Source Fault Model of the 1771 Yaeyama Tsunami, Southern Ryukyu Islands, Japan, Inferred from Numerical Simulation

Abstract

The 1771 Yaeyama tsunami is successfully reproduced using a simple faulting model without submarine landslide. The Yaeyama tsunami (M 7.4), which struck the southern Ryukyu Islands of Japan, produced unusually high tsunami amplitudes on the southeastern coast of Ishigaki Island and caused significant damage, including 12,000 casualties. Previous tsunami source models for this event have included both seismological faults and submarine landslides. However, no evidence of landslides in the source has been obtained, despite marine surveying of the area. The seismological fault model proposed in this study, describing a fault to the east of Ishigaki Island, successfully reproduces the distribution of tsunami runup on the southern coast of the Ryukyu Islands. The unusual runup heights are found through the numerical simulation attributable to a concentration of tsunami energy toward the southeastern coast of Ishigaki Island by the effect of the shelf to the east. Thus, the unusual runup heights observed on the southeastern coast of Ishigaki Island can be adequately explained by a seismological fault model with wave-ray bending on the adjacent shelf.