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Can the tsunami geological record contribute to constrain the tectonic source of the 1755 AD earthquake?
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  • Francisco Dourado,
  • Pedro JM Costa,
  • SeanPaul La Selle,
  • C. Andrade,
  • Ana Nobre Silva,
  • Ivana Bosnic,
  • Guy Gelfenbaum
Francisco Dourado
Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro
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Pedro JM Costa
Earth Sciences Department, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, University of Coimbra

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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SeanPaul La Selle
United States Geological Survey
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C. Andrade
Centro de Geologiae Departamento de Geologia da Universidade de Lisboa. Faculdade de Ciencias, Bloco C6, 3{degree sign}Piso,Campo Grande, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal
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Ana Nobre Silva
Instituto Dom Luiz, Universidade de Lisboa
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Ivana Bosnic
Instituto Dom Luiz, Universidade de Lisboa
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Guy Gelfenbaum
United States Geological Survey
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Abstract

The precise location of the seismic source of Great Lisbon Earthquake is still uncertain. The aim of this work is to use the an onland sedimentary record in southern Portugal to test and validate seismic sources of the AD 1755 earthquake. To achieve this, tsunami deposit thicknesses from over 150 cores retrieved from Salgados (Portugal) were compared to the results of a tsunami sediment transport model (Delft3D-FLOW) which simulates tsunami propagation, inundation, erosion, and deposition. Seven different hypothetical seismic sources and varying bed roughness coefficients were used to determine which modeled sources better reproduce observed patterns of tsunami deposit thicknesses and also dune erosion at the studied site in southern Portugal. Modeled and observed historical tsunami arrival times were also used to test different earthquake sources. Based on these comparisons, four modeled earthquake sources were unable to reproduce the observed physical data, suggesting they should be disregarded as likely sources of the AD 1755 earthquake.