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New Zealand Geographer (2014) 70, 165178

doi: 10.1111/nzg.12052

Research Article

Truncated dunes as evidence of the 2004 tsunami

in North Sumatra and environmental
recovery post-tsunami
Claire Kain,1,4 Christopher Gomez,1 Patrick Wassmer,2 Franck Lavigne3 and
Deirdre Hart1
1
Department of Geography, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800,
Christchurch, New Zealand 2Facult de Gographie et dAmnagement,
Universit de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France 3Laboratoire de Gographie
Physique, Universit Paris 1 Panthon-Sorbonne, CNRS UMR 8591, France
4
School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New
South Wales, Sydney, Australia

Abstract: The 2004 tsunami transformed the coast of Indonesia. This research investigates a sand dune area in Lampuuk, Sumatra, that was scoured by tsunami flow. We
assessed geomorphology one-year post-event and examine the timescale of vegetation recovery. Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) evidence shows an eroded succession
of thin dipping units, overlain by aeolian layers 0 to 50 cm thick. Incipient dunes were
absent, indicating limited dune rebuilding at one-year post-tsunami, possibly resulting
from channelised airflow and the absence of vegetation. Recolonisation by vegetation
was initially limited but progressed rapidly between 2005 and 2011, highlighting the
temporal non-linearity of recovery processes.
Key words: coastal erosion, geomorphic recovery, Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR),
Sumatra, Indonesia, tsunami.

Introduction
Tsunami events can significantly alter landscapes: changing coastline shape and causing
severe erosion of beaches and coastal features
(Dawson 1994; Sugawara et al. 2008). The
impact of a tsunami on a coastline is a function
of near-shore bathymetry, onshore topography
and surface roughness, degree of urbanisation
and vegetation patterns (Dawson 1994; Kumar
et al. 2008). Run-up, erosion and deposition
patterns depend very much on the geomorphology of the beach environment and
composition of the substrate (Sugawara et al.
2008) and much research has focused on

identifying and understanding tsunami depositional sequences (e.g. Clague & Bobrowsky
1994; Dawson & Shi 2000; Goto et al. 2012)
Three types of tsunami flow were identified by
Konno (1961): sheet flow, linear flow
(channelised) and eddy flow, which arise from
interactions with topography and bathymetry
and result in unique patterns of erosion and
deposit geometry. Flat topography results in
widespread inundation and greater inland penetration, while raised features or areas of high
surface roughness mitigate this by dissipating
wave energy at the coast (Umitsu et al. 2007;
MacInnes et al. 2009). Sandy coasts are prone
to destruction by tsunami waves and are often

Note about authors: Claire Kain is PhD Candidate at University of New South Wales, in conjunction with
University of Canterbury; Christopher Gomez is Lecturer at University of Canterbury; Patrick Wassmer is
Associate Professor at Universit de Strasbourg; Franck Lavigne is Professor at Universit Paris 1 PanthonSorbonne; Deirdre Hart is Senior Lecturer at University of Canterbury Te Whare Wananga o Waitaha.
E-mail: claire.kain@gmail.com
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C. Kain et al.

