50thKaikoura05 -1- Kaikoura 2005 CHARACTERISATION OF NEW ...
50thKaikoura05 -1- Kaikoura 2005 CHARACTERISATION OF NEW ...
50thKaikoura05 -1- Kaikoura 2005 CHARACTERISATION OF NEW ...
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
landslide tsunami in the past. Recently acquired<br />
high resolution Reson SeaBat 8160 multi-beam<br />
bathymetry shows in unprecedented detail the<br />
locations and geometries of large slope failure scars<br />
off the coast of Suva. The destructive tsunami<br />
which followed the 1953 Suva earthquake provides<br />
a well documented account of a previous submarine<br />
landslide tsunami in the Suva area. Run-up data and<br />
arrival times from this event provide a benchmark<br />
for predictive models when creating tsunami hazard<br />
scenarios for Suva.<br />
Using high resolution bathymetry data and<br />
historical records we define the source of the 1953<br />
Suva tsunami as a ~3 x 10 6 m 3 submarine landslide<br />
at the head of the Suva Canyon, located 5 km SW<br />
of Suva. Geometrical parameters from this<br />
submarine landslide are used in the<br />
TOPICS/GEOWAVE tsunami initialisation and<br />
propagation model to successfully simulate<br />
observed run-ups and arrival times of the 1953<br />
Suva tsunami at eight different locations along the<br />
coast of Suva and nearshore islands. The<br />
computational grid used in this simulation was<br />
adjusted to low tide to simulate sea level during the<br />
1953 event.<br />
The bathymetry data shows that the submarine<br />
landslide of 1953 is one of several failures that has<br />
occurred in this part of the Suva Canyon head in the<br />
past. These slope failures form a large retrogressive<br />
failure system that has been indenting the outer<br />
edge of the coral barrier reef. Two coral limestone<br />
boulder zones mapped on the reef crest represent<br />
tsunami deposits from the last two tsunami<br />
generating submarine landslides from this slope<br />
failure system. A set of curved fractures mapped on<br />
the barrier reef behind the headscarp of the 1953<br />
failure is an indication of the likelihood of the next<br />
failure event and ensuing tsunami that will occur at<br />
this site. A predictive simulation of this future slope<br />
failure event was done using the source parameters<br />
similar to the 1953 landslide and with the<br />
computational grid adjusted to represent high tide, a<br />
potentially worse case scenario. The results of this<br />
simulationshowmaximumverticalrun-upupto4<br />
m and maximum horizontal inundation up to 400 m<br />
at the Suva coast.<br />
ORAL<br />
GNS PALEONTOLOGICAL DATABASES<br />
PROGRAMME<br />
J.I. Raine, J.S. Crampton, E.M. Crouch,<br />
I. Matcham & B. Morrison<br />
GNS Science, PO Box 30368, Lower Hutt.<br />
(i.raine*gns.cri.nz)<br />
The New Zealand government, via FRST, recently<br />
increased available funding for designated<br />
Nationally Significant Databases and Collections,<br />
including the NZ Fossil Record File database<br />
(FRED) and the National Paleontological<br />
Collection (NPC). This has enabled GNS to set up,<br />
for the first time in the current funding regime, an<br />
explicit paleontological databases programme -<br />
formerly these activities were supported either<br />
through GNS's own resources or as small<br />
components of other FRST programmes. Aims of<br />
the new programme are to 1) develop and maintain<br />
comprehensive computer databases of fossil<br />
localities, collections, identifications, and<br />
paleontological interpretations; 2) provide easily<br />
accessible and useable database interfaces with<br />
extensive search and retrieval capabilities; and 3)<br />
attract routine participation (data provision and<br />
retrieval) by New Zealand and overseas<br />
researchers.<br />
The NPC was initiated in 1865 by the Colonial<br />
Museum, and subsequently passed to the NZ<br />
Geological Survey and its successor, GNS.<br />
Collections represent over 55,000 localities,<br />
primarily from the NZ mainland, offshore islands,<br />
and submarine cores and dredgings from the NZ<br />
region. There are also important holdings from<br />
Antarctica and the SW Pacific, and global-scope<br />
reference collections of fossil and modern species.<br />
Collections include the gamut of animal, plant and<br />
trace fossils from Ordovician to Recent, but the<br />
main strengths are in macrofossil invertebrates,<br />
protist microfossils, and plant macrofossils and<br />
palynomorphs. Most NPC identifications are<br />
databased in FRED, but we plan to computerise<br />
physical collection records, type catalogues, etc. to<br />
streamline maintenance and extend the use of the<br />
collections. Much of the data will be publicly<br />
available online, and we also plan to make the<br />
facility and software available for use by other NZ<br />
institutions or individuals.<br />
Over the last few years FRED has been transferred<br />
to a new database platform, with public Internet<br />
access for basic search and retrieval<br />
[http://data.gns.cri.nz/fred/]. This has been a<br />
challenging process, and further development of<br />
data entry and retrieval interfaces is planned within<br />
the new programme. New capabilities will include<br />
locality and fossil images, and sophisticated data<br />
manipulations (e.g., for research into biodiversity<br />
and statistical biostratigraphy). Following GNS-<br />
GSNZ consultation in May <strong>2005</strong>, online<br />
registration of new localities, with continued<br />
participation of regional masterfile centres, is about<br />
to begin and this should ensure that new data is fed<br />
directly into the database. The backlog of existing<br />
locality records not yet in FRED will also be<br />
systematically entered through the new programme.<br />
Within the programme we will also maintain and<br />
develop associated databases, such as the existing<br />
NZ Stratigraphic Lexicon<br />
[http://data.gns.cri.nz/stratlex/], and taxonomyoriented<br />
databases such as the recently released NZ<br />
50 th <strong>Kaikoura</strong>05 -73- <strong>Kaikoura</strong> <strong>2005</strong>