Imprints of washover sediments by tropical storm Pabuk 2019 along the coast of the Gulf of Thailand; insight into coastal geomorphological response to storm surge

Abstract

Tropical storm Pabuk (4th January 2019) struck southern Thailand, causing damage to the low-lying coastal area. The combination of waves, storm surge, and high tide resulted overwash and inundation of regions on the West coast of the Gulf of Thailand (GOT) side. After the event, we conducted a field survey from January 7–10 and 15–20, 2019 to investigate the effect of storm surges and the degree of damage from the site under the eye of storm affected area up to the north 500 km from the landfall sites. This paper investigates how variations in coastal geomorphological features respond to the storm surge generated by tropical storm Pabuk at a regional scale. Coastal damage was observed along the beach from the presence of the scour, beach scarp, knocked down trees, and destroyed buildings and infrastructure. The most damaged area was at Nakhon Si Thammarat (NST), where the tropical storm made landfall with maximum wind speeds of almost 100 km/h and a storm surge height of 5 m. At NST site, the washover deposits extended as far as 80 m from the coastline with a maximum inundation of 330 m. From this study, two types of washover deposits including perched fan and washover terrace were identified. The thickest washover sediment, 60 cm thick, was discovered in a relatively low-lying area adjacent to a small estuary. Mud rip-up clasts, planar stratification, cross stratification, foreset bedding, scouring at base, and sharp and erosional contact are characteristics of sedimentary structures found in storm sediments. Bedform surfaces, such as current ripples with indicated storm surge direction, were well-preserved at several sites. We suggest that the local geomorphological controlling factors, especially coastal elevation have played important roles in the difference of coastal geomorphological responses as well as the type of washover deposits.