completely reorganised during a large tsunami

event (Dawson 1994; Sugawara et al. 2008; Paris
et al. 2009). Similar destruction has been documented following large storm events (e.g.
Ritchie & Penland 1990).
On 26 December 2004 a tsunami was triggered by a 9.15 Mw earthquake, which ruptured
a 1300 km length of the seafloor along the
Sumatra and Sunda trenches (Lay et al. 2005;
Fu & Sun 2006). Deformation of the seafloor
during the seismic fault slip generated a series
of tsunami waves, which washed out human
settlements on the coasts of North Sumatra,
resulting in a death toll of approximately
170 000. This train of waves left sedimentary
deposits in numerous locations around the
Indian Ocean, with the thickest deposits occurring in topographic basins (Liu et al. 2005;
Kench et al. 2006; Goto et al. 2007; Hawkes
et al. 2007; Hori et al. 2007; Narayana et al. 2007;
Umitsu et al. 2007; Fujino et al. 2008; Paris et al.
2009). A succession of 12 waves reached
the shore and travelled up to 2.2 km inland
(Lavigne et al. 2009).
Erosion of coastal dunes by the 2004 tsunami
left a characteristic erosional signature, where
dunes previously stood. The recognition of such
patterns is important for the search of paleotsunami deposits, as evidence of truncated
paleo-dunes is indicative of a large-scale wave
event. The purpose of this research is twofold:
firstly to characterise the internal structure of a
truncated dune system following a tsunami
event and to determine the geometry of the
overlying post-event deposit, which together
represent the geomorphological signature of a
tsunami in this setting. Secondly, post-event
deposit geometry and regional vegetation
cover are investigated to assess the geomorphic
dynamics of the completely truncated dune
area one year after the event and predict possible future recovery scenarios.
Geomorphic recovery in sandy
coastal environments
Following a large-scale destructive tsunami, the
resilience and recovery time of coastal communities and ecosystems has been measured (e.g.
Paton et al. 2008; Riyaz & Park 2010; Sugimoto
et al. 2010; Mattsson et al. 2009), but less
research has addressed the recovery of landforms and coastal geomorphology with respect
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to long-term changes in structure or dynamics.

Some research has addressed this issue with
regard to the 2004 tsunami in Sumatra, but
decadal-scale recovery patterns still remain to
be seen. Meilianda et al. (2010) found that two
areas of coastline near Banda Aceh had recovered substantially a year later but, due to subsidence and changes in sediment availability,
did not return to their pre-tsunami pattern of
dynamics. In contrast, Liew et al. (2010) found
that the coast of western Sumatra did in fact
return to its previous general form within
several years of the event, despite subsidence
and disturbance to sediment supply patterns.
Similarly along the western coast of Sumatra,
Wassmer et al. (2008) noted a rapid redistribution of sediment and incipient dune formation
in the year following the event, prior to
re-establishment of vegetation. In particular,
sediment budget is identified by all studies as a
key factor in the recovery process of sandy
coastal environments.
Recovery of coastal dune systems following
hurricanes or recurrent storms has been widely
examined (McLean & Shen 2006; Wang et al.
2006; Claudino-Sales et al. 2008; Houser et al.
2008; Priestas & Fagherazzi 2010), and these
findings are transferable to the case of tsunamiinduced erosion, as storm and tsunami destruction share many commonalities.The importance
of a positive sediment budget for beach and
dune recovery is highlighted, as a buffer against
future erosional events as well as for base or
berm growth (McLean & Shen 2006; Houser
et al. 2008; Meilianda et al. 2010). Eroded beach
areas with a positive sediment budget experience faster and more complete recovery, compared with those where sediment is not as
available (McLean & Shen 2006; ClaudinoSales et al. 2008; Liew et al. 2010; Houser &
Mathew 2011). In most cases, these studies did
not follow the recovery of the system to the
point where it resembled its previous state,
which is indicative of the long timeframes
involved in dune recovery. Indeed, McLean and
Shen (2006) investigated a partially truncated
beach system and established that full recovery
did not occur for almost 30 years. This example
highlighted the importance of a continually
present berm and beachface, to provide sand for
dune building and to protect vulnerable incipient foredunes from destruction.

Truncated dunes as tsunami evidence

Geomorphic recovery and geoenvironmental resilience is an area of research that requires

development, as an understanding of these concepts and processes have important implications and lead to transferable theories that are
widely applicable in the field of coastal evolution and dynamics.
Study area
Fieldwork was undertaken in Lampuuk, North
Sumatra, located to the south of Banda Aceh
City (Fig. 1). The study area is situated within

