Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-18T08:47:55.208Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Episodic Emergence in the Past 3000 Years at the Akkeshi Estuary, Hokkaido, Northern Japan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Yuki Sawai*
Affiliation:
International Research Center for Japanese Studies, 3-2 Oeyama-cho, Goryo, Nishikyo-ku, Kyoto City, 610-1192, Japan

Abstract

At the Akkeshi estuary, rapid emergence interrupted Holocene submergence at least four times in the past 3000 years. Each emergence event produced an upward change from estuarine mud to freshwater peat. While the estuarine mud abounds in brackish and marine diatoms, freshwater taxa dominate the peat. Emergence events occurred from 1700 to 2300, 1000 to 1300, and 500 to 700 cal yr B.P. An additional emergence event predated by several decades a volcanic ash that erupted in A.D. 1694. At least three of the events produced contacts abrupt enough to represent uplift during earthquakes. Such uplift may reconcile seemingly conflicting records of vertical crustal movement in eastern Hokkaido. This tectonically active area, which is being subducted by the Pacific plate at 8 cm/yr, contains marine terraces that imply 0.1–0.5 mm/yr of net uplift in the late Quaternary. However, these terraces adjoin tide gages that recorded 8–9 mm/yr of steady submergence in the 20th century. The terrace uplift need not conflict with the gaged submergence if the region is subject to occasional coseismic uplift, as during the emergence events implied by Holocene geology near Akkeshi.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ando, K Moss diatoms in Japan (5). Japanese Journal of Phycology 30, (1982). 319 324.Google Scholar
Atwater, B.F, and Hemphill-Haley, E Recurrence Intervals for Great Earthquakes of the Past 3,500 Years at northeastern Willapa Bay, Washington. (1997). p. 108 Google Scholar
Tables and Graphs of Annual Mean Sea Level along the Japanese Coast 1894–1995. (1996). Tsukuba, Geographical Survey Institute. p. 113 Google Scholar
Furukawa, R, Yoshimoto, M, Yamagata, K, Wada, K, and Ui, T Did Hokkaido Komagatake volcano erupt in 1694? Reappraisal of the eruptive ages of 17–18th centuries in Hokkaido. Kazan 42, (1997). 269 279.Google Scholar
Hirai, Y Lacustrine and sublacustrine microforms and deposits near the shoreline of Lake Saroma and the sea level changes in the sea of Okhotsk in late Holocene. Annals of the Tohoku Geographical Association 39, (1987). 1 15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Inukai, T, and Nishio, S A limnological study of Akkeshi lake with special reference to the propagation of the oyster. Journal of the Faculty of Agriculture, Hokkaido Imperial University 40, (1937). 1 33.Google Scholar
Kosugi, M Limiting factors on the distribution of benthic diatoms in coastal regions—Salinity and substratum. Diatom 3, (1987). 21 31.Google Scholar
Kosugi, M Classification of living diatom assemblages as the indicator of environments, and its application to reconstruction of paleoenvironments. The Quaternary Research (Daiyonki-Kenkyuu) 27, (1988). 1 20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Le Pichon, X, Mazzotti, S, Henry, P, and Hashimoto, M Deformation of the Japanese Islands and seismic coupling: An interpretation based on GSI permanent GPS observations. Geophysical Journal International 134, (1998). 501 514.Google Scholar
Maeda, Y, Nakada, M, Matsumoto, E, and Matsuda, I Crustal tilting derived from Holocene sea-level observations along the east coast of Hokkaido in Japan and upper mantle rheology. Geophysical Research Letters 19, (1992). 857 860.Google Scholar
Maeda, Y, Matsuda, I, Nakada, M, Matsushima, Y, Matsumoto, E, and Sato, Y Holocene sea-level change along the Okhotsk Sea in Hokkaido, Japan—On the theoretical and observational values of the high sea-level stand. Bulletin of Yamagata University, Natural Science 13, (1994). 205 229.Google Scholar
Heisei 11 nen, chouseki hyou (1999 Tide Tables). (1998). Google Scholar
