (%) Th (ppm) U (ppm)
SwaleY
Sheet A 0.1 20 4 0.81 0.04 48.05 1.50 7.13 0.22 0.03 0.01 2.10 0.12 2.68 0.54 0.26 0.03 5.07 0.65 0.73 0.06 Modern
g
Sheet B 0.4 20 4 1.14 0.05 139.24 4.24 15.90 0.49 0.03 0.01 4.94 0.28 7.09 1.42 0.21 0.02 12.26 1.68 5.57 0.20 0.38 0.05
g
Sheet C1 0.5 20 4 1.03 0.05 49.06 1.53 7.12 0.22 0.03 0.01 2.24 0.13 2.76 0.55 0.20 0.02 5.23 0.67 5.80 0.17 0.99 0.13
g
Sheet D 0.7 20 4 0.73 0.04 23.60 0.76 3.58 0.12 0.03 0.01 1.22 0.07 1.39 0.28 0.19 0.02 2.83 0.34 6.79 0.18 2.10 0.26
g
Tidal at 0.9 20 4 0.18 0.02 45.74 1.42 10.40 0.32 0.03 0.01 2.05 0.12 2.77 0.55 0.19 0.02 5.03 0.66 14.55 0.38 2.54 0.34
g
SwaleX
Sheet A 0.1 20 4 0.27 0.02 32.96 1.06 5.59 0.18 0.03 0.01 1.36 0.08 1.85 0.37 0.26 0.03 3.49 0.44 0.48 0.06 Modern
g
Sheet B 0.2 30 6 1.06 0.05 118.56 3.62 14.60 0.45 0.03 0.01 3.97 0.27 5.63 1.13 0.21 0.02 9.83 1.38 4.30 0.16 0.35 0.05
g
Sheet C2 0.6 30 6 1.18 0.06 53.62 1.67 8.91 0.28 0.03 0.01 2.36 0.16 2.87 0.57 0.20 0.02 5.46 0.73 9.90 0.25 1.41 0.19
g
Beach ridges
Ridge 3 0.4 10 4 0.25 0.02 26.19 0.84 3.99 0.13 0.03 0.01 1.17 0.07 1.58 0.32 0.21 0.02 2.99 0.38 6.44 0.16 2.16 0.28
h
Ridge 2 0.6 10 4 0.15 0.02 18.67 0.62 3.49 0.11 0.03 0.01 0.89 0.05 1.18 0.24 0.21 0.02 2.30 0.29 5.89 0.30 2.56 0.35
h
Ridge 2 0.6 10 4 0.16 0.02 11.22 0.40 2.16 0.08 0.03 0.01 0.58 0.04 0.73 0.15 0.20 0.02 1.55 0.18 3.25 0.16 2.10 0.27
h
Ridge 1 0.5 10 4 0.31 0.03 27.05 0.87 4.66 0.15 0.03 0.01 1.30 0.08 1.70 0.34 0.20 0.02 3.23 0.41 5.15 0.21 1.60 0.21
h
a
Estimated time-averaged moisture contents, based on measured eld water values (%dry weight).
b
Obtained by INAA (Becquerel Laboratories, Mississauga, ON, Canada).
c
Assumed internal alpha dose rate.
d
Derived from INAA radionuclide concentration measurements using the conversion factors of Adamic and Aitken (1998), corrected for attenuation by water and beta
attenuation.
e
Derived fromINAA radionuclideconcentration measurements usingthe conversion factors of Adamic and Aitken (1998), corrected for attenuation by water.
f
Calculated using the equation of Prescott and Hutton (1994), based on sediment density, time-averaged depth and site latitude, longitude and altitude.
g
Calculated using the minimumage model of Galbraith et al. (1999).
h
Calculated usingthe central age model of Galbraith et al. (1999).
23 A.L. Prendergast et al. / MarineGeology 295-298 (2012) 2027
post-depositional disturbance(Olley et al., 2004a), canberuledout as
the samples did not contain heavy minerals and the sedimentary
structures and soil proles of the deposits were intact. Olley et al.
(1998, 1999, 2004a, b) haveshownthat themoreasymmetricthedis-
tribution, themorelikely that the aliquots with the highest D
e
values
havebeen inadequately reset. In this study, the samples all exhibited
relatively symmetric D
e
distributions (e.g. Fig. 3), suggesting ade-
quate bleaching.
Examinationof theindividual equivalent doseestimatesinmultiple-
grain single-aliquotsisnot aninfallibletechniquefor identifyingpartial
bleaching because each aliquot could contain equal proportions of
partially bleached quartz (Wallinga, 2002). Using aliquots of single
grains overcomes this problem. We compared results from multiple
grain single-aliquot and single grain samples from the 2004 sand