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100 m of the post-tsunami shoreline, at a location where the largest tsunami wave reached a
height of over 30 m (Lavigne et al. 2009). This
comprises a flat area, measuring 20 m 6 m,
surrounded by dunes that partially resisted
tsunami erosion. Prior to the tsunami, Lampuuk Beach was a sandy beach environment
backed by dunes up to 15 m in height and is part
of a larger stretch of coastline comprising rocky
headlands and embayments (Paris et al. 2009;
Wong 2009).This borders the Indian Ocean and
is very exposed, experiencing average swells of

Figure 1 Location of the study area. (a) Sumatra Island, (b) Lampuuk and Lhok Nga, at the northwestern end
of Sumatra Island, and (c) geomorphic map of the study area following the tsunami event, showing tsunami
drainage patterns and the location of the Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) transects taken across a scour zone.
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C. Kain et al.

12 m from a predominantly southwest direction (Wong 2009).The tidal regime is microtidal,

with a semi-diurnal tidal cycle.
The study area was previously sited on a
slight topographic high and this, combined with
effective protection by the adjacent remaining
dunes, prohibited the backwash of the tsunami
from depositing any new material in this area,
in contrast to other areas of Lampuuk (Lavigne
& Paris 2010). This stretch of coastline experienced coseismic subsidence in the order of
2.0 m as a result of the primary tsunamigenic
earthquake (Jaffe et al. 2006), and the recovery
of the coastline six months after the tsunami
was documented by Meilianda et al. (2010) and
Wong (2009), who noted that significant accretion and shoreline recovery had occurred
throughout that period.

Methodology based on Ground

Penetrating Radar (GPR) imagery
GPR is an electromagnetic geophysical technique that allows imaging of the shallow
subsurface environment, by sending a set of
high-frequency electromagnetic pulses into the
ground and measuring the reflected backscatter. It works on the principle that each sediment layer (or saturation change) results in an
electrical discontinuity, which will appear on the
radargram (Neal 2004). The technique has been
successfully used in coastal settings for over a
decade, and the principles and guidelines for
data interpretation in these environments have
been well defined (e.g. van Heteren et al. 1996;
Neal & Roberts 2000; Neal & Roberts 2001;
Neal 2004; Switzer et al. 2006; Bennett et al.
2009; Nielsen & Clemmensen 2009; Pascucci
et al. 2009). The method is particularly suited to
dune imaging, as dunes commonly consist of
unsaturated sands that have high resistivity,
allowing good signal penetration and clear
reflection from individual layers (Harari 1996).
Data collection
Fieldwork was conducted with a RAMAC
(Terraplus Geophysics, ON, Canada) GPR connected to a 500 MHz shielded antenna. Topography data were collected using a differential
GPS for radar depth correction. A series of
GPR data was collected along the coasts of
North Sumatra in 2005 and 2006, and this study
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comprises nine GPR transects recorded over a

truncated dune on the coast of Lampuuk
(Fig. 1). Three transects were orientated perpendicular to the beach and transversal to the
dune system and six others intersect these perpendicularly at 1 m intervals. Data were processed with Reflex software (Sandmeier
Scientific Software, Karlsruhe, Germany) following the sequence presented by Neal (2004),
including signal enhancement through AGC
gain and energy decay, followed by velocity correction and topography adjustment through
static migration of the radargram. The velocity
correction was calculated by fitting a curve to
the geometry of refraction hyperbolae in the
radargrams, and the values applied ranged
from 0.14 to 0.15 m ns1 on all transects. Data
processing was relatively uncomplicated by
virtue of the flat topography and minimal
velocity variation due to increasing moisture
with depth. Validation of GPR data was
achieved through trenching and visual observation of subsurface stratigraphy.
Recovery was evaluated by performing a
visual assessment of sand accretion and the percentage and type of vegetation cover across the
scoured study zone at the time of the survey.
Vegetation cover was measured from Google
Earth imagery in 2009 and 2011 and compared
with the post-tsunami satellite imagery taken in
2005 and a pre-tsunami IKONOS image taken
in 2003. The thickness and spatial patterns of
sand deposition across the scour zone during
this phase were investigated using GPR.

