Abstract
Folklore tells of a large sea wave that struck an area of Chenggong on the eastern coast of Taiwan. This event is estimated to have occurred in the middle of the 19th century based on an oral history of the area. Despite an estimated run-up height of more than 18 m, no other folklore related to a tsunami has been found in areas adjacent to the site for several reasons. Considering the importance of understanding the dangers posed to the eastern coast of Taiwan, numerical tsunami simulations were carried out to study localized amplification effects. Three tsunami sources were studied: (1) the westernmost portion of the Ryukyu trench, (2) offshore of Chenggong and (3) the source of the 1771 Yaeyama tsunami along the Ryukyu trench. Numerical simulations using detailed bathymetric maps reveal that possible tsunami waves are not significantly amplified around Chenggong; the eastern coast of Taiwan should have been affected by the 19th century tsunami if it was large enough. This study emphasizes the importance of investigation of paleo-tsunamis along the eastern coast of Taiwan to assess the risk for future tsunami hazards.
Highlights
Taiwan is located at the convergence of the Eurasian and Philippine Sea Plates (Fig. 1)
Because of the importance of understanding dangers posed to the eastern coast, we have conducted a numerical simulation of tsunamis to determine if Chenggong has strong local amplification effects and understand the tsunami hazards for the eastern coast of Taiwan
Model 2 fits to the tsunami heights along the eastern coast of Taiwan, around Chenggong
Summary
Taiwan is located at the convergence of the Eurasian and Philippine Sea Plates (Fig. 1). Ma and Lee (1997) calculated numerical simulations of tsunamis caused by large earthquakes around Taiwan. No large tsunamis are thought to have struck the eastern coast of Taiwan because the seafloor depth increases to 500 m within of 3 - 5 km of the coast. Of Chenggong on the eastern coast of Taiwan (Fig. 2). There are a number of stories or folklore by Taiwanese tribes related to large sea waves on the eastern coast. Several large boulders on a beach may have been transported by one or more tsunamis in southeastern Taiwan (Matta et al 2013b), the “tsunami boulders” are not definitely related to the possible Malaulau tsunami. If the tsunami was generated by an offshore source larger than a certain size, it should have struck the entire eastern coast of Taiwan. Because of the importance of understanding dangers posed to the eastern coast, we have conducted a numerical simulation of tsunamis to determine if Chenggong has strong local amplification effects and understand the tsunami hazards for the eastern coast of Taiwan
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