Particle-size distribution of inferred tsunami deposits in Sur Lagoon, Sultanate of Oman

The sedimentary characteristics of shell beds within an interpreted tsunami deposit from Sur Lagoon, Oman were examined using shell taphonomy and high-resolution particle-size analysis. The tsunami bed was deposited by the 28 November, 1945 tsunami generated by the Makran subduction zone. Q-mode cluster analysis of particle-size data was evaluated as a means of discriminating individual tsunamite shell layers from lagoonal intertidal deposits. Results showed that the tsunami shell bed was more poorly sorted, and heterogeneous (in both the digested and undigested samples) than the background lagoonal sediments. The tsunami bed thickness correlated generally with the thickness of the shell-bed, however, cluster analysis extended the tsunami unit several centimeters above or below the shell bed in some cores. The particle-size analysis also showed subtle textural trends in the tsunami unit, suggesting that the tsunami bed was deposited in several distinctive phases during tsunami incursion into Sur Lagoon. The findings indicate that cluster analysis of particle-size data can be used to identify tsunami beds in intertidal environments and holds potential for identifying paleotsunami deposits in sediments from embayed intertidal–subtidal siliciclastic systems where obvious sedimentary structures may be absent.