Results
Post-event geomorphology and
vegetation patterns one year post-tsunami
The truncated section of dune is orientated
southwest-northeast and lies perpendicular to
the coast. It decreases in width from 15 m at the
coast, to 2 m at the inland extremity. Beyond
this erosion zone is a grove of coconut palms,
which remained standing following the tsunami
but among which a layer of very well sorted
sand was deposited during the event. The flanks
of the dunes remain intact on both sides of the
excavated area, with evidence of erosion along
these escarpments. The underlying material in
these flank areas comprises layers of sands,
which are partially cemented and inclined at a

Truncated dunes as tsunami evidence

slope of 20. Similar cuesta-like formations of

moderately indurated sand layers are present
in the centre of the flattened area, protruding
above the mobile flat sand. Images of the study
area are presented in Fig. 2.
Vegetation had begun to recolonise the site
at the time of the survey. Patches of the pioneering sand-binding species Ipomoea pescaprae were well established on the intact
dune flanks and runners extended from these
areas towards the centre of the truncated
area, which remained largely devoid of vegetation cover. Percentage of vegetation cover
in the scour zone ranged from 80% at the
northeast (landward) extent of the truncated
zone to 5% where this zone meets the
beach.
Internal structure of the truncated dune
The three transects perpendicular to the shore
display results to a depth of 2 m (Fig. 3). A
strong horizon is visible at 0.5 m depth, which

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corresponds to an increase in water content

below this depth. Hyperbolae are visible in the
radargram, caused by the presence of major
root systems and organic matter in the subsurface material. Visual observation of the
trenches confirmed the presence of organic
material and revealed alternating layers of sand
and thin layers of dark clayish material, measuring <1 mm in thickness.
The three perpendicular radargrams reveal
that the principal architecture of the subsurface comprises a series of inclined units. Inclination varies between 35 and 70 and follows
a horizontal gradient of decreasing angle.
Units with an angle close to 70 are located on
the left side of the radargrams, within the first
510 m, whereas units of lower angles are
located between 10 and >19 m. Single units
do not always display a single inclination,
but a low angle in the deeper reach and
a progressive increase towards the surface
(Fig. 3).

Figure 2 Images of the study area in December 2005 (one year post-tsunami). (a) Looking landward down
the study area scour zone. It narrows inland towards a coconut grove, where the erosion zone ends and
sediment was deposited. (b) The area in front of the study zone, looking seaward down one of the tsunami
drainage channels. (c) Intact dune flanks to the side of the scour zone and evidence of cemented cuesta-like
formations in the centre. (d) Runners of Ipomoea pes-caprae recolonising the inland end of the study area
scour zone.
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C. Kain et al.

Figure 3 Radargrams of transects taken longitudinally along the study area (perpendicular to the coast).
These show a series of dipping layers that are overlain by sub-horizontal deposits above an erosional contact.
Hyperbolae represent large material or clasts buried in the subsurface (in this case buried organic matter).

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Figure 4 Radargrams of transects taken transversally across the study area (parallel to the coast). Again, a
series of dipping layers are overlain by sub-horizontal deposits, which follow the topography of the
unconformity beneath.

Sand infills, one year after the tsunami

A set of horizontally orientated layers overlie
the inclined subsurface architecture in both sets
of radargrams (Figs 3,4). These layers range in
thickness from 8 to 20 cm and follow the topography of the underlying truncated system,

including curvature within topographic depressions. The unit is not present across the entire
study area, generally being thinner or absent in
the northernmost 2 m of the study area. The
exceptions to this are radargram 6-b, where this
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C. Kain et al.

after, and radargram 7-b (Fig. 4), where the unit

is constant in thickness. No trends are evident
in an east-west direction (i.e. perpendicular to
the shore). The number of layers ranges from
one to five where it is present and in places
onlap is evident (e.g. Fig. 4, radargram 4-b).
Vegetation cover changes 20032011
Pre-tsunami, the study area was largely covered
with dense established vegetation. Closer

to the beach the tall trees and thick tropical

vegetation gave way to sparser cover with areas
of bare sand in the dune areas (Fig. 5a). Coastal
vegetation was almost completely removed by
the 2004 tsunami, except for a grove of tall
coconut palms to the centre-right of the image
(Fig. 5b). By 2009, significant vegetation recovery had occurred, with total percentage of
cover almost equal to that of the environment pre-tsunami. However, this recovery

