Application of Supervised Classification Techniques to Distinguish Past Tsunami-Generated Layers: A Case Study in South-Western Spain
Juan Manuel Muñoz, María Isabel Carretero, Adolfo Miras, José Manuel Bernabé, Francisco Ruiz, Manuel Pozo, María Luz González-Regalado, María Isabel Prudencio, María Isabel Dias, Rosa Marques, Manuel Abad, Tatiana Izquierdo, Luis Miguel Cáceres, Joaquín Rodríguez Vidal, Antonio Toscano, Paula Gómez, Verónica RomeroThis paper applies three supervised classification techniques to distinguish between tsunami-generated and non-tsunami-generated layers in a sediment core obtained from Doñana National Park (south-west Spain), based on their mineralogical and rare-earth element content. The tsunami-generated layers are characterized by high rare-earth element contents and, in most cases, increased levels of quartz, feldspars and dolomite. This differentiation, combined with palaeontological and sedimentological criteria, reveals that a tsunami occurred in this area during the Upper Pleistocene, between 44 and 50 kyr ago, during the MIS-3 isotopic stage. These statistical techniques could be applied to define tsunami-generated layers in sediment cores more precisely, in conjunction with multidisciplinary geological analyses.