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A flight of Holocene marine terraces on the southwestern coast of Cape Omaezaki of central Japan provides evidence of recurrent millennium-scale uplift events. We reconstructed the uplift history of these terraces by using facies analysis of drill core and geoslicer samples, environmental analysis of trace fossils, and 14C age determinations. Coastal uplift can be identified by the displacement of beach deposits such as foreshore deposits, which represent the intertidal swash zone of a wave-dominated sandy coast. Three levels of former beach deposits facing the Nankai Trough were identified near the coast in the Omaezaki area. The highest of these, dated at about 3020–2880 BC, records a maximum of 2.2–2.7 m of emergence. The middle beach surface, of minimum age 370–190 BC, shows 1.6–2.8 m of emergence. The lowest beach surface, which is older than 1300–1370 AD, records 0.4–1.6 m of emergence. Our analysis of vertical crustal deformation data during the Holocene in this region suggests that rapid and strong uplift was restricted to the southwestern coast of the Omaezaki area and was probably caused by high-angle thrusting on subsidiary faults branching from the underlying plate boundary megathrust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foraminiferal tests are commonly found in tsunami deposits and provide evidence of transport of sea floor sediments, sometimes from source areas more than 100 m deep and several kilometers away. These data contribute to estimates of the physical properties of tsunami waves, such as their amplitude and period. The tractive force of tsunami waves is inversely proportional to the water depth at sediment source areas, whereas the horizontal sediment transport distance by tsunami waves is proportional to the wave period and amplitude. We derived formulas for the amplitudes and periods of tsunami waves as functions of water depth at the sediment source area and sediment transport distance based on foraminiferal assemblages in tsunami deposits. We applied these formulas to derive wave amplitudes and periods from data on tsunami deposits in previous studies. For some examples, estimated wave parameters were reasonable matches for the actual tsunamis, although other cases had improbably large values. Such inconsistencies probably reflect: (i) local amplification of tsunami waves by submarine topography, such as submarine canyons; and (ii) errors in estimated water depth at the sediment source area and sediment transport distance, which mainly derive from insufficient identification of foraminiferal tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Middle Pleistocene widespread tephra referred to here as Hakkoda–Kokumoto Tephra (Hkd–Ku) has been newly recognized. Hkd–Ku, derived from the Hakkoda Caldera located in northernmost Honshu Is. of northeast Japan, covers much of Honshu Is. At the type locality in the proximal area, Hkd–Ku comprises Plinian pumice deposits and an immediately overlying ignimbrite. The fine vitric ash nature of the distal ash-fall deposits of Hkd–Ku suggests that they are coignimbrite ash-fall deposits. Hkd–Ku was identified using a combination of refractive indices and chemical compositions of major, trace and rare earth elements of glass shards, heavy mineral content, refractive indices of orthopyroxene and paleomagnetic polarity. On the basis of these properties, Hkd–Ku was identified in Oga and Boso Peninsulas and Osaka Plain, 830 km southwest of the source. Stratigraphic positions in Boso Peninsula and Osaka Plain within marine sediments that have a reliable chronology based on oxygen-isotope, and litho-, bio-, magneto- and tephrostratigraphy indicate that the age of Hkd–Ku is ca 760 ka, positioned in the transition between marine oxygen-isotope stages 19.1 and 18.4. The widespread occurrence of Hkd–Ku providing a tie line between many different Pleistocene sections over a distance of 800 km is a key marker horizon in the early part of the Middle Pleistocene. This tephra gives a time control point of ca 760 ka to marine sediments in the Oga Peninsula – where no datum plane exists between the Brunhes–Matuyama chron boundary and oxygen-isotope stage 12 – and to the volcanostratigraphy of the Hakkoda Caldera. The distribution of Hkd–Ku showing emplacement of coignimbrite ash-fall deposits in the area 830 km southwest of the source emphasizes the upwind transport direction, relative to the prevailing westerly winds, typical of other coignimbrite ash-fall deposits in the Japanese islands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses various reports published within the issue, including one on the Holocene marine terraces around Cape Omaezaki, Japan, one on the thickness and grain size of onshore deposits formed by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami at southwestern Thailand and one on sedimentary structures of tsunami deposits.