National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration
United States Department of Commerce


 

FY 2021

Assessing local impacts of the 1700 CE Cascadia earthquake and tsunami using tree-ring growth histories: A case study in South Beach, Oregon, USA

Dziak, R.P., B.A. Black, Y. Wei, and S.G. Merle

Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 1971–1982, doi: 10.5194/nhess-21-1971-2021, View online (open access) (2021)


We present an investigation of the disturbance history of an old-growth Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) stand in South Beach, Oregon, for possible growth changes due to tsunami inundation caused by the 1700 CE Cascadia Subduction Zone (CSZ) earthquake. A high-resolution model of the 1700 tsunami run-up heights at South Beach, assuming an “L”-sized earthquake, is also presented to better estimate the inundation levels several kilometers inland at the old-growth site. This tsunami model indicates the South Beach fir stand would have been subjected to local inundation depths from 0 to 10 m. Growth chronologies collected from the Douglas-fir stand shows that trees experienced a significant growth reductions in the year 1700 relative to nearby Douglas-fir stands, consistent with the tsunami inundation estimates. The ±1–3-year timing of the South Beach disturbances are also consistent with disturbances previously observed at a Washington state coastal forest ∼220 km to the north. Moreover, the 1700 South Beach growth reductions were not the largest over the >321-year tree chronology at this location, with other disturbances likely caused by climate drivers (e.g., drought or windstorms). Our study represents a first step in using tree growth history to ground truth tsunami inundation models by providing site-specific physical evidence.



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