Tsunamis and taniwhas
Still on the theme of earthquakes and their effects: I learned some fascinating stuff while researching my article for Wild Tomato. A conversation with Prof. James Goff, director of the Australian Tsunami Research Centre at UNSW in Sydney was a highlight.
Professor Goff and his students have been looking for traces of ancient tsunamis in the Nelson region, including the Abel Tasman National Park. They look for areas where marine deposits washed up by a tsunami would not have been obliterated, e.g. by a meandering river. Once found, these deposits can be dated by studying their contents. For example, a list of the remains of various marine organisms found in a sample can help to provide a ‘date stamp’.
