Abstract
At about 3000 C14-year BP or 1200 cal. yrs BC, the Baltic Sea experienced a mega-tsunami with a wave-height of 10 m or more, and a run-up height of up to 16.5 m. This event had significant geological and archaeological effects. We explore the records from the Lake M?laren area in Sweden. The tsunami event is linked to seismic ground shaking and methane venting tectonics at several sites. The triggering factor is proposed to be the Kaali meteor impact in Estonia of the same age. The documentation of a mega-tsunami in the middle of the Bronze Age has wide implications both in geology and in archaeology. The archaeological key sites at Annelund and Apalle are reinterpreted in terms of tsunami wave actions remodelling stratigraphy. By extensive coring, we are able to trace the tsunami effects in both off-shore and on-shore environment. At the time of the event, sea level was at +15 m (due to isostatic uplift). The tsunami wave erosion is traced 13.5 m below sea level. The tsunami run-up over land is traced to +29.5 m to +31.5 m (occasionally even higher), implying a run-up of 14.5 - 16.5 m. In ?ngermanland, the tsunami event was absolutely dated at 1171 varve years BC. Archaeologically, the tsunami event coincides well with the transition between Periods II and III of the South Scandinavian Bronze Age. Period III has traditionally been difficult to identify in the cultural materials of the Lake M?laren region.
Highlights
Tsunami Deposits, Mega-Tsunami, Wave Height and Run-Up, Kaali Impact, Archaeological Reinterpretations, The Bronze Age, Lake Mälaren Area, Sweden
We explore the records from the Lake Mälaren area in Sweden
At about 3000 BP or 1200 cal. yrs BP something both unique and revolutionary happened: the Kaali impact occurred in Estonia (e.g. [49]) and initiated violent ground shaking, methane venting tectonics and a mega-tsunami affecting the whole of the Baltic [2] [10] [11] [22]
Summary
Tsunami Deposits, Mega-Tsunami, Wave Height and Run-Up, Kaali Impact, Archaeological Reinterpretations, The Bronze Age, Lake Mälaren Area, Sweden. This was considered to be the case for the entire postglacial period of Sweden and Fennoscandia. The tsunami wave-heights observed provided an independent method of estimating the seismic magnitude of ground shaking [9]. This implies that tsunami events have become a natural process in the postglacial evolution of the Baltic and the Kattegat Seas. Yrs BC (Figure 1), which was Baltic-wide and was initiated by the Kaali impact event [10] [11]. This is where the present paper starts. The damage often takes directly disastrous dimensions (at the March 11, 2011, tsunami in Japan, 18,000 persons were killed, nuclear power plants were seriously damaged and 452,000 persons had to be relocated; at the December 26, 2004, tsunami in Indonesia, 230,000 persons were killed; at the November 1, 1755, Lisbon earthquake and tsunami, at least 60,000 persons were killed and damage became known as “the destruction of Lisbon”; just to name a few examples)
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