Scientific Quarterly Journal of Geosciences

Scientific Quarterly Journal of Geosciences

Reconstruction and correlation of palaeo-seismic events in the West Makran using physical and biological properties of deep-Sea cores from Oman Sea

Document Type : Original Research Paper

Authors
Sedigheh Amjadi 1
Hamid Alizade-Lahijani 2
Mohammad Hosein Mahmudy-Gharaie 1
Razieh Lak 3
Nick Marriner 4
1 Department of Geology, Faculty of Basic Sciences, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran
2 Iranian National Institute for Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences (INIOAS), Tehran, Iran
3 Research Institute for Earth Sciences, Geological Survey of Iran, Tehran, Iran
4 CNRS, ThéMA, Université de Franche-Comté, Besançon, Cedex, France
10.22071/gsj.2023.389392.2070
Abstract
Despite the occurrence of the second deadliest Indian Ocean tsunami triggered by the Makran zone fault system, our knowledge of the number of tsunamis throughout the Holocene remains limited. In this study, we reconstructed the sedimentary environments and identified palaeo-tsunami events using deep-sea cores from the Gulf of Oman. We identified sedimentation trends and factors affecting seabed sediment transport by tsunami events based on sedimentological parameters, foraminifera shell identification, magnetic susceptibility changes, and palaeo-ocean current reconstructions. Our results show that evidence of seabed sediment transport due to strong earthquakes in the Gulf of Oman differed over time and location. Palaeoenvironmental studies and historical tsunami events suggest at least 5 significant submarine landslides over the last 2500 calendar years BP. The number of events has dramatically increased during the last thousand years. According to our results and historical data, at least 7 strong earthquakes occurred in the study area, and their traces are evident in our marine cores. Given the expansion of cities on the southeast coast of Iran and the increased number of earthquake events in the Makran zone, it is essential to adopt management plans to mitigate against potential tsunami damage.
Keywords
Palaeo-seismic
Tsunami
Foraminifera
Makran Zone
Late Holocene

