Optical Dating of Tsunami-Laid Sands

The ages of some tsunami deposits can be determined by optical dating, a key requirement being that the deposits are derived from sediment that was reworked and exposed to daylight by tidal currents, waves, wind, or bioturbation during the last years before the tsunami. Measurements have been made using 1.4 eV (infrared) excitation of K-feldspar grains separated from samples of prehistoric tsunami sand sheets and modern analogs of tsunami source sediments at four sites in Washington state and British Columbia. Source sands gave equivalent doses indicative of recent exposure to daylight. Tsunami sand at Cultus Bay, Washington, yielded an optical age of 1285 ± 95 yr (calendric years before A.D. 1995, ±1σ). At 2σ, this age overlaps the range of from 1030 to 1100 yr determined through a combination of high-precision radiocarbon dating and stratigraphic correlation. Tsunami sands at three sites near Tofino and Port Alberni on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, have optical ages of 260 ± 20, 325 ± 25, and 335 ± 45 yr. Historical records and radiocarbon dating show that the sand at each of the three sites is between 150 and 400 yr old. These optical ages support the hypothesis that the Vancouver Island sands were deposited by a tsunami generated by a large earthquake on the Cascadia subduction zone about 300 yr ago.