Can the tsunami geological record contribute to constrain the tectonic
source of the 1755 AD earthquake?
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.