Subjects

Akbarpour Jannat, M. R., Rastgoftar, E., and Asano, T., 2017. Tsunami Assessment for Inundation Risk Management at Chabahar Bay Facilities in Iran. International Journal of Coastal and Offshore Engineering, 1(2), 27-39. http://dx.doi.org/10.18869/acadpub.ijcoe.1.2.27.
Akbarpour Jannat, M.R., 2021. Tsunami modeling in the Chabahar Bay-Iran from worst-case Makran seismic scenarios: new insights into spectral characterization, separation of the continental shelf, and topography effects. Arabian Journal of Geosciences, 14, pp.1-21. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-021-06449-0.
Allen, G.P., 2008. Time scales of tectonic landscapes and their sediment routing systems. In: Gallagher, K., Jones, S.J., Wainwright, J. (Eds.), Landscape, Evolution: Denudation, Climate and Tectonics Over Different Time and Space Scales: Geological Society of London Special Publication, pp. 7–28. https:// doi/abs/10.1144/SP296.2.
Amjadi, S., Gharaie, M.H.M., Lahijani, H.A.K., Kaniewski, D., Lak, R., Pourkerman, M., Shah-Hosseini, M., Hamzeh, M.A., and Marriner, N., 2023. Summer monsoon belt displacement and precipitation sources in the Northern Arabian Sea: A multi-proxy palaeoenvironmental reconstruction for Late Holocene. (accepted in Caspian Journal of Environmental Sciences (CJES)).
Byrne, D. E., Sykes, L. R., and Davis, D. M., 1992. Great thrust earthquakes and aseismic slip along the plate boundary of the Makran subduction zone. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 97(B1), 449-478. https://doi/abs/10.1029/91JB02165.
Costa, P. J. M., Feist, L., Dawson, A. G., Stewart, I., Reicherter, K., and Andrade, C., 2021. An overview on offshore tsunami deposits. Tsunamiites, 183-192. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-823939-1.00011-2.
Ducassou, E., Migeon, S., Mulder, T., Murat, A., Capotondi, L., Bernasconi, S.M., and Mascle, J., 2009. Evolution of the Nile Deep-Sea turbidite system during the Late Quaternary: influence of climate change on fan sedimentation. Sedimentology 56, 2061–2090. https://doi/abs/10.1111/j.1365-3091.2009.01070.
Fleitmann, D., Burns, S. J., Mangini, A., Mudelsee, M., Kramers, J., Villa, I., and Matter, A., 2007. Holocene ITCZ and Indian monsoon dynamics recorded in stalagmites from Oman and Yemen (Socotra). Quaternary Science Reviews, 26(1), 170-188. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2006.04.012.
Frohling, E., and Szeliga, W., 2016. GPS constraints on interplate locking within the Makran subduction zone. Geophysical Supplements to the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 205(1), 67-76. doi.org/10.1093/gji/ggw001.
Hamidianpour, M., Jahanshahi, S. M. A., Kaskaoutis, D. G., Rashki, A., and Nastos, P. G. 2021. Climatology of the Sistan Levar wind: Atmospheric dynamics driving its onset, duration and withdrawal. Atmospheric Research, 260, 105711. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2021.105711.
Hamzeh, M.A., Gharaie, M.H.M., Lahijani, H.A.K., Djamali, M., Harami, R.M., and Beni, A.N., 2016. Holocene hydrological changes in SE Iran, a key region between Indian Summer Monsoon and Mediterranean winter precipitation zones, as revealed from a lacustrine sequence from Lake Hamoun. Quaternary International, 408, pp.25-39. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2015.11.011.
Heidarzadeh, M., and Satake, K., 2014. Possible sources of the tsunami observed in the northwestern Indian Ocean following the 2013 September 24 M w 7.7 Pakistan inland earthquake. Geophysical Journal International, 199(2), 752-766. https://doi.org/10.1093/gji/ggu297.
Heiri, O., Lotter, A.F., and Lemcke, G., 2001. Loss on ignition as a method for estimating organic and carbonate content in sediments: reproducibility and comparability of results. Journal of paleolimnology, 25, pp.101-110. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008119611481.
Hoffmann, G., Al-Yahyai, S., Naeem, G., Kociok, M., and Grützner, C., 2014. An Indian Ocean tsunami triggered remotely by an onshore earthquake in Balochistan, Pakistan. Geology, 42(10), 883-886. https://doi.org/10.1130/G35756.1.   
Hoffmann, G., Grützner, C., Schneider, B., Preusser, F., and Reicherter, K., 2020. Large Holocene tsunamis in the northern Arabian Sea. Marine Geology, 419, 106068. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.margeo.2019.106068.
Honarmand, M., Shanehsazzadeh, A., and Zandi, S. M., 2020. 3D numerical simulation of tsunami generation and propagation, case study: Makran tsunami generation and penetrating in Chabahar Bay. Ocean Engineering, 218, 108109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oceaneng.2020.108109.
Lahijani, H.A.K., Amjadi, S., Pourkerman, M., Naderi, A., Hosseindoost, M. and Habibi, P., 2019. Makran continental margin sedimentation during the Late Holocene. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 56(6), pp.629-636. https://doi.org/10.1139/cjes-2018-0087.
Marriner, N., & Morhange, C. 2007. Geoscience of ancient Mediterranean harbours. Earth-Science Reviews, 80(3-4), 137-194. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2006.10.003.
Marriner, N., Morhange, C., Boudagher-Fadel, M., Bourcier, M., and Carbonel, P., 2005. Geoarchaeology of Tyre's ancient northern harbour, Phoenicia. Journal of Archaeological Science, 32(9), 1302-1327. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2005.03.019.