Figure 5 Satellite imagery of the study area showing vegetation cover and recovery, obtained from Landsat
imagery (2003) Google Earth (20052011). Most of the vegetation was removed during the tsunami in
December 2004. Low vegetation was re-established by 2009, with vegetation cover and density approaching
pre-tsunami patterns by 2011. (a) 2003 (pre-tsunami). (b) January 2005 (one month post-tsunami). (c) February
2009. (d) December 2009. (e) July 2010. (f) May 2011.
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Table 1 Percentage and type of vegetation cover across the field site from satellite imagery.
Values marked with an asterisk include areas covered by what appears to be a lake or artificial
reservoir that was not present in the pre-tsunami image
Percentage of vegetation by type
Year
2003
January 2005
February 2009
December 2009
July 2010
May 2011

Dense/tall

Low

None

60
15
20
25
40
50

20
0
68
65
50
40

20
85
13*
10*
10*
10*

comprised pioneer and juvenile vegetation, in

contrast to the dense pre-tsunami cover. A
similar pattern was still evident in 2010 and
2011, but by this stage the density was
approaching pre-tsunami levels in some parts
of the study area. Percentage cover by type is
presented in Table 1.

Discussion
Interpretation of the subsurface structure
The results presented here provide important
insights into the geomorphic imprint of a
tsunami event at a high-resolution, small spatial
scale. The subsurface patterns are indicative of
a partially truncated dune system overlain by
post-tsunami aeolian sand deposition on top of
the exposed dune root. The erosion horizon is
clearly visible, appearing on the radargram as a
sharp contact between highly inclined beds and
overlying laminated or low angle beds. The set
of high-angle dipping beds is consistent with
the internal structure of an aeolian transverse
dune system (Bristow et al. 2000). These inferences are supported by field observations of
neighbouring areas where the dunes were not
destroyed and by comparison with pre-tsunami
descriptions of the field site (Wong 2009).
Assuming appropriate conditions continue, this
sequence and important unconformity will be
preserved in the geological record.
It is likely that prior to the tsunami the surveyed area was lower lying than its counterparts, as this would allow a tsunami to exploit
the space as a conduit and would explain why
the area was so heavily eroded in comparison
to neighbouring dunes. Erosion patterns result-

ing from tsunami have been well documented

(Dawson 1994; Jaffe et al. 2006; Umitsu et al.
2007; MacInnes et al. 2009; Morton et al. 2011)
with respect to run-up heights, topography and
substrate composition. A hummocky dune
system such as this combined with high run-up
heights (defined as over 10 m by Konno 1961)
would result in channelised flow through low
points of the dune system (Konno 1961; Hart &
Knight 2009; MacInnes et al. 2009). The pattern
of erosion along this coast and the level of
scour that was apparent here and in the cliff
behind the flat survey area is consistent with
that expected from linear and channelised flow.
We posit that it would have breached this gap
in the form of a powerful tongue-shaped flow
rich in sediment eroded from the nearshore
and dune environment.The velocity and energy
of this flow were not quantified at this point, but
the exclusively erosive signature left in the
study area indicates that wave energy remained
above the threshold for sediment deposition
until reaching a backshore palm plantation
where energy was dissipated and deposition
occurred.
The patterns of the overlying sub-horizontal
beds suggest preferential infilling of the topography by post-tsunami aeolian deposition.
Infilling of depressions is clearly visible,
whereas topographic high areas appear to be
stable or in an erosional state.Within this facies,
onlap occurs in some places between layers,
indicating a small-scale erosional event or a
localised change in depositional conditions. The
presence of these numerous layers over a oneyear period suggests aeolian activity of variable
intensity. Periods of intense aeolian activity
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may be followed by quieter periods when the

