TSUNAMI DEPOSITS FROM THE 1993 SOUTHWEST HOKKAIDO EARTHQUAKE AND THE 1640 HOKKAIDO-KOMAGATAKE ERUPTION, NORTHERN JAPAN

The southwest Hokkaido tsunami of July 12th, 1993, left continuous ons hore sand deposits along the west coast of Oshima Peninsula, Hokkaido, northern Japan, We investigated spatial distribution and lithofacies of the new tsunami deposits for its identification of ancient tsunami deposits. An eyewitness account and bent plants helped our interpretat ion of the onshore tsunami behavior. We regard the following propertie s as typical of the coastal tsunami sand deposits: (1) The deposits co ver the surface almost continuously on gentle topography. (2) Deposit thicknesses and mean grain sizes decrease with distance from the sea. (3) Deposit thicknesses and lithofacies vary greatly across local surf ace undulation. (4) Graded bedding reflecting tsunami runup and backwa sh is present in thick deposits. (5) The deposits are widely distribut ed along the coast and extend inland several tens of meters to 100 m. We examined a candidate for the paleo-tsunami deposits associated with the 1640 Komagatake eruption, and confirmed that the similar patterns are typical of ancient tsunami deposits.