An application of aromatic compounds as alternative tracers of tsunami backwash deposits

Siwatt Pongpiachan; Vanisa Surapipith; Muhammad Zaffar Hashmi; Suparerk Aukkaravittayapun; Saran Poshyachinda

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e06883

An application of aromatic compounds as alternative tracers of tsunami backwash deposits

Heliyon. 2021 Apr 24;7(4):e06883. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e06883. eCollection 2021 Apr.

Authors

Siwatt Pongpiachan^{1

2

3}, Vanisa Surapipith³, Muhammad Zaffar Hashmi⁴, Suparerk Aukkaravittayapun³, Saran Poshyachinda³

Affiliations

¹ NIDA Center for Research & Development of Disaster Prevention & Management, School of Social and Environmental Development, National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA), 118 Moo-3, Sereethai Road, Klong-Chan, Bangkapi, Bangkok 10240 Thailand.
² SKLLQG, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IEECAS), Xi'an, 710075, China.
³ National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (Public Organization) (NARIT), 260 Moo 4, T. Donkaew, A. Maerim, Chiangmai, 50180, Thailand.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, COMSATS University Islamabad, 44000, Pakistan.

Abstract

This manuscript provides some comprehensive technical insights regarding the application of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) characterized by using Gas-Chromatography Mass Spectrometry. Although numerous chemical species such as water soluble ionic species (e.g. Na⁺, K⁺, Cl^-, Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺) and acid leachable heavy metal fractions (e.g. Fe, Cd, Al, Mo, Sb, As, Cu, Zn, Pb, and Mn) can be used to characterize tsunami deposits, the knowledge of PAH congeners as alternative chemical species for identifying tsunami backwash deposits is strictly limited. This manuscript is exclusive because it aims to find some alternative chemical proxies in order to distinguish tsunami backwash deposits from typical marine sediments. A wide range of diagnostic binary ratios of PAH congeners have been selected in order to characterize Typical Marine Sediments (TMS), Tsunami backwash deposits (TBD), Onshore Tsunami Deposits (OTD) and Coastal Zone Soils (CZS). The state of the art and future perspectives coupled with both advantages and disadvantages of above mentioned chemical tracers will be critically reviewed and further discussed.

Keywords: Andaman sea; Chemical tracers; Diagnostic binary ratios; Marine sediments; Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).