Study: 2004 tsunami was not first of large scale, awareness may improve future tsunami estimates

The deadly Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004, which claimed more than 200,000 lives, was not the first of its size to hit the region, according to new research by an international research team led by Dr. Karin Monecke, a former post-doctoral geologist at Kent State University. The research work, which is published in this week's edition of the prestigious science journal Nature, was conducted during the two and half years Monecke spent in the Kent State's Department of Geology. The full study can be found at http://tinyurl.com/kentstate1030.

Monecke team's findings are part of two studies published on the lethal 2004 event. Monecke's research conducted in Aceh, Indonesia, found that the 2004 sand sheet preceded deposits of three tsunamis from the past 1,200 years.

The two research teams independently concluded that the last time a tsunami of similar size hit the region was between 1300 and 1400 AD.

Each team analyzed more than 100 sediment cores collected during fieldwork in 2006 and 2007, and found traces of several tsunamis that may have occurred during the last 2,500 years. However, only the medieval event, whose age was determined by radiocarbon dating of organic material in the sediment, correlated between the two studies.

The results suggest that Indian Ocean tsunamis on such a large scale occur every 600 to 700 years. Moreover, the findings could be used to put statistical weight behind estimates of the likelihood of future tsunami.

Source: Kent State University