sheet. The multiple grain single-aliquot samples overestimated the
age of the 2004 sand sheet by around 100years (80 10years and
110 20years). Single grain analyses showed between 70 and 76%of
near-zero grains with some partially-bleached grains, which, when
averaged in the multiple-grain aliquots, generated the older central
ages.
In situations where incomplete bleaching is suspected, Olley et al.
(1999; 2004a, b) suggest that the lowest equivalent dose will provide
the best estimate of burial age. We therefore applied a minimum age
model (Galbraith et al., 1999) to calculate the ages of the sand sheets
at PhraThongIsland. Inwell-bleachedsamplesandinthosewherebio-
turbationhascausedtheintrusionof younger andolder grains, acentral
age model (Galbraith et al., 1999) may provide a more accurate esti-
mateof burial age. This model has been applied to thebeach ridges.
4.2. Model of tsunami overwashandimplicationsfor tsunami recurrence
OSL results fromthemodern tsunami sand sheet show that OSL is
a reliable methodology for dating tsunami recurrence in tropical
beach ridge plain depositional environments, as long as the source
of the tsunami-deposited sediments and their bleaching characteris-
tics are considered. Where material is unavailable for radiocarbon
dating, or where the available radiocarbon material may have been
reworked within the landscape for hundreds to thousands of years,
OSL provides an additional independent dating methodology to
unravel tsunami recurrence in the Indian Ocean.
A temporally constrained model for theevolution of themorphos-
tratigraphic sequence and the deposition of tsunami sand sheets on
Phra Thong Island based on the OSL chronology is presented in
Fig. 4. Because the islands beach ridges get younger to the west,
and because the sand sheets are preserved between the ridges in
the freshwater deposits of swales: (1) A sand sheet in a swale must
postdate the ridge to its east. (2) A sand sheet in a swale must also
postdate the ridge that bounds it on the west if this ridge initiated
the swale by blocking the former beach that the swale replaced. The
OSL ages were consistent with the relative dating of sand sheets
based on the geomorphic interpretation. These ages have improved
the recurrence rate estimates for large tsunamis in the Indian Ocean
by correlating the sand sheets between the swales and rening the
ages of the lowermost sand sheets, which were previously not well
constrained by radiocarbon alone, in the Phra Thong sequence. The
OSL results indicatethat four large tsunamis impacted thecoast dur-
ing the Late Holocene, yielding a tsunami recurrence interval of
between ~350 and 1100years. This shows that whilst centuries do
separate tsunami events large enough to leave geological evidence,
the time between each event may vary by hundreds of years.
No event comparable to the 2004 tsunami is recorded in known
historical sources from the Indian Ocean region (Dominey-Howes
et al., 2007). The written history of Banda Aceh extends back to at
least c.1530AD (Reid, 2005), however, there is no mention of a
large pre-2004 tsunami event. From geological evidence alone, it is
not possible to determine whether the sediment sheets all represent
S
t
a
n
d
a
r
d
i
s
e
d

