Geological Society of America

296 Recent Advances in Marine and Coastal Geoscience (Posters)

Wednesday, 22 October 2014
9:00 AM - 6:30 PM
Exhibition Hall C

TYPHOON HAIYAN IMPACT AND IMPLICATIONS FOR SUPER TYPHOON PALEORECONSTRUCTIONS

Paper number: 296-20
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 9:00 AM – 6:30 PM

Authors

Zachary Grimes Presenting Author
University of Southern Mississippi, Stennis Space Center, MS
Eve Eisemann
University of Southern Mississippi, Stennis Space Center, MS
Davin J. Wallace
University of Southern Mississippi, Stennis Space Center, MS
Fernando Siringan
University of the Philippines, Quezon City, N/A
Jessica Pilarczyk
Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
Ronald Lloren
University of the Philippines, Quezon City, N/A
Adonis Gallentes
University of the Philippines, Quezon City, N/A
Janneli Lea A. Soria
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, N/A

Abstract

In November 2013, the Philippines experienced one of the strongest storms ever recorded, Super Typhoon Haiyan. This event might set a precedent for the future, as the frequency and magnitude of cyclones is expected to vary significantly worldwide due to climate change. Global climate models suggest the western Pacific has the potential to experience frequent intense storms in the coming century. However, has cyclone frequency varied with past climatic shifts? Furthermore, have there been any variations in the magnitude of storms? The historic record is too limited to reveal climate related cyclone variability. However, the information on storm frequency and magnitude can be extended to centennial and millennial timescales through the sedimentary record preserved in coastal depocenters. Here we discuss new sedimentary archives recovered from holes along the reef flats of fringing coral reefs ~150 km to the south of Haiyan’s path affected by winds up to 120 km/hr. Cores up to 2 meters long were taken from 9 holes on reef flat to back reef transects.

The fringing reef environment and associated holes record high-energy events through a wide distribution of sediment grain-sizes. During intense storms, coarse grains are transported from the shallow reef areas and deposited into the quiescent, deep holes (~20m). A mixture of mud and sand dominates the cores, although coarse sand and gravel size coral fragments are also present. This investigation uses statistical grain-size analyses to identify high-energy events and quantify their frequency and intensity. The results will be incorporated into an age-model constructed from short-lived isotope and radiocarbon data to extend the instrumental storm record. We will attempt to determine the deposition and/or preservation of a Haiyan-layer and paleostorms at our sites. Grain-size distributions and inferred sediment transport provide important information concerning flooding intensity and cyclone frequency at these sites over the historic and geologic record.