A new chronology for tsunami deposits prior to the 1700 CE Cascadia earthquake from Vancouver Island, Canada

Abstract

Abstract Coastal deposits at Tofino, Ucluelet, and Port Alberni in Vancouver Island along the Cascadia subduction zone were re-examined to improve the earthquake history of the southwest coast of Canada. We found sand sheets interbedded within peat and mud, suggesting deposition by strong flows in a low-energy environment. Based on limiting maximum and minimum ages derived from plant macrofossils, the age of one of the sand sheets below the tsunami deposits of the great Cascadia earthquake in 1700 CE was estimated to be 1330–1430 CE. Onshore paleoseismic evidence has been documented in Vancouver Island, northern Washington, and northern Oregon during this period. However, the newly constrained age is between those of coseismic subsidence Y and W events in southern Washington, which have been recognized as the 1700 CE and the penultimate Cascadia earthquakes, respectively. Moreover, the new age partly overlaps with the age of offshore paleoseismic evidence for T2, interpreted to have originated from the penultimate Cascadia earthquake, based on offshore turbidite records. The new chronology prior to the 1700 CE Cascadia tsunami deposit from Vancouver Island contributes to a better understand of the timing of the penultimate Cascadia earthquake.