Earthquakes, Tsunamis, and Storms Recorded at Crescent City, California, USA

Abstract:

Stratigraphic evidence for coseismic land-level change, tsunamis, and storms is found beneath freshwater marshes in coastal northern California at Crescent City (CC). Previous studies at CC have focused on tsunamis, including the 1964 farfield tsunami from the Alaska earthquake, and nearfield tsunamis from earthquakes in the Cascadia subduction zone (CSZ). In addition to new data on tsunami inundation and coseismic land-level change, evidence for deposition by large storms shows another significant coastal hazard for the area.

Our results are from three freshwater wetland sites at CC: Marhoffer Creek, Elk Creek, and Sand Mine. Marhoffer Creek marsh is adjacent to the coast about 5 km north of CC, and at an elevation of > 3.4 m above NAVD88 (>1 m above highest tides). C-14 and diatom data show it has been a freshwater wetland for at least the past 1,800 yr. We identify tsunami deposits associated with two CSZ earthquakes (1700 C.E. and 1,650 yr BP) at Marhoffer Creek. Diatom data show that coseismic subsidence accompanied the 1700 C.E. earthquake; the tsunami deposit from that event extends 550 m inland from the beach. Cs-137 data show that thin sand layers about 70 m from the beach and 20 cm below the marsh surface were deposited by the farfield tsunami in 1964. Intercalated between the 1964 and 1700 tsunami deposits, and extending as far inland as the 1964 deposit, are storm deposits consisting of discontinuous layers of sand and detrital peat. The deposits are found in an interval about 0.5 m thick, and are perched at elevations above the highest winter tides. We surmise that at least some of these deposits record the catastrophic ARkStorm of 1861-1862.

At Elk Creek wetland, diatom data confirm coseismic subsidence in 1700 in addition to tsunami deposition. The 1964 tsunami deposit is thin and found only proximal to the Elk Creek channel. At Sand Mine marsh, association with coseismic subsidence is used to differentiate CSZ tsunamis in a complex ~100 m wide inundation zone shared by nearfield/farfield tsunamis and storms.