sand compacts through gravitational settling
(Hesp 2000), which would result in a change in
water content that presents as a discontinuity in
the GPR data. Thin drapes of other material
may be deposited on top of the system due
to storm events (Hesp 2000), but this can be
discounted here as the area is a long distance
from the high water line, and no evidence of
changing mineralogy was observed.
Studies such as this aid in the identification of
paleo-deposits of high energy coastal events, by
describing the geomorphological signature of a
tsunami event in this setting. This pattern of a
truncated dune system followed by renewed
aeolian deposition has been observed and
attributed to large washover paleo-events
(Switzer et al. 2006; Switzer & Jones 2008), but
uncertainty remains in determining the exact
cause of these events. A multi-proxy approach
involving GPR and direct techniques such as
coring can aid this process (e.g. Morang et al.
1997; Mitasova et al. 2005; Switzer et al. 2006).
Geomorphic response
Results suggest that like recovery after storm
events, the timeframe for post-tsunami recovery can be similarly long. Tsunamis may result
in large-scale reorganisation of sandy coasts
(Dawson 1994; Sugawara et al. 2008), which can
change their equilibrium and result in a differing pattern of functioning and dynamics than
the pre-tsunami environment. At one year
post-tsunami, the study area was functioning
differently to the pre-tsunami dynamic pattern.
Instead of incipient dune formation, the surface
remained flat one year after the tsunami, and
GPR evidence shows that aeolian sand transport has merely filled in topographic depressions. This is similar to the adjustment of the
beach environment observed by Liew et al.
(2010) in a nearby area following the tsunami.
The fact that this area remained in flux one
year post-event is not unexpected, given the
importance of antecedent morphology in the
dynamics of a beach and dune system (Hesp
1999; Houser & Mathew 2011) and the long
timescale required for full recovery. In this case,
sediment budget and berm width can be discounted as inhibiting factors to incipient dune
formation, as beach width and sediment supply
had returned to previous levels by six months
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post-tsunami (Meilianda et al. 2010). Instead,

this is likely caused by the morphology of the
backshore and adjacent dunes, which affect the
velocity and turbulence of wind and thus sand
transport patterns (Hesp 1999). Sediment
transport is enhanced across a flat sand environment due to wind fetch and, like the
tsunami wave, wind will experience channelling
through the existing gap and experience higher
velocities and shear stress at the ground contact
(Masselink and Hughes, 2003). If the average
airflow velocity through the breach remains
higher than the entrainment threshold for the
grain size present, sand is transported onwards,
causing an increase in gap width and depth over
time. Additionally, the relative preservation of
neighbouring dunes may enhance this process
and trap sediment at the expense of the flattened area. In contrast, flow of water and air
across a continuous dune system would be
much more uniformly distributed and cause a
different response during tsunami erosion and
recovery. Pockets of change such as this small
zone provide an important insight into coastal
recovery at a high-resolution small spatial
scale. Over a longer timeframe, it is possible
that this area will infill and return to an
approximation of neighbouring dune areas, as
happened over a 30 year timeframe at Moruya
Beach (McLean & Shen 2006). This would
depend on the recovery of vegetation or other
means to facilitate sand trapping. A conceptual
diagram of process and response for this
mechanism is presented in Fig. 6.
Dune development and form is controlled by
a number of factors that interact in a complex
network of feedback loops, including vegetation cover, airflow, sediment supply and transport patterns (Luna et al. 2011) so is difficult to
predict. The primary controlling factor of dune
shape in coastal settings is the type of vegetation cover (Bird 2011), and we make the
assumption that following dune destruction,
the vegetation that recolonises the system will
eventually approximate the pre-event species
distribution. However, in the initial posttsunami phase high ground salinity in inundated areas may inhibit vegetation growth or
cause a shift to more salt-tolerant species
(Wassmer et al. 2008). We expect this effect to
disappear as runoff and water percolation progressively reduces ground salinity. In the study