Mazzotti, S, Le Pichon, X, Henry, P, and Miyasaki, S Full interseismic locking of the Nankai and Japan-west Kuril subduction zones: An analysis of uniform elastic strain accumulation in Japan constrained by permanent GPS. Journal of Geophysical Research 105, (2000). 13159 13177.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nelson, A.R, Shennan, I, and Long, A.J Identifying coseismic subsidence in tidal-wetland stratigraphic sequences at the Cascadia subduction zone of western North America. Journal of Geophysical Research 101, (1996). 6115 6135.Google Scholar
Okumura, K Tephrochronology, correlation, and deformation of marine terraces in eastern Hokkaido, Japan. Geographical Reports of Tokyo Metropolitan University 31, (1996). 19 26.Google Scholar
Ohira, A, Umitsu, M, and Hamade, S Late Holocene development of peatlands lands in small alluvial lowlands around Lake Furen, eastern Hokkaido, Japan. The Quaternary Research (Daiyonki-Kenkyuu) 33, (1994). 45 50.Google Scholar
Ota, Y, Matsushima, Y, and Umitsu, M Atlas of Late Quaternary Sea Level Records in Japan, Vol. I, Review Papers and Holocene. (1987). p. 580 Google Scholar
Ota, Y, Koike, K, and Yonekura, N Atlas of Late Quaternary Sea Level Records in Japan, Vol. II, Late Pleistocene. (1987). p. 529 Google Scholar
Ota, Y, Umitsu, M, and Matsushima, Y Recent Japanese research on relative sea level changes in the Holocene and related problems—Review of studies between 1980 and 1988. The Quaternary Research (Daiyonki-Kenkyuu) 29, (1990). 31 48.Google Scholar
Ozawa, S, Hashimoto, M, and Tada, T Vertical crustal movements in the coastal areas of Japan estimated from tidal observations. Bulletin of the Geographical Survey Institute 43, (1997). 1 21.Google Scholar
Plafker, G Tectonics of the March 27, 1964, Alaska Earthquake. (1969). p. 74 Google Scholar
Plafker, G Alaskan earthquake of 1964 and Chilean earthquake of 1960—Implications for arc tectonics. Journal of Geophysical Research 77, (1972). 901 925.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Plafker, G, Lajoie, K.R, and Rubin, M Determining recurrence intervals of great subduction zone earthquakes in southern Alaska by radiocarbon dating. Taylor, R.E, Long, A, and Kra, R.S Radiocarbon after Four Decades: An Interdisciplinary Perspective. (1992). Springer-Verlag, New York. 436 453.Google Scholar
Sakaguchi, Y, Kashima, K, and Matsubara, A Holocene marine deposits in Hokkaido and their sedimentary environments. Bulletin of the Department of Geography University of Tokyo 17, (1985). 1 17.Google Scholar
Sawai, Y A Study on the Diatom Taphonomy and Sea-Level Reconstruction in Salt Marshes of the Eastern Hokkaido, Northern Japan. (2001). Kyushu University, Fukuoka.Google Scholar
Sawai, Y, and Kashima, K Late Holocene relative sea-level changes and reconstruction of paleoenvironment by diatom fossil assemblage analysis in Akkeshi Moor, Hokkaido, northern Japan. Fossil (Kaseki) 61, (1996). 21 31.Google Scholar
Sawai, Y, and Mishio, W Marine transgressions and regressions over the last 3000 years in Akkeshi Moor, Hokkaido, northern Japan. The Quaternary Research (Daiyonki-Kenkyuu) 37, (1998). 1 12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stuiver, M, and Reimer, P.J Extended 14C data base and revised CALIB 3.0 14C age calibration program. Radiocarbon 35, (1993). 215 230.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M, Reimer, P.J, Bard, E, Beck, J.W, Burr, G.S, Hughen, K.A, Kromer, B, McCormac, F.G, van de Plicht, J, Spurk, M Radiocarbon 40, (1998). 1041 1083.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tanimura, Y., and Sato, H. (1997). Pseudopodosira kosugii: A new Holocene diatom found to be a useful indicator to identify former sea-levels. Diatom Research 12, 357368.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tokui, Y Volcanic eruptions and their effects on human activity, in Hokkaido, Japan. Annales of Ochanomizu geographical society 30, (1989). 27 33.Google Scholar
Umitsu, M Late Quaternary Environment and Landform Evolution of Riverine Coastal lowlands. (1994). Kokon-Shoin, Tokyo. p. 270 Google Scholar
Vos, P.C, and de Wolf, H Diatoms as a tool for reconstructing sedimentary environments in coastal wetland; methodological aspects. Hydrobiologia 269/270, (1993). 285 296.Google Scholar