E
s
t
i
m
a
t
e
Precision
Relative Error (%)
0
-2
2
d
5.0
4.2
3.4
6.6
8.2
11
9.8
S
t
a
n
d
a
r
d
i
s
e
d

E
s
t
i
m
a
t
e
Precision
Relative Error (%)
6.0
5.2
4.4
6.8
7.6
9.2
8.4
S
t
a
n
d
a
r
d
i
s
e
d

E
s
t
i
m
a
t
e
Precision
Relative Error (%)
0
-2
2
0
-2
2
b a Dose (Gr)
Dose (Gr)
S
t
a
n
d
a
r
d
i
s
e
d

E
s
t
i
m
a
t
e
0 60 120
0 60 120 0 60 120
0 100 200
Precision
Relative Error (%)
3.33 1.67 1.11 0.83
3.33 1.67 1.11 0.83 3.33 1.67 1.11 0.83
2.00 1.00 0.67 0.50
0
-2
2
c
Dose (Gr)
Dose (Gr)
6.0
5.5
6.5
7.0
8.0
7.5
9.0
7.0
5.0
4.0
Fig. 3. Radial plots of samples fromsheet C(swale Y), sheet D(swale Y), ridge 2, and (ridge3 showing the distribution of aliquots with their precisions. The weighted mean Des
generated by the central age model of Galbraith et al. (1999) are shown by the dashed lines. Statistically concordant aliquots at the 2 condence level are within 2 units on
the y-axis (shaded).
24 A.L. Prendergast et al. / MarineGeology 295-298 (2012) 2027
events the size of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. The Phra Thong
Island sediment sheets probably required ruptures larger than the
major historically recorded earthquakes on the Andaman coast in
1881 (Mw 7.9) and 1941 (Mw 7.7) (Oritz and Bilham, 2003; Okal
and Synolakis, 2008; Rajendran et al., 2008), which produced no
sand sheets. Numerical simulations suggest that a Sunda Arc earth-
quakeabovemagnitude8.5is probably needed to generateatsunami
capable of inundating the beach ridge plain on Phra Thong Island
(Lovholt et al., 2006).
Therecurrenceestimatesinthisstudyareconsistent withtherange
of modelled estimates for giant earthquakes in the Sumatra-Andaman
source region (Bilham et al., 2005; Chlieh et al., 2007; Stein and Okal,
2007). Based on magnitude-frequency regressions on historical seis-
micitycatalogues, thereturnperiodexpectedfor anMw8.5earthquake
is195years; 1140yearsfor anMw9.3earthquake(Lovholt et al.,2006).
If these estimates are correct, then the recurrence intervals inferred
fromthe PhraThongsand sheets are too longfor all events of Mw 8.5
to be preserved but too short to have only preserved events of Mw
9.3. Therefore, wesuggest that therecordat PhraThongIslandmaypre-
serveevidencefor arangeof events between Mw 8.5 and Mw 9.3. It is
likely that thelower magnitudeevents that arepreserved aretheones
that werefavourablyorientedonthesubductionzonewithout obstruc-
tionssuchastheAndamanIslandstodeect tsunami energyawayfrom
the Phra Thong coast and perhaps occurring at high tide (tide range
~2m). However if wetakeearthquakereturnperiodsbasedonsubduc-
tionratesthat havebeencorrectedfor incompleteseismiccoupling, the
recurrence of large tsunamis is more frequent. Lovholt et al. (2006)
suggest a return period of ~200years for events over Mw 8.5 and
~400years for events over Mw 9. If this estimate is correct, the Phra
ThongIsland sequencemay only record events >Mw 9.
The position of the coastline at the time of sand sheet deposition
can be inferred from the OSL ages of the beach ridges. A new beach
ridge-swale complex forms approximately every 500years, therefore
during previous tsunami events; swales X and Y would have been
closer to the coast. Event B is preserved in both swales, is similar in
appearance to the 2004 sand sheet and was deposited at a time
when both swales wereless than 100mfromtheir present positions.
Therefore it probably represents a larger event, similar in magnitude
to the 2004 tsunami.
Correlation of thePhraThongsand sheets with other evidencefor
earthquakes and tsunamis in theIndian Ocean will help to determine
whether these tsunamis were regional or local in their impact. In
Sumatra, Monecke et al. (2008) found sand sheet evidence for three
pre-2004 tsunamis (Fig. 5). Radiocarbon ages from the oldest event
(9601170cal BP) overlap with Phra Thong event C (990
130years ago) and radiocarbon ages from the middle event
(>540660 cal BP) may correlate with Phra Thong event B (380
50years ago), although the OSL ages are slightly younger than the
radiocarbon ages. On the east coast of India, Rajendran et al. (2006)
obtained evidence for two possible tsunami events. The youngest of
these events at ~1000years ago overlaps with Phra Thong event C
(990 130 years ago). In the Andaman Islands, uplifted marine ter-
races are interpreted as evidence for large Sunda Arc earthquakes
(Rajendran et al., 2008). An event dated at ~900cal BP overlaps
with Phra Thong event C (990 130years ago). Meltzner et al.
(2010) constrained dates of ruptures represented by three separate
uplift eventsbetween 1390and1455on coral microatollsin northern
SimeulueIsland(Fig. 5). Oneof theseevents, at AD956 16may cor-
relate with Phra Thong event C (990 130years ago). Radiocarbon
ages from the middle event (>540660cal BP) of Monecke et al.
(2008) correlatewell with theyounger uplift event on SimelueIsland
(~500600cal BP) and the radiocarbon ages from sand sheet B
(550700cal BP) at Koh PhraThong(Jankaew et al., 2008). However,
the OSL ages of event B(350 50 and 380 50years ago) are youn-
ger than the radiocarbon and uranium-series ages. As discussed
above, gamma dose heterogeneity due to differences in the dose
rates of intercalated sand sheets and peats can be ruled out as the
cause of anomalously young OSL ages for sheet B. The radiocarbon
ages may be anomalously old due to the tsunami erodingtheupper-
most section of the underlying soil during tsunami deposition. Some
erosion of the underlying soil prole is evident fromthe presence of
rip-up clasts within the sand sheets at Phra Thong. Nonetheless,
there is a striking correlation between the radiocarbon ages from
PhraThongevent Band similar ages for tsunami eventsfromSumatra
(Moneckeet al., 2008). Therefore, thepossibility that theOSL agesfor
sand sheet B are anomalously youngneeds to be explored further.
5. Conclusion
Examination of the bleaching characteristics of the 2004 Indian
Ocean tsunami sand sheet on Phra Thong Island suggests that the
majority of sediment entrained and deposited by tsunamis in this
environment derives from well-bleached shallow sub-tidal and
onshore settings. The direct dating of tsunami deposited sediment
by OSL can circumvent problems associated with radiocarbon dating
of older reworked material within the tsunami deposit. This paper
Tsunami
Inland
20 m
Ridge 3 Rid 2Rid 3


