On the varied impact of the Storegga tsunami in northwest Scotland

Woodroffe, Sarah A.; Hill, Jon; Bustamante‐Fernandez, Emmanuel; Lloyd, Jerry M.; Luff, Jake; Richards, Sarah; Shennan, Ian

Abstract

In this paper we evaluate new data and those from previous studies in northwest Scotland and perform a modelling study to test the hypothesis that the Storegga tsunami (submarine slope failure off the continental shelf of Central Norway dated to 8120–8175 bp) impacted this region. The model used is a 2D non-linear, non-conservative, Shallow Water Equation solver incorporating inundation and realistic glacial isostatic adjustment-corrected palaeobathymetry, with horizontal resolution down to 30 m at sites of interest. The 15 coastal study sites analysed range from south of the Isle of Skye to Assynt. We predict run-up between 2.7 and 9.4 m above contemporaneous mean tide level across the region, with the highest on the west coast of the Outer Hebrides, the east coast of Skye and at the head of long sea lochs east of Skye. We re-evaluate evidence from previously studied open coastal marshes, isolation basins and barrier locations for the tsunami and suggest that in many locations the Storegga tsunami is the most likely cause of erosion, deposition and changes in microfossil assemblages in the early Holocene. The predictions of wave height and inundation produced by the tsunami modelling fit well with the range of available field evidence in the region. We predict significant wave heights at least as far south as Mull on the west coast.

Citation

Woodroffe, S. A., Hill, J., Bustamante‐Fernandez, E., Lloyd, J. M., Luff, J., Richards, S., & Shennan, I. (2023). On the varied impact of the Storegga tsunami in northwest Scotland. Journal of Quaternary Science, https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.3539

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 13, 2023
• Online Publication Date: May 30, 2023
• Publication Date: 2023
• Deposit Date: Jun 20, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 20, 2023
• Journal: Journal of Quaternary Science
• Print ISSN: 0267-8179
• Electronic ISSN: 1099-1417
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.3539
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1171239