Truncated dunes as tsunami evidence

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Figure 6 Conceptual schema of the geomorphic response and recovery process of a hummocky truncated
dune area. Dashed lines indicate the profile of the preceding step. The exponential timescale is approximate
but highlights the temporal non-linearity of the geomorphic recovery process.

area, the vegetation cover observed was largely

Ipomoea pes-caprae, which is a salt-tolerant
species of creeping vine common in tropical
environments and which causes a hummocky
dune structure (Bird 2011).
The non-linear temporal scale of geomorphic
recovery is apparent from observational data.
In the months following this event recovery
proceeded rapidly, with initial dune formation
occurring quickly due to aeolian processes
acting on the highly mobile bare sand areas
(Wassmer et al. 2008; Liew et al. 2010). Once
pioneer vegetation becomes established and
stabilises the sand, the recovery process would
continue more slowly (Fig. 6). The rapid recovery of the berm width is in contrast to the
storm-damaged Moruya coastline, whereby
berm recovery occurred over a decadal scale
timeframe (McLean & Shen 2006), which could
be due to climatic and sediment supply conditions and differences in impact patterns. We

would expect recovery to occur faster in tropical environments due to high levels of vegetation growth and more rapid soil formation.
Moreover, high rainfall also aids in decreasing
ground salinity levels, allowing pre-event vegetation patterns to return sooner. Evidence
from Google Earth imagery suggests that
although dense shrub vegetation re-established
itself around the scour area by 2011, this is not
the case in the flat area itself. However, the area
appears to have been modified for anthropogenic use nowadays, and thus the growth
of dense vegetation may be inhibited or
actively discouraged.
Definite parallels exist between long-term
dune recovery following storm destruction and
that following a tsunami, but some differences
are evident. Most importantly, a storm events
influence is largely constrained to the coastal
zone. In contrast, a tsunami remobilises sediment on a larger landward scale and can
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redistribute significant amounts of terrestrial

sediment as well as coastal sands. This leaves
large, flat areas of mobile sand that remain part
of the active transport system long after the
event and may impact the salinity of sediments
and groundwater long term. Additionally, a
tsunami is often associated with a seismic event
that affects the landscape over and above the
tsunami itself. Sediment supply is of key importance to recovery, and a large earthquake may
change sediment supply patterns directly
through subsidence or uplift, and indirectly
through large-scale destabilisation of inland
areas that then results in greater sediment
supply to the coast via river systems. Prediction
of recovery scenarios following a tsunami
requires careful consideration of these variables and their interactions, which may vary
significantly on a local to regional scale.

Conclusion
This study used GPR analysis to investigate the
subsurface architecture of a dune subsection
that was truncated by the 2004 tsunami in
Sumatra and assess the geomorphic dynamics
of the area one year after the event. The subsurface structure of the study area is typical of
a transverse aeolian dune root, and the overlying aeolian deposit takes the form of thin, laminated beds. Documentation of these signatures
is important for recognition of similar events in
the record and aids in locating paleo-tsunami
deposits.
Little aeolian deposition has occurred in this
subsection at one year post-event, which can be
attributed to the effect of flat topography on
airflow and the absence of a roughness barrier
to facilitate incipient foredune development.
However, further dune development is likely, as
the beach and berm have recovered sufficiently
to act as a sand source, but this will be a gradual
process. Vegetation patterns over the period
20052011 suggest that recovery of environmental dynamics following a large event occurs
on a non-linear timescale, with most change
and vegetation recolonisation occurring within
the first one to two years.

Acknowledgements
The present project has been funded by the
Project Tsunarisque (at Paris 1 Sorbonne Uni 2014 New Zealand Geographical Society

versity, France). The authors would like to

thank Nicholas Lespinasse for his assistance in
the field and Teresa Konlechner, for the fruitful
discussions about dunes. The authors are also in
debt to two anonymous reviewers, who have
helped improve the present manuscript.

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