REPORT FROM THE NSF WORKSHOP ON TSUNAMI DEPOSITS 12-15 JUNE 2005

This workshop brought together an international group of leaders and emerging leaders in tsunami research to advance our understanding of tsunami behavior as reflected in coastal erosion and deposition—an understanding needed to define earthquake and tsunami hazards. The recent Sumatra-Andaman earthquake and its global tsunami underscore the importance of these topics.

Questions addressed included: How can tsunami deposits be distinguished from storm deposits? How can properties of tsunami waves be quantified from their deposits? What are the geomorphic effects of tsunami erosion and deposition? What are the marine-geologic records of tsunamis and their sources? What is required to construct a database that includes documented historic and prehistoric tsunami deposits and other geologic evidence of tsunamis? What is the best way to use tsunami geology to constrain coastal hazard maps and help construct probabilistic hazard assessment maps? How best can the significance of tsunami deposits be explained to the public and used for outreach and education?

This poster will summarize recommendations made by working groups from this workshop (see also http://www.ess.washington.edu/tsunami/deposits/).