A joint study by Professor Christopher Gomez of the Graduate School of Maritime Sciences, Kobe University, Sorbonne University in France, and Cambridge University in the United Kingdom revealed that Tonga in the 15th century was severely damaged by the tsunami caused by the meteorite that fell into the Pacific Ocean.
According to Kobe University, a field survey conducted by the research team on the Tonga archipelago revealed that tsunami deposits were found extensively and that a large tsunami had hit in the past.Radiocarbon dating of sediments and charcoal from beneath coral rocks believed to have been carried by the tsunami revealed that the tsunami occurred around the 15th century.
Due to the presence of craters on the seafloor in the vicinity, it is presumed that the meteorite that fell into the Pacific Ocean caused the great tsunami.A simulation of the impact of a meteorite impact suggests that a large tsunami with a maximum height of 30 meters struck Tu'i Tonga Island.
At that time, the Kingdom of Tonga on Tonga Island was said to have unified the Tonga archipelago, but a serious crisis occurred in the middle of the 15th century and the movement of people between the archipelago stopped, making it culturally clear. The change is happening.The research team believes that it was the previously unidentified tsunami that caused this change.This conclusion is consistent with local folklore that many large rocks were deposited on the island by the red waves.
Paper information:[Frontiers in Earth Science] Bridging Legends and Science: Field Evidence of a Large Tsunami that Affected the Kingdom of Tonga in the 15th Century