Peat Peat
b ~2100 years ago a Younger than ~2500
years before 2010
Ridge 2Ridge 3
Swale Y
Ridge 1
Swale X
c ~1600 years ago

d ~1400 - 990 years ago
Sand D Sand D
d C1 d C1

d D d D
e 380 years ago
Tsunami
f 26th December 2004


WEST EAST
Fig. 4. Model for the evolution of the beach ridge plain at Phra Thong Island incorporating four tsunami events. a, Formation of ridge 3 (2560 350/2540 340); b, Formation
of ridge 2 to create swale Y and beginning of peat accumulation in swale Y (2160 280/2100 270) followed by deposition of tsunami sand sheet D in swale Y (2100 260);
c, Formation of ridge 1 to create swale X, beginning of peat accumulation in swale X (1600 210); d, Deposition of tsunami sand sheet Cin swales X and Y (between 990 130
and 1410 190); e, Deposition of tsunami sand sheet B in swales X and Y (350 50/380 50); f, Deposition of tsunami sand sheet A in swales X and Y (5 BP). Vertical
exaggeration= 20.
25 A.L. Prendergast et al. / MarineGeology 295-298 (2012) 2027
shows that with the application of aminimumagemodel, direct dat-
ing of tsunami-laid sediment by OSL can provide a reliable estimate
for tsunami deposition.
OSL results from sand sheets preserved within peaty soils of
marshy swales in western Thailand dene at least three pre-2004
tsunami events during the past 3000years. When combined with
OSL ages from bounding morphostratigraphic units, these ages
provide a model for the evolution of the western coastal plain on
PhraThongIslandwhich includesbeach ridgeprogradadionandperi-
odic tsunami inundation. The results reinforce the conclusions of
Jankaew et al. (2008), Monecke et al. (2008) and Rajendran et al.
(2006; 2008) that several large earthquake-generated tsunamis
impacted Indian Ocean shores duringtheHoloceneand that thepen-
ultimatetsunami impacted theThai coast hundreds of years ago, per-
haps before the advent of historical records in Thailand (Jankaew
et al. 2008). TheOSL results fromthelower sandsheets at PhraThong
provideadditional control onthetimingof largelateHolocenetsunamis
in theIndian Ocean and constrain therecurrenceof largeIndian Ocean
tsunamis to between 350 and 1100years. This research contributes to
the growing body of research on tsunami recurrence in the Indian
Ocean by helpingto provideamoredetailed regional pictureof there-
currenceof giant subductionzoneearthquakesandtheir tsunamis. Such
information will be invaluable for the development of future tsunami
mitigation strategies.
Acknowledgments
The Authors thank Brian Atwater, Scott Nichol and Andrew
McPherson for helpful pre-submittal discussions and reviews and
the Australian Tsunami Warning System for providing funding for
eldwork and OSL dating. The manuscript was further improved by
the comments of two anonymous reviewers.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at doi:10.
1016/j.margeo.2011.11.012.
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