Miller, C. S., 2010. A multi-proxy palaeonenvironmental reconstruction from sediment cores, offshore Iran-Natural hazards and climatic change within the Late Holocene (Doctoral dissertation, Brunel University Institute for the Environment MPhil Theses).
Miller, C. S., Leroy, S. A., Collins, P. E., and Lahijani, H. A., 2016. Late Holocene vegetation and ocean variability in the Gulf of Oman. Quaternary Science Reviews, 143, 120-132. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2016.05.010.
Nakagaki, T., and Tanioka, Y., 2020. Numerical Simulation of Submarine Landslide Tsunami due to the 1929 Grand Banks Earthquake. In Japan Geoscience Union.
Payande, A. R., Niksokhan, M. H., and Naserian, H., 2015. Tsunami hazard assessment of Chabahar bay related to megathrust seismogenic potential of the Makran subduction zone. Natural hazards, 76(1), 161-176. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-014-1476-x.
Penney, C., Tavakoli, F., Saadat, A., Nankali, H. R., Sedighi, M., Khorrami, F., Sobouti, F., Rafi, Z.,   Copley, A., Jackson, J., Priestley, K. 2017. Megathrust and accretionary wedge properties and behaviour in the Makran subduction zone. Geophysical Journal International, 209(3), 1800-1830. https://doi.org/10.1093/gji/ggx126.
Pilarczyk, J.E., and Reinhardt, E.G., 2012. Testing foraminiferal taphonomy as a tsunami indicator in a shallow arid system lagoon: Sur, Sultanate of Oman. Marine Micropaleontology 295-298, 128–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.margeo.2011.12.002.
Pourkerman, M., Marriner, N., Amjadi, S., Lak, R., Hamzeh, M., Mohammadpor, G., Lahijani, H., Tavakoli, M., Morhange, C., and Shah-Hosseini, M., 2023. The impacts of Persian Gulf water and ocean-atmosphere interactions on tropical cyclone intensification in the Arabian Sea. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 188, p.114553. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.114553.
Pourkerman, M., Marriner, N., Hamzeh, M.A., Lahijani, H., Morhange, C., Amjadi, S., Vacchi, M., Maghsoudi, M., Shah-Hosseini, M., and Afarin, M., 2022. Socioeconomic impacts of environmental risks in the western Makran zone (Chabahar, Iran). Natural Hazards, 112(2), pp.1823-1849. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-022-05230-0.
Quintela, M., Costa, P. J., Fatela, F., Drago, T., Hoska, N., Andrade, C., and Freitas, M. C., 2016. The AD 1755 tsunami deposits onshore and offshore of Algarve (south Portugal): Sediment transport interpretations based on the study of Foraminifera assemblages. Quaternary international, 408, 123-138. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2015.12.029.
Shah-Hosseini, M., Morhange, C., Beni, A. N., Marriner, N., Lahijani, H., Hamzeh, M., and Sabatier, F., 2011. Coastal boulders as evidence for high-energy waves on the Iranian coast of Makran. Marine Geology, 290(1-4), 17-28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.margeo.2011.10.003.
Skene, K.I., and Piper, D.J.W., 2003. Late Quaternary stratigraphy of Laurentian Fan: a record of events off the eastern Canadian continental margin during the last deglacial period. Quaternary International 99–10, 135–152. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1040-6182(02)00116-7.
Sømme, T.O., Helland-Hansen, W., Martinsen, O.J., and Thurmond, J.B., 2009. Relationships between morphological and sedimentological parameters in source-to-sink systems: a basis for predicting semi-quantitative characteristics in subsurface systems. Basin Research 21 (4), 361–387. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2117.2009.00397.x.
Toucanne, S., Zaragosi, S., Bourillet, J.F., Naughton, F., Cremer, M., Eynaud, F., and Dennielou, B., 2008. Activity of the turbidite levees of the Celtic–Armorican margin (Bay of Biscay) during the last 30,000 years: imprints of the last European deglaciation and Heinrich events. Marine Geology, 247(1-2), pp.84-103. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.margeo.2007.08.006.
Tripsanas, E. K., Bryant, W.R., Slowey, N.C., Bouma, A.H., and Berti, D., 2007. Sedimentological history of Bryant Canyon area, northwest Gulf of Mexico, during the last 135 kyr (Marine Isotope Stages 1–6): a proxy record of Mississippi River discharge. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 246 (1), 137–161. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2006.10.032.
Vaziri, S.H., Reinhart, E.G., and Pilarczyk, J.E., 2019. Coastal foraminifera from the Iranian coast of Makran, Oman Sea (Chabahar Bay to Gawater Bay) as an indicator of tsunamis. Geopersia, 9 (1), pp. 43-63.  Doi:10.22059/GEOPE.2018.255122.648378.
Yhasnara, M., Costa, P. J., Dourado, F., Martins, M. V. A., Feist, L., Bellanova, P., and Reicherter, K., 2023. Microtextural signatures in quartz grains and foraminifera from tsunami deposits of the Portuguese shelf. Geo-Marine Letters, 43(1), 5.   https://doi.org/10.1007/s00367-023-00747-0.
Zaragosi, S., Bourillet, J.F., Eynaud, F., Toucanne, S., Denhard, B., Van Toer, A., and Lanfumey, V., 2006. The impact of the last European deglaciation on the deep-sea turbidite systems of the Celtic–Armorican margin (Bay of Biscay). Geo-Marine Letters 26, 317–329.. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00367-006-0048-9.
 
Scientific Quarterly Journal of Geosciences
Volume 34, Issue 2 - Serial Number 132
Summer 2024, Vol. 34, Issue 2, Serial No. 132
Spring 2024
Pages 45-58